Deep into the first (and hopefully only) pandemic of our lifetime... It was early April of 2020 and Joe and Brittany connected over Bumble (sponsor us 😉). Bumble is tricky in that the girl has to begin the conversation. With that said, Brittany's respect for men asking out women grew a lot through that process. Brittany noticed in Joe's bio that he claimed to be "karaoke champ" and it looked like he had a picture at Brittany and her friends' favorite karaoke spot - Barney's Beanery in Pasadena! That was enough to get Brittany to see if they were a match and...sure enough, it was a match! Brittany's friend Parkar (matron of honor, and for good reason) was the first to message Joe (guess Brittany still needed some support in reaching out first) and the two quickly began to bond over Barneys. Good ol' Barneys always providing a good time and bringing people together. Joe and Brittany messaged back and forth for 2 months before deciding it was about time to meet in person. They met up at Joe's favorite breakfast spot in Pasadena, Marstons. There were no cars in the parking lot when Brittany arrived, but she received a text from Joe that he would be there in a minute. In about a minutes time a souped up Ferrari pulls into the parking lot. Brittany knew Joe worked on cars, but wasn't aware that he drove a car like that - "this guy drives THAT?!" she thought. Then another Ferrari pulls in right behind. "Oh my gosh, he brought a friend to our first date? This is weird." Then 3 other Ferraris drive up and Brittany knew this could not be Joe. Turns out it wasn't. Joe drives a much more modest Toyota Tacoma which he will never ever get rid of no matter how uncomfortable Brittany is when squished between Joe and his best friend Dan (love you, Dan!) Joe and Brittany's first date lasted well beyond breakfast and ended with the clear intentions of seeing each other again. As long as Brittany didn't chicken out half way through the week...

Joe and Brittany went on their second date the following weekend, which is where Joe says he decided he would marry Brittany if all went well, but he didn't tell her that on their second date of course! He's a little bit crazy, but not THAT crazy! Brittany, however, wasn't too far behind. By their 3rd date, she was all in. From there the two dated for a year and some change. The two quickly grew into best friends, became each other's gym buddy, and began taking on the small feat of trying every non-chain pizza place in existence in Southern California -- well, not really, but they sure ate a lot of pizza together. They also met each other's friends, families, and began navigating life together and having a ton of fun along the way!

It all began one December morning... Brittany and her friend Parkar were going to be heading up to Big Bear for a girls trip while Joe and his brother-in-law, Ryan, were at a football game...or so Brittany naively believed. The girls got ready for the fun weekend ahead, but little did Brittany know just HOW fun the weekend really was going to be. The girls set off for Big Bear in just enough time to get there before dark. Brittany figured Parkar didn't want to drive in the dark so she didn't think anything of it. Brittany also wasn't surprised by Parkar's behavior when she pulled over by a trail because she "wanted to get some cute pictures." Again, Parkar's spontaneous behavior was just grooming Brittany little by little to fall for EVERY LAST LITTLE TRAP on this day. Parkar and Brittany, while dressed cute for dinner, start climbing this random trail in the woods and Brittany, again, doesn't question Parkar because she's thinking, "well, we'll get some cute pics from this at least!" Brittany gets to an opening where Parkar instructs her to go stand over by a cool rock and as Brittany turns around, out walks Joe!!! (and Kevin and Andrew) Brittany thought she would be cool, calm, and collected during her someday proposal. Well, she was very wrong. She knew exactly what was going on and yelled down to Joe through her absolute surprise and happy tears, "It's too soon! What are you doing here!?" Joe walked up and said, "Brittany, I've known since our second date that I wanted to marry you" (guess he wasn't kidding). Brittany said YES! Brittany, the beautiful fool, fell for THE BEST SURPRISE EVER thanks to Parkar, Joe, Kevin, and Andrew. Now the next chapter begins...

We can't wait to start the next chapter of our lives and are excited to celebrate with all of you! :)