Most of you reading this know our story, so our intent on this page is to pull back the curtain on our relationship prior to our wedding day. Most of you also know that we both went into science careers for only one reason, our aversion to essay writing, yet here we are. (You’re right, maybe that’s not the only reason but it’s definitely an added bonus). No better place to start than from the very beginning. Brianna was born in Singapore, eventually moving to Ankeny, IA for middle school and attended Ankeny High School. Brandon was born and raised in West Des Moines, IA and attended (the obviously better) Valley High School. The story of “us” begins where a lot of great stories (for better or for worse) begin, at college. As we both entered college as pre-health science majors, we were assigned to the same dorm, with Brandon being on the 11th floor with the guys and Brianna being on the 12th floor with the ladies. After having first met our freshman year in the dorms, we didn’t start dating for another two years, at the start of our junior years. As we had already known each other for two years, we never truly had a first date (I know, sorry to let you down, but from hearing enough Grey’s Anatomy episodes in the background, I know that this is an important component of every great story plot). After many milestones through our dating years, graduating college in 2016, Brandon starting medical school in 2018, Brianna attending nursing school, our engagement occurred in the Summer of 2021. It took place at a local Iowa City apple orchard, Wilson’s Orchard, with Brianna believing we were going there to celebrate a family birthday. In fact, it was kept such a secret that half the family who attended our engagement thought it was a birthday celebration. It was humorous to see them quickly change their “happy birthday” cards into “happy engagement” cards. For those of you doing the math in your head, that amounts to 11 years since first meeting, 9 years of dating, and 2 years of engagement. A simple phrase greatly sums up our story, “Good things take time, great things take longer!” We continue to connect through our mutual love for traveling (especially when it involves hiking), the Iowa Hawkeyes (Go Hawks!), medicine, outdoor activities, and good drinks at local breweries. Maybe someday I will be able to include golf on that list, but for now I am intent with having a great caddie. We are grateful for the part each one of you has played in our story, helping us get to where we are today, and we look forward to you all helping us celebrate the next chapter of our story come October! Here’s to many years, Brandon & Brianna