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Natural love engagement at Vasquez Rocks // Brandon & Chloe

FROM THE BRIDE // Brandon and I surprisingly did not cross paths until we both swiped right on Tinder New Year’s Day 2014, but weirdly enough we were always within 5 miles of each other.

We went to neighboring high schools literally 3 miles apart. I went to Cuesta in San Luis Obispo my freshman year of college and Brandon was at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo that same year for his sophomore year of college. His little brother in his fraternity was one of my good friends from high school. My brother’s roommate (also at Cal Poly that same year) was one of Brandon’s fraternity brothers and he spent quite a bit of time at my brother’s apartment, which I had lived 2 doors down from. We attended the same parties, both went to the same concerts, knew a ton of the same people, and yet never met each other.

I had joined Tinder late December 2013 to write a book about all of the horrible blind dates I went on through the app, but I had never been on a blind date before. So I decided to pick the least creepy person with the most friends in common option for my first date (I didn’t want to think back in 50 years about my “first” blind date and have that memory be someone horrible!). Since Tinder was linked to Facebook, I knew Brandon and I had at least my brother in common, and that was enough for me (not to mention his killer cute smile).

So Bran ended up being my very first and my very last blind date. It was weird – since we had both grown up in the same area, we had so much in common and vibed instantaneously, almost like we had known each other forever. I think the cherry on top, though, was when I found out I had the same birthday as his Grandma. My mom had the same birthday as my dad’s grandma so that was it. I knew from then on out that he was my forever human. I never got to write my book, but I did find my favorite story.

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Andrew & Christina // Fairytale inspired Southern California engagement

For almost our entire lives we grew up only three miles apart and somehow didn’t meet until college. It was the beginning of our sophomore years, and I went to the spot where my friends and I met up together the year before. To my surprise someone else was sitting amongst my friends.

Being the mild tempered person I am, I asked the guy what he was doing in my spot. He said he knew my friends, and we carried on in conversation about our classes and birthdays – not only did we share two classes, but we found out that we had the exact same birth date! We walked to class together and said we’d see each other the next day.

The next day came, and I had sat across from someone in class I swore I knew from somewhere. It was Andrew, but I guess I blanked on meeting him yesterday. For the next few months we hung out between classes, playing card games, sharing a love for math and science, and having a great time becoming close friends. Andrew comes off as shy to most people but opened up with me. On October 17, 2009, Andrew and I became a couple of lovestruck college sweethearts.

On the day Andrew proposed, we planned on going on a hike that morning, but it rained so we cut the hike to a walk and headed to breakfast at one of our favorite diners. Afterwards Andrew suggested we go to different spots we’ve visited in the past to walk around and look into hiking later when it isn’t as muddy.

We went back to his parents’ and waited for the Raiders playoff game to start. We couldn’t watch the craziness anymore, so I suggested we go out to the coast and check out the sunset. He happily obliged.

We get there and walk around for a bit. He then suggests that we cruise the PV coast – one of our favorite past times. Right as the sun was just about gone Andrew starts talking (while driving):

“Honey, my love, Christina Gayle, I wish I could take you to my favorite place and do this there, but a favorite place doesn’t exist. I’ve loved having you by my side for all of these years. My favorite place is wherever you are. I love you, so will you be my wife?”

I started to cry happy tears and said yes, of course. He pulled over and formally asked me to be his wife slipping on the most sparkly, perfect ring. Earlier this year on January 7, Andrew and I started the beginning of the rest of our lives.

We cannot wait to share in our love with our family and friends at our wedding next summer!