Her story:

            Shawn and I met on Sunday, June 2, 2013. I remember because on that day I also saw my favorite band, Mumford & Sons, for the fifth time. I even have the shirt! But my “how I met Shawn” story actually began on July 30, 2012, when I adopted my dog, Clara. My matron of honor, Kjrsten, and her husband Tom, had been trying to convince me to get a dog for a few months, including making a pro/con list - the number one pro was “will help you find a man.” The day after their wedding we went to the rescue group to meet the sweetest little girl in the world, then named Marble. I fell in love with her, took her home, helped her get back into tip-top doggy shape, and renamed her Clara.

            Fast forward almost a year, and I found myself at the dog park on a lovely Sunday afternoon. We were wandering around, and Clara ran up to the handsome man sitting on the bench and jumped right in his lap. I followed her over to let him know he could shove her off, and I noticed that he was cute. Like super cute. So I sat down to chat, and chat we did. Shawn was with two other ladies, one of whom, Yuki, we are honored to have as a part of our wedding. We talked for quite some time, and eventually, I had to leave to go to my show. I didn’t even know his name. He didn’t ask for my name or number, but he knew where I worked from our conversation. I left that day pretty convinced I was going to die alone, because what does a girl have to do to get asked out?!

            On Tuesday afternoon, I got a call from a friend at work to ask me if I met a guy named Shawn with a dog named Harvey at the dog park. He’d made contact through a mutual friend/colleague, but I’ll let him tell that side of the story. My friend passed on my number, we went on an amazing first date, and I went home knowing I’d met the man I was going to marry. I have a text to Kjrsten saying just that to prove it. He was funny, kind-hearted, and very chivalrous. An impressive combination!

His story:

            We met at the dog park.

            More details? Well if you must know. Lindsay taught her dog to jump on cute guys at the park. It worked, I totally fell for it. But to be serious, the day I met Lindsay was truly special and the following week to get her on our first date, unforgettable.

            I told my friend who eventually found Lindsay: I met someone at the park today, and all I know about her is that she teaches 7th grade History in South Pasadena and she has a cute little dog named Clara. She made me feel like I’ve always known her, and after a time sitting with her, I felt a little nervous. Those last two things rarely, if ever, happen… so I have to do everything I can to meet her again.

            It's not important why I let Lindsay go home after our first meeting, without getting her info, although it is a good story. But it is important that in the very beginning, we both thought we would never see each other, and in less than a week we were sitting across from each other on our first date.

Our proposal

            During the summer of 2014, we took an amazing trip across the country: #shawnandlindsaysgreatadventure on Instagram. We drove from Pasadena, California to Milton, Ontario, Canada with Harvey and Clara. We saw all sorts of amazing sights, and had a pretty memorable first family vacation. Lindsay knew that Shawn was designing a ring, and that it had caused him some trouble, so she saw a proposal on the near horizon.

            Our second day in Ontario had a rough start. The dishwasher door fell on Lindsay’s toe and did some pretty serious damage. Walking was a challenge, but Shawn had a plan. Around sunset, Shawn asked Lindsay to take the dogs for a walk around the farm. We moseyed to and fro, and eventually found our way to the back cornfield. At that point Lindsay had had enough walking and kept trying to go back to the house. Shawn was able to coax her halfway to where he actually wanted to go, but that put them in the swampy part of the field. He got down on one knee, proposed, and handed Lindsay the ring. She said “thank you”, which she maintains was an appropriate response! The ring was beautiful and she knew he’d worked very hard to design it and have it made. Before Shawn got his knee out of the mud she said “yes”, and the engagement was on.