Man. All I can say is that Taylor took my breath away. We worked together for about a year in Pullman before we really spoke with each other, but once we did, an instant friendship formed. A friendship I don't think at the time either of us knew we needed. We sat down and had lunch one day during our break from work and I quickly realized how much the two of us had in common. Another thing that caught me off guard, was how infectious and beautiful her smile was. Whenever she smiled, I couldn't resist the urge to smile back at her. It didn't take long for me to think of every excuse I could to spend more time with this girl. I am a bit ashamed to say, the best plan I came up with to spend time with Taylor was to entice her with my roommate's-girlfriend's new kitten. Needless to say, she took the bait and came over to hangout with the cat....and myself. For a few months we would hangout almost every day. Some days it was going to the gym together and running home, other days it was playing guitar and singing all night. I think my favorite nights were those where we would stay up late and watch youtube videos until she would pass out. Although it wasn't either of our intentions when it started, the friendship that we had evolved into the love that we now share. I love this woman to death. - The Groom

5/15 & 5/16 We were all set to fly to Dublin, Ireland for Blake's college graduation trip. The night before we leave I am sorting through our mail and I find the Shane Co. envelope (it was see-through I didn't open it). For any of you that don't know, Shane Co. is a jewelry company known for engagement rings. So obviously I suspected that was probably what it was and why not on our first international trip together? I continued to tell a few of my close friends who immediately called Blake and told him what happened. His family panicked and knew they had to come up with a plan to throw me off. They brought a fake diamond necklace and Blake gave it to me on the plane ride to Ireland. He told me it was from Shane Co. and that it was a real diamond, and I believed him. 5/17 We are on a bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher and our tour guide yells over the speaker "Did anyone get engaged!?" All I could think was "not me" and I got really upset not knowing what the next day would have in store for all of us. 5/18 Our driver, Ray, picked us up for our 45 minute ride to Ashford Castle. When we arrive we were greeted by multiple people, one of them being Laura. We went on a tour of the castle where we ended up in the theater room for a special film. The stage was filled with roses and my favorite Disney song "I See the Light" from Tangled started to play. The video was filled with memories of our journey in a special story book read by the employees of the castle. At the end of the video Blake stood up and asked me to marry him. (I kind of blacked out a little bit but I think he did...) This was a proposal from my dreams, the kind of proposal that my Disney princess loving self never thought was possible. Blake and Debbie (Blake's mom) spent months writing our story book and coordinating with Laura and the rest of her team in Ireland. The night was finished off with the most amazing meal I have ever had with my wonderful soon-to-be family. - The Bride

As many of you know, Taylor and I took a couple stabs at planning weddings in the midst of the pandemic with little success. Things were very complicated but we knew that we would rather wait to have a ceremony until we were fairly certain that we could celebrate completely and safely with all of our loved ones. That being said, we knew that we still wanted to be married and we were ready to take this huge step in our lives together. Although many people are content going to the courthouse and getting married quickly, it didn't sound like the right option for us. Even though I joked about us getting married just so Taylor could get my work "bennies" (benefits), we were still hoping for something a bit more special. Luckily, Captain Kuhrt and Captain Chad came to the rescue, offering to take us out on the beautiful, historical wooden yacht called Linmar for a cruise around the Puget Sound. Since we were on the water, Kuhrt was ordained to marry us as Captain of the vessel and Chad and Laurie (his wife) agreed to be our witnesses! Although we were saving having our family and other friends around for our future ceremony, the three of them (with the addition of our rescue pup Cooper) really made us feel special and like what we were committing to on the boat that day was so much more than just signing paperwork. We are so grateful for the experience that day, and we are also happy for the 2 years of marriage that have led us to our delayed ceremony that we get to share with all of you this Summer! - The Groom