Julia: I had been working at the Inn for long enough to know when someone came in for the first time and said they’d be back the following week the chances were low at best that it actually happened. And to add to that, when they say they’re going to bring a friend, next to zero chance. But however slim the chances were, it happened.

Drew: Going to the bar was far from a unique experience for me at the time, especially during basketball season coaching alongside Austin. So when he showed up to practice on Friday and told me we had somewhere to go after practice next Thursday, I said “Whatever, where to now?” I had heard of the Russia Inn, and actually had been there less than a month prior for lunch on a Saturday afternoon.

Julia: I’m not sure what I thought when Drew first walked in. I recognized Austin, barely remembered him name but he was a man of his word and came back with a friend. They sat at the bar and started drinking and in about an hours time I had been asked for my number and if I wanted to go to Nashville for St. Patty’s day. I of course said no.

Drew: I’d be lying if I said it was love at first sight. She wasn’t exactly the most inviting person in the world. She’ll tell you it’s because I came on so strong to her, but I think she just didn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth. For at least the first month, I kept the act up. I was working hard trying to find out things about her and honestly just get a chance with her. The breakthrough ironically came from a concert.

Julia: I let him buy my ticket for the Garth Brooks concert. Which if you know me, it’s hard for me to trust anyone with this task, let alone someone I barely knew. But I was going to be busy at work when they went on sale, so I had to trust him. I reluctantly gave him my number so we could discuss where we wanted to sit and so I could remind him to get on in the morning to buy them. He did alright, the seats were good.

Drew: The seats were great. But I almost didn’t go. Basketball season ended and my Thursday night routine of going to the Inn slowed down a little. I think I went about 3 weeks without seeing her and honestly I thought about trying to sell the tickets. But I started showing back up and she actually came to Bradford to party a couple times so we started to grow an actual friendship. The first time I actually went to her house was with Gerry. Austin and I closed down the Inn of a Friday that Gerry was working and he invited us back to the house to continue drinking in the basement. Julia was there too, you know, since she lives there.

Julia: We were friends but I still wasn’t expecting it to turn into anything more than that. We barely talked and when we did it wasn’t anything serious like we were trying to build something more.

Drew: Country Concert is when the switch was flipped for me. We met up for the camper party and hung out with other friends until the music really started. We got split up during the main show that night but I spotted her midway through it. I started making my way to her and got about 15 feet from her but the crowd was too packed and I had a decent view of the stage so I stayed where I was. If I had to point to one moment when I knew I wanted more it was at this time. I was upset that I couldn’t make it to her and sing along with her during this concert.

Julia: Our first date was to the drive in a few weeks after CC. We went out to some barbecue restaurant I had never heard of and then went to the movie. The first movie is what I would classify as a dumb superhero movie but he seemed to be interested in it. The second movie was the new Top Gun, that’s actually why we were there.

Drew: The movies were good. The following week we went to a wedding together. If you ask her, I went to the wedding with her mom. She says that she invited me, but I don’t remember it. But on that Thursday when she was bartending Lynn said that I could be her date. I had a golf outing that afternoon with Gerry and Austin. So regardless of who’s date I was, I showed up with Gerry after we got done golfing. I knew close to 0 people at this wedding, and because of that I drank a lot.

Julia: He was drunk. We walked home with Nicole. I put her to bed and after I did that, I came out to the kitchen to find Drew eating cheese and crackers with my mom. I’m pretty sure he ate an entire sleeve of crackers.

Drew: I asked her out officially after we spent a Sunday together. It’s hard to say “Will you be my girlfriend?” Without sounding like a 6th grader but she refused to let me ask any other way.

Julia: I’m not going to say it’s been perfect since the start. We’ve had our fair share of arguments and heated discussions but there’s never been anything I felt like we could work through. A big test for us was our first trip together in December. Driving to South Carolina and back in a 3 day span is not light task, especially for people that haven’t even known each other a year. But the trip was incredible and really pushed us forward.

Drew: I started ring shopping pretty quick. I think it was shortly after Valentine’s Day when I started. I picked the ring up the Thursday before Easter. That was relatively the easy part, the hard part was going to find a time when I could ask. We were on a streak of either a concert or weddings essentially every weekend. The breakthrough came when she switched jobs.

Julia: I was frustrated at work so to say I was happy to be switching jobs would be an understatement. I nearly a month off between jobs. And Drew decided that he was going to take a day off my last week of vacation so that we could spend some time together. He said he was going to plan a date for the day and I was excited. We started by sleeping in and then heading to a new breakfast restaurant north of Cincinnati. After that we went to the outlet malls because he knows I love to shop. Coincidentally he bought more things than I did. Once we were done there we went to Top Golf. We were there for 2 hours which is way too long for just the two of us. We stopped by one more shopping center on the way home before heading to Agave and Rye in Troy for dinner. We finished dinner and headed home to end the date, or so I thought.

Drew: The whole point was just to get her out of the house. I had bought all the supplies for an at home proposal but just needed her away so that it could be set up. My brother in law showed up to my house a mere 15 minutes after we left in the morning and started setting everything up. The day went pretty smoothly at least for as nervous as I was. I did think we were going to be late but our food arrived in what seemed like record time for dinner. But as dinner time was approaching so was a storm. I don’t think the storm would’ve changed the outcome of the proposal but the pictures probably would’ve looked a little different. We got back to the house about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Thankfully everything was ready to go, except for Julia.

Julia: I had no clue. We got out of the truck and he walked right past the back seat where all the stuff was that we needed to carry in the house. I looked at home like he was crazy if he thought I was carrying it all my myself. He opened the back door to the garage and I thought, “oh that’s smart, that way we don’t have to open it when our hands are full”. He then comes to my side of the truck, takes me sunglasses off my head and unclips my cross body bag that I had on. I was confused.

Drew: I knew she didn’t want those things on in the pictures, but I couldn’t tell her why I thought she needed to take them off of her. And I practically had to push her towards the back door, she wouldn’t move. “We have stuff to carry in” she kept saying. But finally she obliged and started walking to the back door.

Julia: I got to the back door and the first thing I saw was Drew’s sister taking pictures from the bathroom window. I then noticed the flower petals and the candles lining the sidewalk. We walked towards the back deck where there were even more camera on us. There were white sheets hanging up surrounding us with white lights hanging in front of them. There was just a little pathway to the center of the white sheet on the ground. And then he pulled the ring box out like it had been in his pocket all day.

Drew: It had been in the truck all day. But there was no way I was carrying that around all day. I was nervous enough as it was let alone making sure I didn’t lose that. I guess you could say the rest is history.


We would like to thank everyone who was apart of our journey in the beginning stages of our lives together and we can’t wait to celebrate with you all on our wedding day!