Briana and David first met in college at the University of Nevada, Reno through a mutual friend. The couple chose to celebrate their engagement in a fun filled snow shoot in Lake Tahoe, with Capture Create Studios. Here is what they had to tell us about their love story so far.
Let’s start at the beginning. How did you two first meet? We first met in College at the University of Nevada, Reno through a mutual friend of ours. David was on the club volleyball team, and so was my friend Maclane. We met Freshman year but got so caught up in other activities and things we never actually started dating until Senior year, in 2015. It's actually really funny because my friend Maclane was having a 1 year dating anniversary party for her and her now fiancé Will in her backyard. David and I both showed up separately to celebrate the happy couple and it was then when he asked Maclane, "Hey, what's her story, I want to get to know Bri if you think that's okay." From there, he had asked me on a date, however, the next day was Valentines day so I said no, but are you free Sunday? (which was the following day)" On our first date, which was that Sunday, he took me to a trampoline park up in Reno and I quickly learned how to do a backflip into the foam pit. (We have both worked at trampoline parks in the past!) Date #2 was dinner and a movie where I didn't even touch my beer...I was so nervous. David of course finished his! Our third date that same week was heading up the slopes where I finally learned how to make turns on my snowboard. His patience helped me get down the slopes after falling over and over again and wanting to give up. After that as I was about to ask him if we could "make it official" he said he was about to ask me out officially that night over dinner. I remember pulling up our computers and making it Facebook official and being so damn giddy about it. We have been inseparable ever since.
What makes your relationship special? Tell us some things that you both value in your time together. (example: pushing each other to new limits, love to travel, huge comic book fans, foodies, etc.) What makes your relationship unique? Our relationship is so unique because we bring out the best in each other. We love to travel, backpack, camp, fish, bike, hike, you name it, but I think what makes us both so happy all the time is that we get to be the best version of ourselves around each other, while still doing the things we love, and not having to change who we are from our core. Yes, there are times we compromise, like any couple does, however, we are constantly learning new hobbies from each other's already existing interests and growing stronger from it. We love mountain biking and hiking in the summer time. In the winter, we love snowboarding and snowshoeing in the Rocky Mountains. We thrive in the outdoors. It's part of the reason we moved recently from Northern California to the outskirts of Denver, Colorado. We love cooking pasta from scratch together. (David is a chef and has Italian roots) We will occasionally geek out to video games in multi-combat mode.
How did you know your partner was the one? When did you first know this in your relationship? (these may often be the same moment, but aren’t always) It's actually pretty funny because we knew at separate times we were the one for each other. It was honestly after a few weeks of dating that I later found out David had called his mother and said, "Mom, I've found the one." and I remember he told me that very early on in our relationship. I admired him for it but I waited a bit longer to cross off the checkboxes before I knew. It must've been a few months later when I told him back that I felt the same way. It honestly came down to the way he looked at me. It was a few months into dating when everything I said or did meant the absolute world to him and he began to look at me in a way that showed me he had my undivided attention and that we were put on this earth to find each other, as soulmates. To this day, it is my absolute favorite thing about him, the way he looks at me. It tells me everything.
Give us all the details about the proposal. How and where did it happen? Was it a surprise? What was the planning process? I had guessed so many times that it would be on a hike, or I would be able to guess and let me tell you he had me FOOLED. It was a casual Sunday morning, and he agreed to go to breakfast with my mom and a few friends, to our usual local spot downtown Pleasanton on the day he proposed. I had not even brushed my teeth or ran a brush through my hair that morning. That's how little I knew. After eating pancakes and eggs we headed back to my mom's home where I showed David a new song I had learned on the piano. It was called "River Flows in You" and honestly David and I had heard that song on the radio a few days earlier and I said that song is so beautiful I want to learn how to play it on the piano. I was never taught how to properly play the piano, hell, I watch YouTube videos and then memorize sections and can play by heart. It is one of the few talents I have found over the years. So here I am playing this song for David that I only learned a few days ago mind you, when he stops me half way through. He gives me this beautiful scrapbook of all the photos of us over the years. Now this usually would be surprising to most folks but since David has given me scrapbooks in the past, I am still clueless as to what is going on at this moment. All I know is I really want to finish the song I learned on the piano for him, and he just stopped me right in the middle to show me this book. I'm flipping through the pages and showing my mom and sister the images, explaining some of the photos and it wasn't until I get to the last page that there's an insert that says "Read me" and I pull it out and it says "Turn around" that I start to ugly cry. And when I say ugly cry, I have a video that shows me bawling, and you would've thought someone had died ugly cry. I was so surprised and happy tears came pouring down my face. He got down on one knee and proposed in front of my family, who was filming my reaction and it was so special. To have my loved ones, and the love of my life there in that moment was something I will never forget. He got me good. I was so surprised and of course said YES! (through the happy tears) It was the best day of my life thus far.
We’re all about the bling… Tell us all about that ring! He had two options he was down to and he asked my sister what she thought I would like better. One ring had three diamonds, and the meaning was I was one of three sisters and my sisters mean the absolute world to me. The other ring had one larger diamond, centrally located, princess cut and that's the one he went with. I would've loved either ring but am so happy with the one he chose because I look at it every single day and it reminds me of him and that very day he proposed.
Are you excited to start planning your wedding day? Do you have any ideas in mind yet? Yes, all the hard stuff has already been planned. We have seating charts left, and making sure the vendors know of the timeline but I'm SO EXCITED!!!! At this point all I have to do is show up and marry the man of my dreams. I mean come on, it really doesn't get better than that!
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Photographer: Capture Create Studios
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