"Our story actually begins many eons ago..."

...with Erin and Dray meeting while in high school (c/o '04), through some mutual friends at the time. Friendship throughout high school and college, keeping in touch while Dray served in the Navy, and a love of Renaissance Faires eventually brought them to where they are today.

They ultimately reconnected through Ren Faire, both working at TRF in the early fall of 2018, and after a short while, Dray asked Erin out for coffee. Erin (stubborn as she is) held off, having recently come out of a long-term relationship, but over the next couple of months, they continued talking over the phone and deepening their connection.

With the outward excuse of him working another faire that weekend, Erin did not invite Dray to her cousin's wedding in February of 2019, but she finally drew up the courage enough to ask if he'd like to attend a birthday celebration in Wimberly that August, as he was freshly home to Texas from Colorado.

And so, the plot thickens...

Even in the early days of the relationship, conversations on heavy topics were easily talked over. Honestly, the hardest part of any of it was actually saying "I love you" out loud for the first time, though, admittedly, it had been obvious for months.

They were in it for the long haul.

A road trip to California in January of 2020 can be cited as the finite "this is it" experience. They found out they can spend hours in a car without wanting to murder one another, their tastes in road music align perfectly, and a high-stress car trouble situation proved it would take a whole lot more than that to break 'em down.

For the day after Christmas '22, Dray asked Erin if she'd like to go hiking, and, stopping to sit a while on a driftwood log overlooking the Lampasas River, with an engagement ring in a beautifully hand-crafted box (he made it!) that, apparently, everybody but her knew about, she was taken completely by surprise. When coffee is used to *calm down*, you know it's a good one, haha!

Over the next while, wedding ideas and tentative plans were gathered, and discarded. Eventually, the idea of elopement came to the forefront, with the dream photo ideas being of the stuff that will never be found here in Central Texas - snowy mountains and old, old forests.

Dray and Erin didn't really expect much when, purely out of curiosity, they drove around various neighborhoods to see what was available in houses on the market, talking about dreams of having a home of their own (But let's be real, it's all for the cats. 😸😹).

Lo and behold, the planets aligned, and the VA benefits came through, and the perfect house was there, just waiting for its orangey-yellow accent walls to be covered with a beautiful pine green.

D&E moved in at the end of February 2024, and have been slowly but surely building their new life together.

In an impromptu decision the Thursday evening before Mother's Day, they agreed that the legalities should just be done and out of the way. They had waited long enough.

Inviting their mothers for lunch on Sunday, they began to hatch the plan to surprise them with asking them to sign as witnesses on the marriage certificate.

The day began with storms and 1-inch hail falling from the sky. (Rain on your wedding day is good luck, right? 😅) Lunch came out delicious, and the moms were happy and excited.

Freshly officiated and long-time friend Jillian lent her voice and impressively neat handwriting to make it legal, and her brother Jarek offered his nifty photography gear and skills to the afternoon.

Casual and full of fun and laughter, it was a beautifully perfect day.

Even with the shoes literally falling apart 😂

Plans persist for piecing together an elopement in ideal scenery. Eventually, photos of romantically whimsical inspirations will hang on the walls of the house that was never expected, but is here, and is ever evolving as a home full of love.

"To Infinity, And Beyond..."