Sometimes romance starts like a meet-cute in a movie. For us, it was a first date that ended with Brandon singing “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” at stripparaoke.

This first date story is one for the ages. As all modern romance stories begin, we matched on Bumble. Unbeknownst to Courtney, Brandon was only in Portland for a long weekend for his birthday. Luckily, due to Courtney’s horrid planning skills and Brandon’s persistence, our first date was truly epic. It started with cocktails at a rooftop bar (Noble Rot) where Brandon confessed that he was only in town for the weekend to celebrate his birthday with friends. Feeling less pressure of anything serious coming of this, Courtney did what she would normally never do: meet Brandon's friends for dinner on their first date. They asked what they should do their last night in Portland to which Courtney responded that they should definitely hit up a strip club (Sassy’s to be exact), a pastime famous in Portland. Long story short, the group of four went to a barcade before heading to stripparaoke, where Brandon gave Courtney a stack of $1s, told her to “make me look good”, and sang, “I Believe in a Thing Called Love”. Truly the best first date either of them had been on. So much so that Courtney asked him to stay in Portland an extra night to hang out more.

After an unforgettable couple of days, Brandon booked Southwest tickets to visit Courtney every weekend for the next month and a half. As they say, when you know you know. Three months into a whirlwind romance, Courtney moved down to San Jose.

Our first year was filled with travel, eating, and overall adventuring.

Normally, this is when someone would say, “And the rest is history”. Unfortunately, COVID had other plans for us. When COVID hit, we asked Brandon’s grandpa if we could stay in his Ashland vacation home “for a few weeks until COVID is over”. 8 months later, we bought the Ashland house and started renovations. The first order of business: ripping out the blue shag carpet. After surviving a fire evacuation, avoiding COVID, renovating a 1950s house, and a feeble attempt to teach Courtney to golf, we knew we could get through all of life’s ups and downs laughing and supporting each other along the way.

In July 2021, Brandon treated Courtney to a trip to Tulum, Mexico, our first international trip since COVID began. On July 21st, 2021, Brandon hired a private chef and proposed to Courtney on a private rooftop overlooking Tulum’s jungle.

With so much gratitude for our time in beautiful Ashland, OR, we bought a condo in The Pearl in Portland, OR in Oct. 2021 and have been loving a return to city life.

Early this year, we finally decided to start planning our wedding and we are thrilled to have you celebrate with us! We know that asking you all to come to the San Juan Islands is a commitment, but we promise the beauty of the island, and the events (read: a gorgeous island and a wedding designed to maximize fun) are going to be well worth it. We look forward to spending a few days with our favorite people!

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