We have been together for 2.5 years and met while in college at the University of Idaho, I was on the swim team, and she was on the soccer team.
Fiona– I saw Bri on my first day of classes, and I did a double-take and tried to park as fast as I could to catch up to her. She is the fastest walker I’ve ever met, and I spent the next 6-8 months trying to time it perfectly so I could catch up to her and start a conversation.
We didn’t end up officially connecting until one of our mutual friends told us we thought each other was hot… which eventually led to a drunk Instagram DM from Fiona to me on Christmas Eve.
Tell us about the planning process for the proposal.
We talked about getting engaged before it happened, but once Fiona decided she would start ring shopping, I was completely out of the loop. We agreed early on that Fiona would be the one to propose because we both saw ourselves in those “roles” before we had even met. From my perspective, she did an excellent job hiding it from me, and I was completely caught off guard! She hid the ring in the trunk of her car near her car cleaning supplies, somewhere she knew I would never look.
From Fiona’s perspective, she had the ring for six months before she proposed. She thought she would make this grand proposal with a surprise photographer, but her plans changed because she realized that instead of a strategically planned proposal, she would do it when it felt the most right. Also, since she is the one who drives the most, she didn’t feel it would be a huge feat to pull the ring out of her trunk when she was ready.
Any stories from the lead-up to the proposal, stressful or funny?
Not sure there is anything else that stood out other than what I mentioned in my inquiry about everything going absolutely perfect that day! Looking back, I remember thinking she was acting strange that day, very jittery and talking to our buddies more than she was talking to me, which was totally cool. But it was just a little more than usual!
What led you to the destination of the proposal?
We visit Seattle often because we have two friends from college who live there now, so we stay with them and go out to bars. Fiona said that a big part of it was the proximity to a local gay bar that we visit almost every time. If there was one part of the night she wanted to plan, it was that we would go to a Drag Show after we got engaged, and we definitely did!
Tell us about the engagement ring experience. Where are the rings from?
My ring is from Venvs, a small business in Canada that I found on TikTok about a year ago. I fell in love with all of Hailey’s designs, and when I read her story about why she started the company, I knew I wanted a ring from her! We bought Fiona some silicone rings afterwards because we felt weird that I was the only one wearing a ring. She didn’t want a metal band yet, but something as a placeholder. We really wanted to emphasize that WE are engaged to be married. So she didn’t just put a ring on my finger to symbolize “ownership”. We wanted to both wear them to show that we were in this together.
What does your engagement mean to you both? Has anything changed?
Not much has changed since we got engaged. We both had that post-engagement glow for a while, and we really wanted to take our time planning and to decide when and where to get married. Our engagement feels like a culmination of drunkenly saying, “I’m going to marry the shit out of you”, pretty early in our relationship. We agree that Fiona didn’t really say anything when she proposed. She just got down on one knee and pulled the ring out. We talked very in-depth about what our engagement and marriage would look like. So when the moment came, and we could think about it after and to this day, is, “I’m going to marry the shit out of you!”
How is wedding planning going? What do you hope for your wedding to be?
We are in the very early stages of planning, and we just came up with a date, guest count, and general location. We are going to have a decently small wedding. Fiona has a lot of family, so we had to prioritize the non-negotiable people. We want it to feel intimate and romantic above everything else.
Some people tell us that weddings aren’t for the couple, but for the families but we couldn’t disagree more. We want the day to feel ours completely. We want to treat our friends and family to a fantastic meal and drinks after, but our ceremony will be as close to our vision as we can make it. We are doing a small ceremony and reception, then the next day we are having a big post-wedding party at our property. Very informal, but we will extend an invitation to anyone that wants to celebrate our marriage with us the day after!
How are you choosing your key vendors?
One of our biggest priorities is having vendors who are at least LGBTQ+ affirming. We aren’t really interested if they don’t have any LGBTQ+ couples featured on their website or social media. We made this really clear to our planner because we want to feel as comfortable as possible on our wedding day, and there is something special about surrounding our day with people who are affirming or, even better, LGBTQ+!
Photography by Tori Osteraa Photography
