We met like every modern day romance, through an online dating app…. As both of us would tell it differently and interrupt or add in, please read it as a script for movie (we are that interesting right?) This is where Jacob would chime in and say…. "Well I am" and I would roll my eyes and smile at him. Anyways we are already off track, typical us…… Jacob: I found her first on the app but didn’t swipe because I thought she was too far away but too cute to say no to. Allison: Typical, he didn’t want to drive or think I was worth it, but I showed him by moving 3000 miles to him. No wait….dang it I did that for him. How did it turn around on me? Ugh, he is really cute and nice so I got a good deal I guess. Anyways this dude was littered with red flags! I remember telling my mom and friends there was no way this was happening and you know when you say that what happens….. Jacob: I had to put the charm on full but after MOUNTAINS of texts, I convinced her to go on a date with me to a little coffee place. Even though she drove to the wrong one an hour away, I knew she was worth the wait. Once the first date jitters passed, we easily fell into our normal way of talking and it felt like it did when we would text. Allison: He left out the part where we drove to the park after coffee and I played a mean joke of saying "nice to meet you, I’m gonna head home" and he was surprised and then I said ‘just kidding!’ and a lifelong teasing started Jacob: if she let me leave we wouldn’t have had our first kiss. Anyway, after the date we called each other and talked as we each drove home. Basically been inseparable ever since.

Allison: VERY abridged version but in the interest of time and attention spans…three months after we starting dating, Jacob had been job searching (again one of his red flags, but we were dating now so it was a motivated unemployed). Anyways he got a call for a job in California, and no big deal it wasn’t on the complete other side of the country with a three hour time difference! However I acted happy for him even though I was very heartbroken. Jacob: Didn’t you say you wanted the abridged version?! I couldn’t let her go, so I asked her if she would be willingly to be in a long distance relationship. We came up with a plan to see each other every 6 weeks and while it was tough, it was 100% worth it and we made coast to coast long distance work…but let’s not do that again. Allison: Oh shush it wouldn’t be us if it wasn’t a full book like our texts, brings me back, these days we just text "on my way home" or "need anything from the store" and when I mean books it would take 20 minutes to respond! Okay back to long distance, it was video dates and phone calls and we worried if we would still like each other when we visited but the first visit Jacob said "I love you", but let’s be clear I said it first. I mean if you meet him you understand. The rest of the long distance journey is boring but our relationship grew and our communication was amazing and FINALLY Jacob asked me to move to California on our trip to Seattle to celebrate our one year anniversary and I was ready to get out of Florida. So I packed up all that could fit in a rental Jeep Compass, grabbed Charlie and headed out west. Jacob: I flew out to Texas and helped her make it the rest of the way. We got settled, Charlie and I came to an understanding, everything fell into place and it just felt right. It felt so good we went ahead and got another dog (or Allison convinced me). Fast forward a little bit more and I’m on one knee at Bridal Veil falls in Yosemite National Park with her saying the most “no’s” I’ve ever heard her say but with a smile. Allison: You forgot the part about me giving you popsicle sticks for our first Valentine’s Day together and that was the parks I wanted to go to where we had a memory of (first kiss, etc.) Anyways, so yes Jacob proposed with the dogs present and it was perfect, oh sorry no that was the burger we had after and the amazing dinner too! So now all of you can fully see the Jacob and Allison show live on November 10, 2024 and if you think this was long, wait for our vows, have you met Jacob? Jacob: It’ll be a blast and we look forward to seeing you all there, this is a Bollinger wedding after all, so bring your party shoes! Love, Jacob and Allison