Wedding Date on Aug 27, 2016

From The Groom: The man of my dreams materialized before me in October 2012. A mutual friend had been eager to introduce us for a few months, but unbeknown to him, Tyler and I met at a birthday gathering. I describe it as my "movie moment" because I am normally composed and can navigate through any situation. Upon seeing Tyler walk through the door, it seemed like time slowed down. I was mesmerized. I felt my neck get hot and my tongue twisting. I couldn't gather my thoughts nor could I muster the words to introduce myself. Fortunately, I could fade into the group I was with. Only 5 minutes had passed when I felt the immediate need to get out of the discomfort I was experiencing. Of all the people in the room that I had met that night, I singled out Tyler to say goodbye to. I approached him, introduced myself as a friend of a friend, to which he replied, "I know who you are" with a smitten smile. And with that, I fumbled and excused myself from the party. Thankfully, I was able to recover. A few days later we started to text and made plans to have dinner. Dinner was nice, with a definite air of "first date" and mutual attraction. This was merely a stepping stone in our journey. We didn't start dating, nor did we become close friends. We spent the next 8 months randomly seeing each other out and about or texting to say "hi" or to inquire about hair products. It wasn't until I was spending my last night of my vacation in New Zealand in May 2013 did I experience that "something" that triggered me to call Tyler and ask him out on a date. The "something" was a dream I had; I dreamt that Tyler and I were sitting on my grandparents' couch in their living room. My grandparents at this point were already deceased, but in my dream they were alive and supportive. My "Haw," the nickname my cousin gave our grandma, leaned in and said, "Keep him around, he's a good one." I woke up and immediately sent a message to Tyler to set up a lunch date when I returned. In early June with that lunch date we started to see each other. We took the time to get to know each other and in September of 2013 we decided to commit and see each other exclusively-- nearly a full year after meeting. We joke about our 'countdown' relationship: We knew each other 1 year before dating. 2 years after meeting we moved in together. We got engaged after 3 years. And at 4 years, we were married.