Of Bee-produced Food Products and the Planetary Body that Orbits Our Fair Earth.

Dave:

I love Canada. There, I said it. At least, I love it when Kathy is there:

Here are some photos. Stories to follow:

The Wedding Party (...and what a party!)

A bit about the folks standing with us:

Kathy:
Angela Pera, Matron of Honor
Angela is not only a great sister, she is a great friend. She is a constant source of strength and love that I cherish. Her generosity is unlike any other. I love her dearly, and I am honored to have her stand by my side -- not only on my wedding day, but for my entire life. Angela is married to Angelo Pera.

Joleen Sybrandy, Bride's Maid
Joleen and I have shared some of the most exhilarating -- and some of the most trying -- times. She is a great friend, one with whom I will laugh, learn and grow for the rest of our lives. Joleen is engaged to marry Eric Goudat (Goodat? Gudatt? Goudaatt? Is there an umlaut in there somewhere?).

Sarah Jones, Bride's Maid
Sarah and I bonked heads in 9th Grade Science and have been great friends ever since. I remember the times we went to Seattle together, and laughing until it hurt. Sarah is recently married (to Mike Jones) and I am so honored to have her in the wedding.

Joy Sanders, Bride's Maid
Joy has been a wonderful friend since our we met in our freshman year of college. I had the privilege to be in her wedding to Chris. Joy's thoughtful and dedicated friendship is inspiring and treasured. I will always refer to her as 'Kucha' because of that long bonding weekend we shared. She spends her time travelling Europe with her Pro-Basketball-Playing husband, Chris.


Dave:
Jonathan McGuire, Best Man--
Jon, growing up, we were always together, and I still consider you my best friend. Without you, I wouldn't be the man I am today. And without me, you wouldn't have that graphite stuck in your palm. You're welcome. [Jon is married to the former Melissa Fenstermacker]

Daniel McGuire, Awesome Man--
Dan: you have a kid [nuts!]. The crushing weight of that responsibility is probably why you call me so often just to discuss Mitt Romney's hairdo. But I will always take your call, because you are a rad brother and I love you. [Dan is married to the former Laneysa Bell, and father to Delaney Brown]

Michael McGuire, Super Man--
Mike, you're better than Superman... number 1: no tights (except on Thursday nights and special occasions). Number 2: you're raising a family and saving lives as a nurse. Way to go, American Hero, I'm proud to call you my oldest brother. [Mike is married to the former Karry Wagoner, and father to Harper Ann]

Paul Root, Candy Man--
Paul! two words: staring contest. If I hadn't met you I probably wouldn't have moved to California, entered the entertainment industry and met the girl of my dreams... and the whole time, you were on the other end of the phone, breathing heavily.


From Left: Mike, Dan, Jon and Paul (not pictured)

The Engagement

Kathy: Well, I kind of had an idea that it may happen but I didn't know how. The original plan was that it would happen at Disneyland. Which, he blew it because he gave me a hint so that option was out. So it all happened the Friday before Christmas. He was going to come up to my house for dinner and to celebrate Christmas with my family and we were going to open gifts. I rush home because he told me that he would be there about two. He calls and says that our friend Matt needed his help and that he would be late. No problem I thought, I could do some errands that I had been meaning to do. Like, get my nails done (ha ha , he he). Anyway, he calls and says he is going to be even later than expected. I was bummed, but thought it was okay because I liked our friend and knew that he was in need. Well, it is almost six and I am hungary. I want to eat without him and not wait any longer. My mom convinced me to have patience and we should wait for him (yes, she knew it was coming). He finally gets here about 7, "yeah, yeah, come in, let's eat" is what I was thinking. So, we ate and after we had coffee and started to open presents. I liked everything I got :) The last gift was on the floor and Dave told me to open it. The whole feel of the room changed. My parents got their cameras out and all eyes were on me. The box was big, what could it be? It was a jewlery box. I thought that was great because I told Dave and my family that I wanted one to help keep me organized, hmmm, I should get to that by the way. Anyway, I asked if it played music and he told me to open it. I was expecting Over the Rainbow or maybe a song from Phantom, but nope, it was a song from one of the first mixes that he made for me. It was Passenger Seat by a band called Death Cab for Cutie. Okay, so cameras were out this jewlery box began to play "our song" and a little ring box was sitting in there anxiously waiting to be opened. Dave got down on one knee, opened the jewlery box and said "Kathy, from the first time I met youuuuuu....." Oh no, the phone started to ring. My mom instructed him to keep going. Iwas listening to the jewlery box, Dave, my mom, and the phone, sensory overload! It was my sister calling, she left a message on the machine, thinking that we forgot to call her. So, Dave continues, I say "yes" and wipe the blurry tears from my eyes. Then I think, "wait a minute, so what took him so long that day?" He and a few other friends had spent the day making the jewlery box to play our song. The whole Matt story was a cover-up. You got me this time Dave!
Yay, so that is how we got engaged.
Now, for FAQ's

So did your mom know?
Why yes, I said that she did. They had discussed the details earlier that week.

