How We Met
Marcus & I first met in Charlotte, NC. I was living there working for the NBA team and Marcus had just moved to Charlotte with his company Target just two weeks prior to us meeting. Being new to the city, he of course joined Tinder (a dating app) to find friends and.. girls. You guessed it, we both swiped RIGHT! This is how we initially came in contact and would spend some time messaging. Not the most romantic start but we have certainly made up for it.
It was the week of my 25th birthday and he had asked me to meet up quite a few times. Busy planning a 25th with friends in town, I had blown him off more times than I should’ve (you’ll see why soon). The day after my birthday (a Sunday- March 16th) he asked once more to hang out (from his side- he says this was the very last time he was asking before he moved on) and I agreed to meet him at a local bar/restaurant Carolina Ale House. We decided to meet up around 7pm that night and I told my roommate I’d be back in 15 minutes that it was likely going to be a lame Tinder date. Not feeling 100% from my birthday party of course, I threw on jeans, a v-neck, and leather jacket- for a FIRST DATE!?
Pulling up to the restaurant, I conveniently had parked right behind him and saw him get out of the car. Immediate regret! Not because it was the typical “you don’t look like your pictures from Tinder first impression”, he was PERFECT! Tall, handsome, biggest shining white smile, and dressed to impress!! I was so mad at myself for not making more of an effort but I got out and went with it. We spent the ENTIRE night at Carolina Ale House chatting, getting to know each other, laughing, talking about our love for sports, and to our surprise- falling in love. It was so late, around 1am when we decided we should probably leave to get ready for work the next day. We parted ways and I knew this was so different. I immediately connected with him and wanted to see him again right after I left.
The NBA team I was working for had a home game the next day and I decided to invite him, knowing how big of a sports fan he was. When he arrived I met him at a VIP entrance and took him down courtside so he could enjoy the game right behind our home bench! He told me later he assumed when I invited him he would be sitting at the top of the arena or something so you can imagine how impressed he was. I had to make up for blowing him off so many times, 5 points for Brittany!!:) Needless to say, we won each other over and spent literally every day together from that point forward! It was the most unexpected, perfect love story and I wouldn’t have it any other way! We have since, been together 2 1/2 years from that day and have moved to two different cities together- all the way to Los Angeles, CA and just recently to Minneapolis, MN! AND NOW WE’RE ENGAGED!! Thank you, Sean Rad (founder/CEO of Tinder)- we will send you a wedding invite.
Its him being spoiled at the NBA game, in the image above.
how they asked
If you love our crazy love story of how we met, it gets 10x’s better here! July 23rd, 2016- we just moved to Minneapolis, MN into our new place on July 15th so we are one week in and had planned to have my mom & sister come out to help decorate. They were only going to be here Friday- Sunday so we planned a few things like seeing the new Viking’s Stadium and meals out at some local restaurants. They arrived late Friday after many flight delays so we only had a couple of hours together before heading to bed to get ready for the stadium tour the next day.
Two weeks prior- Marcus had mentioned he had a big Gala event for his company Target on Saturday when they were here- initially I was upset because I knew I wouldn’t want to leave my family and he promised we could just show up for an hour and come back to take them out to dinner. Luckily I had found a cute new dress and was overdo for a hair cut/nail appointment.
The day started out perfectly, well… almost. We headed to the new Vikings stadium early and had fun touring the facility, taking pictures, etc. While inside- they showed a weather report on the big screen and a huge storm was coming through. As we go to leave, the storm is here- pouring rain, lighting, thunder- the works. It was even worse that we had a beautiful weather week and the Saturday we have family here and a Gala to go to, it’s ugly out. Fast forward to the “Gala”, my mom and sister had mentioned they wanted to go to the Mall of America while we got ready and went to the event and they would meet us at dinner. They left the house early and even sent me texts “this mall is so legit” etc.
Marcus and I head to Como Zoo & Conservatory and I have no idea what is about to happen. As we’re arriving Marcus gets a text and says his co-worker said to check out the conservatory on the left when we walk in that it’s pretty cool. We walk in to an amazing garden with plants towering us and the conservatory door to our left- as we walk in, WOW! It is the most beautiful scenery with flowers overflowing and an amazing fountain of water in the middle and it’s just the two of us. There is a walkway around the fountain that you follow to look at the plants/flowers and we begin to walk down it. At the opposite end of where we stand, I see a violinist playing music (which I didn’t even pay attention to the song) and a photographer. I still had no idea since Marcus had mentioned we would be taking a photo and I assumed this was Target’s photographer and we had to stop and pose for them. I initially thought “oh wow, Target went over the top and this is pretty romantic!”.
As we got to the end of the fountain right in front of the photographer and violinist, I finally realized what was happening! This was it!! I felt so ridiculous for not catching on and started thinking “omg is my dress okay, thank god I got my nails done, etc”. As he was going through his speech of us meeting, moving across the country, how I’m his best friend, etc he stopped! He turned toward the entrance and said “but we can’t do this alone… guys! are you here!?”. OMGGGGGG!!!! Out from the colossal garden of flowers a door opens and it is my mom, my sister, and 4 of my VERY BEST friends screaming surprise!!
I was so shocked that initially I only saw my friends husband Eric and blacked out a little at this point, I had to later look back at them and realize who all was there! Marcus got down on one knee and I just remember seeing the most breathtaking, sparkly ring in this black box in front of me!!
I SAID YES!!!! (see video!). Oh how far we have came from that first Tinder date! I was so overwhelmed with hugs from my friends and family and a photographer catching every perfect moment! We then jumped right into taking amazing pictures with the group and my new FIANCE! The best part- the weather had cleared up completely and it was beautiful outside when it showed a 60% chance of thunderstorms. We were talking with our photographer and she said “I shoot many proposals/weddings and just about every time the weather is bad and doesn’t seem to have a chance of working in their favor, it will clear up at the perfect time and I believe it’s an act from someone much bigger than us”. :) This gave me chills!
My friends that were there had flew in from Ohio & New York and 2 of them even drove 13 hours from Ohio to be there!! Catching up with them, they hand me a red folder and said “you will never believe how much planning went in to this and how perfectly Marcus planned this day for you”. The red folder read “The Plan- please bring with you tomorrow:)”.
Marcus had reached out to a few of my best friends and tried to gather as many of them as he could to be part of our day. He had an entire itinerary planned- in the middle of moving had coordinated finding a location, hiring a photographer, hiring a violinist to play “marry me” and “you and me” as we walk in, booking a hotel for my friends to stay at, booking a dinner reservation at my favorite restaurant Ruth’s Chris for after, and even a wine tasting on Sunday before they all had to leave!!
Whew! I’m exhausted just typing those plans! Anyone who knows Marcus knows how much of a planner he is and I knew when the day came he would go over the top but he created the greatest surprise and most romantic, perfect proposal I could ever dream of!
To be able to share it with my closest friends/family, was so unexpected and I’ll forever cherish the memories we made.
A HUGE thank you to the Como Zoo & Conservatory, Sandhill Photography -Margie O’Laughlin (photographer), Yukina Ono (Violinist), Ruth’s Chris Minneapolis, and Lucia’s Wine Bar for making the proposal/weekend PERFECT!
To my friends/family who traveled to be part of our day- We are forever grateful and so appreciative of you going out of your way to make this happen! We love you!!
To my Fiance, Marcus- you are the real MVP! You make all of my dreams come true and I couldn’t imagine a more perfect proposal or more perfect ring!
I can’t wait to start this new chapter with you and plan our big day together! You are absolutely amazing. I love you.
