February 12th, 2008

I'm really supposed to be writing a paper on health and safety standards in the elementary classroom right now, but I realized that I haven't posted anything about our wedding website, and figured that I'd at least share a tidbit with you :)

How We Met:

We met our sophomore year in college when Bethany transferred to Concordia University. We made an interesting pair: Jesse was the saxophonist that our orchestra director always had to ask to play more softly, and Bethany was the harpist who could never play loud enough to make Jeff happy.

We clicked during Orchestra Retreat in 2005, discovering that we shared a common love for Craisins (and thought it was sacrilegious that half of the people in orchestra had no idea what those are), as well as children and music.

We remained casual friends until the next year's orchestra retreat where Jesse offered Beth a seat in his car for any off-campus events, and everyone else in the orchestra started whispering and pointing fingers.

A day that will always be special to us was the day we officially began dating. It was the Saturday after finals, and Jesse and Bethany drove up to Ventura to see her family. After spending some time with them (and an apparent aside conversation between Beth's dad and Jesse), the two of us drove the whole one mile trip to the beach in Bethany's hometown and walked along the shore at sunset. Above the sound of the strong wind and crashing waves, Jesse asked Bethany on that beach if she would date him, and she answered "yes!"

Then, before the wind blew us away, we ran back to the car and drove to the harbor, where we walked hand-in-hand underneath an umbrella in the soft rain, enjoying the excitement of the certainty that we had each found "the one."

How We Got Engaged:

A year later, Jesse proposed on the same beach at sunset. No hurricane-force winds or downpours this time, just a soft sunset and a sand dune to enjoy it from. While Bethany was enraptured with the sun setting behind her islands, Jesse slid to one knee and told Bethany how much he loved her and was looking forward to sharing the rest of his life with her.

Since it was Christmas Eve, our whole family was back at the house (and, because of an insider's tip from the father of the bride-to-be) everyone was waiting for us to return to celebrate!