We're getting MARRIED! Come help us CELEBRATE!

Brittani & Jay will be getting married in a private ceremony in sunny Arizona on New Years Eve. Sending 2020 out with a...BLING!

Brittani & Jay met through a mutual friend who was persistent and name dropped, mentioning what a good match she thought we’d be on a regular basis to both parties. Brittani had repeatedly been told “it’ll happen when you’re not looking” and has never understood that phrase—if you hope to some day marry, how can you not be looking?!?! However, she decided to embrace it and would reply to her pushing with “I’m not dating. If it’s meant to be, it’ll just happen.” So Sara decided to make it happen!! She and Brittani were checking out a new local hangout and made sure to to message Jay and invite him to join, of course mentoning that Brittani was there. They visited some that night at the bar followed by Jay messaging and then inviting Brittani to dinner. They obviously hit it off and the rest is history. When reviewing details and editing, Jay made sure to mention that that wasn’t actually their first meeting. They were out with separate groups at the same establishment several weeks prior and were introduced when she stopped by their table briefly before going home. Neither of us are big on dates/anniversaries but writing this prompted questions about meeting, timing of him contacting, going on first date, etc. Humorously, Jay still has the Facebook messenger conversations all the way back to April 27, 2019!!

The weekend before Brittani’s birthday, Jase and Jarren (the boys) came wandering down the hall with a box and said “Happy early birthday!” Inside the box was a Da Vinci code cryptex (code/puzzle box) & some papers. After opening the gift & completely passing by the main card strategically placed in the front, she got really excited when she found the default code to open it. She was quickly informed the code had been changed & was pointed back to the first page. She would need to start with—a Riddle! ‘You know I hate these things because I’m terrible at them!’, she remarked. It took about 10 minutes for her to realize that the first clue was a person--Jarren. Apparently he had forgotten what his clue was because he acted quite surprised when I asked him if he had a clue for me. We got a giggle as he ran to his room to find his envelope. His clue led to Mallory, Brittani’s sister. She had gone to Hemingford for a birthday party so when called on Saturday afternoon. Brittani and the Blattner men met Brittani’s parents for a day at the lake. On the way home, Mallory finally passed her clue along-27 hrs later-and as a QR code. This made Brittani roll her eyes because Jay had used her phone earlier in the week to ‘do a test for a work project’ and knew she couldn’t open it on her phone. She had to borrow his to see what the clue was. Her clue led to Jase who said “Sorry, you’ll have to wait because I forgot it.” About 15 seconds later he handed her his clue with a big smile.

His clue led to Brittani’s mom...she didn’t answer!! Brittani’s mom called back about 20 mins later & when asked if she had the next clue she simply stated: “your birthday is July 19th” several times. She eventually said she'd have to check and hung up. She then text the QR code! Her clue led to Jeff, Brittani’s brother-in-law. He didn’t recall ever getting a clue at all so Brittani had to text Mal and ask for Jeff's clue. She told him to go look in his text messages from Friday for a number he probably didn't have saved in his phone book. He sent his clue along with the message "So you're saying if I would have deleted this, you never would have been able to complete the mission?" Jeff's clue led to Greg, Brittani’s dad. During the last few clues, Brittani had sent a pic of the contraption to those members of her family whom she'd been requesting information from in an attempt to explain why she was asking for clues & what she was working on since they didn’t know what exactly she was doing. They'd only been told it was a treasure hunt but all parties were suspicious! Mal was telling her to hurry—the irony! After getting Jeff’s clue, Brittani knew what the word likely was... She was fidgeting with it, trying to figure out how it would even open when the contraption opened, shooting the end of it across the couch as Jay fearfully watched it sail through the air. Tucked inside of a heart shaped hole was a shiny ring. Jay slid out of the chair, onto his knee. He says he asked “will you marry me?” But she only recalls hearing ‘will you?’ She slipped the ring on her finger & quickly started asking if his boys knew about the proposal, whether they were ok with it, whether her family knew. After answering her rapid fire questions, he asked if that was a yes & it obviously was!

Jay had originally planned to propose over the July 4th weekend when all parties involved were together in Omaha but the ring was late in arriving. The original plan involved typed out clues in an envelope, not QR codes! After the round of 20 questions, Brittani called her parents and Mallory to show them what the "treasure" that had been hidden within the puzzle box. She nonchalantly ;) sat with her left hand beneath her chin! She showed them the details of “the contraption” and Sharol pointed out the heart shape which had previously been missed. Oops! :) There were some other details that made this video chat memorable but you can ask Sharol about them! She probably won’t tell you!!