How we got here

the beginning

Two strangers, one new city

We arrived in Los Angeles the very same week; two people who didn't yet know each other, quietly starting over in the same enormous, sprawling city. A few days later, a little app called Bumble decided to introduce us.

We've since lost those first messages to the great digital void, which feels about right; the conversation that mattered was always going to be the one in person. That came at the Original Farmers Market, over something to eat and a great deal of talking. We liked each other immediately, and we liked that corner of the city even more for having brought us together.

somewhere in the middle

The years in between

The first I love you arrived on a clear night in Newport Beach, where we'd gone to celebrate Baillie's birthday. It was said under a sky full of stars, and, to the great relief of the one who said it first, it was said right back.

Since then we've built a life full of moments worth holding onto: Croatia with Baillie's family, Portugal and Japan with our closest friends, epic hikes through LA and out to Sequoia. We got rained on one New Year's Eve and didn't mind a bit. There was a whole summer of treating Ginger's ice cream like a nightly obligation, trips to see Will's family in Florida and Maryland, and eventually, moving in together. Somewhere in there, we also watched so many of our friends say their own "I do's." Every one of them got us a little more ready for ours.

the question

The proposal

Will planned an entire day of our favorite things and, because he knows Baillie, he programmed each stop into the GPS the night before as nothing but coordinates, so there was no peeking ahead. She spent the day pleasantly, completely in the dark.

It began with a breakfast walk to Larchmont and ended, much later, somewhere far quieter. In between it passed, not at all by accident, right back through the Original Farmers Market where the whole thing had started years before.

1. Noah's Bagels, Larchmont A breakfast walk to start the day
2. The Petersen A museum morning
3. The Original Farmers Market A snack, where it all began
4. Santa Monica Brew Works And a little of the Eagles game
5. A trailhead in Topanga A mystery drive, then a hike to a secluded spot where the question was asked
6. Tar & Roses Dinner, as a newly engaged pair