In Case You Were Wondering...

Oooooh look! It's time for the sweet, retrospective part! Gather the kids and read out loud to Grandma- you're about to have your cold, recession-hardened heart warmed to the temperature of a fresh Grand Marnier Souffle. To the best of our recollection (it's been 12 years, after all), here's an abbreviated version of our lives together:

September, 1997: Paso Robles High School, 5th Period Journalism Class.  Dawn hijacked all of Brian's friends and began monopolizing their time.  Little did Brian know it was a sly plan by Dawn to get Brian to notice her. This would not be the last time he was oblivious to Dawn's calculated advances.

October, 1997:  There is a bit of truth to the statement that our relationship started with Pizza Hut pay phone (yes, a pay phone- this was the 90's and 17 year olds didn't have iPhones, thankfully).  Krista, Dawn's BFF (and current Matron of Honor), made Dawn call Brian and ask him to attend a pizza party/movie night, because that's what good 17 year old kids do. Really!  Suffice to say, Brian was able to pull himself away from watching Val Kilmer movies and weasel his way out The Enforcer's Iron Grip (thanks Mom), though he was subsequently grounded for staying out too late. And so continued the obligatory high school flirting, awkward yet hopeful hellos in the hallway, trigonometry.  Dawn managed to strategically attend several of Brian's water polo games (he looks very good in a Speedo to this day), graciously and patiently spending time laughing at his (often unfunny) jokes in journalism class, and visited him at his job as a surf equipment-slinging raconteur.

November 26, 1997: Brian asks Dawn on a killer lunch date...unbeknownst to her, she will be meeting Brian's entire family (Debbie, Mary Kate, Chase, Aunt Linda, Jenna) and family friends (Lainey).  We came to find out later that this was definitely planned, and not nearly as "coincidental" and they would have it seem. Needless to say her various charms won them all over. Interesting fact: Brian paid for lunch with a $100 bill in vainly desperate attempt to prove that one can make money putting together skateboards all day. Luckily, Dawn isn't impressed by this sort of thing. Along the way Brian had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of one Steve Hove, but also the entire Harrell family (quite literally as our first date happened upon the Thanksgiving holiday).

November 26, 1997 - November 25, 2008: Ok, here it goes, so pay attention.
Now Dawn & Brian have the dubious honor of officially being a high school couple. Brian's unwavering devotion even leads him to attend the following, with pleasure: Winter Ball, various Nutcracker Ballet performances,1998 Paso Robles High School Prom, and even more of Dawn's dance performances. Snowboarding trips were had, PRHS graduations graduated.

Always pragmatic, we decided to attend different colleges in different towns- Dawn at Concordia University, Irvine and Brian at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Amazingly, we managed to successfully continue our long distance relationship, due in no small part to Richard and Nola's (Brian's grandparents) hospitality in Claremont where we met up on the weekends. Attendees of the wedding can personally thank "Grandma & Grandpa" (you can call them that if you like), without whom we certainly wouldn't be enjoying this fantastic party.

What followed was a ten-year blur: Dawn home for the summers; new school years; Brian moving to San Luis; more summer fun with Justin, Jason, James and Camo; Dawn studying for and taking the LSAT; more school; Law School applications/essays/stress; Dawn's acceptance into Law School; Dawn's college graduation in May, 2002; Dawn attending Law School August, 2002; Brian's college graduation, December, 2003; Brian venturing to Costa Mesa with Dawn and Michael and then Tim; Dawn graduating from Law School and studying for the bar exam- while at the same time trying not to kill Tim and a visiting Justin Boyes for their late night partying and burnt quesadillas;  Dawn taking the bar exam; month long sojourn to Europe with Chase Hall in August, 2005; attempting "real life" (i.e., careers, etc.); Dawn passed the bar exam December, 2005 (to no ones surprise except her own); settling into life and dating for three more years trying to figure out how not to murder each other and competing for the love of our cat Oliver.

November 26, 2008 ("11 YEARS LATER" as Dawn likes to say, in all caps):  The day many thought would never come- engagement!  In an attempt to buck tradition (as he is generally wont to do), a nervy Brian woke Dawn up in the early morning fog on their 11 year anniversary. The proposal was made- in pajamas at Brian's parents house (Hall Manor), and was happily accepted by the rightfully surprised Bride-To-Be. Champagne and exuberance were had by all.

November 27, 2008 - Present:  Wedding planning, writing this blog.

September 26, 2009:  We will finally "make it official" and party down.

See, it wasn't really that long. And if it was, it was certainly worth the wait.

Update- On The Home Stretch

Much progress has been made. Here's what we did this last weekend:
-Made ring arrangements.
-Arranged, stuffed, and labled invitations- be on the lookout.
-Finalized (yeah right. -Brian) flowers and decorations.
-Best (or is it "beast?") man Tim  finalized bachelor party arrangements. Yikes.
-Dawn had a final dress fitting and Brian received his suit from Jason @Thick As Thieves LA
-And finally, the amazing Jeff Newsom braved the 1400-degree summertime Paso Robles heat to shoot our engagement pictures. Even the notoriously-awkward Brian was getting fierce.