Were you suprised?
Yes and no. I knew it was coming soon, but I didn't think he would do it in front of my parents.

When is the wedding?
June 20, 2008

Are you sure Dave is the "one?"
Can we ever be sure of anything, ahh, just kidding. YES! I love that guy!

How did he give you the hint for Disneyland?
Oh that is a good one. We went to Disneyland in November or October and I expressed how much I loved it. Then he told me not to worry because we would go back soon. It was then I knew that if we went back in the near future it would be to propose.

Where are you going to live?
Good question. We don't know exactly where right now, but the Lord does and we are ready and willing.

Okay, no more questions for right now :)

Dave: My idea was simple, I would find a nice restaurant with a piano, and I would recruit a singer and piano player to spring out of nowhere and play our song-- then I would produce the ring.

Things didn't quite work out that way (do you have any idea how difficult it is to find a restaurant with a piano in Hollywood? Let alone one that will let you use it?). And that part of the story ends with my total boycott of Micelli's Italian Restaurant in Hollywood, CA.

My next idea was also simple: find a music box that plays mp3s and rig it to play 'our song'. Now, anyone who knows anything about electronics knows that these items don't exist. So, I dreamt it up and called upon Jonathan deRoche to put thought into action. It just so happened that this was the day of the event... I had approximately ten hours to pull this thing off. And, with help from Matt Beans, who misled my lovely soon-to-be wife, I convinced Kathy that my extended absence was nothing to get alarmed over.

Relying on the technical expertise of a friend of Jonathan's, we used all sorts of bizarre equipment to bring this device into reality.

5 hours after I was supposed to arrive at Kathy's, I put the ring box inside, wrapped it and tucked it into my car... then I was off to ask the biggest question I'll ever ask.

Engagement Photos

All of these were taken by Jeff Ellingson. He's pretty rad, and you can find him over at www.jeffephoto.com. There are about 300 more, too.

How We Met

Dave: I owe our meeting to God's Will and Zach Zoschke. Not that the two were operating independently on that day in March 2007 when Kathy first accepted Zach's invitation to Valley Presbyterian Church. Kathy was not searching for a date and I was not looking for a wife, but the moment I saw her I knew I wanted to get to know her better. A month of convincing myself to ask her out led to her first 'no'. Immediately after her first rejection I asked her out again, this time on a group outing, where, conveniently, we were able to have dinner alone together. She was so smart and funny and interesting and pretty. She didn't make it easy and I'm glad for that. It made me appreciate her on levels I didn't think possible. After just a few short weeks I was hooked. I'm still hooked.

Kathy: Hi. Thanks for reading our blog. Through God's Providence Joleen and I went on a retreat. I was a little hesitant at first, not wanting to run into any 'goober-Christians', but then we met Zach, Audrey and Josh (Kaiser). Being the persuasive person that he is, Zach got me out to his church one Sunday in March, 2007. I was shy, but the people at Valley were funny and inviting. I had a few good conversations with Dave, but didn't think anything more would come of it. When he asked me out the first time I was surprised and flattered, but declined because I was still so new to the group. I never thought that he would pursue me the way he did. When I said 'no' I thought that would be the end of it. I told him that we could do group things together, and from that point forward, I noticed that Dave organized a lot of group things. Finally I accepted a dinner invitation. We talked and agreed to take things slowly. But that is not how it played out. 10 months later, here we are, engaged and planning the wedding.

How This Thing Works

Hello you lovely people. 

We are so delighted that of the hundreds of blogs that will no doubt feature stories about our wedding, you've chosen ours.

This is style you'll see

Dave: My version of the events, and comments and asides will look like this.

Kathy's will look like this, you know, to liven things up a bit.

Now, the cool thing is that unlike most wedding sites, this one won't go away in a year or less, this is our blog to record our lives on, and you can keep coming back for updates indefinitely, or until the internet tells us to stop.

Please leave comments, post memories and generally help us to celebrate this wonderful time in our lives!