How We Met
Julian and I met in 2012 while we were both working at Sephora—a well-known cosmetics store. Julian was in Loss Prevention, and I was a makeup artist. Although it was against protocol to interact any way other than professionally, Julian started flirting with me anyway, looking for any little excuse to talk to me. He would offer to clean my makeup brushes or try his best to share knowledge or ask questions about makeup, which was pretty amusing! It didn’t take us long to realize that the relationship equated to much more than friendship.
The following winter, I contracted a potentially fatal, and extremely rare, disease, sending my family and friends into a little bit of a frenzy. Julian and I had only been a few weeks into “officially” dating. When Julian stepped into my ICU room, I was ecstatic, and he was devastated to see me in such a critical state. My consciousness was heavy and cloudy through both the illness and the heavy drugs, but it didn’t matter. I knew exactly what I felt at that moment, and Julian and I both had a moment of silent realization that we had fallen in love with one another. Perhaps it was because I was a little “out of it,” I blurted out “I love you” to him in a quiet whisper, which was all I could manage. I may have been ill and sluggish, but in that moment, everything felt amazing and perfect. Not to worry! I was fine a few short weeks later, and the rest, as they say, is history!
Since then, we have been inseparable; incredibly thankful that we’ve have had so much experience growing together, traveling to new places, learning “way too much, yet never enough” about each other, and have loved every second of our relationship, through the highs and lows. After a few years, we Began to hear the same thing from both of our families: “When are you guys getting married?”
How They Asked
Fast forward to the summer of 2017, and I had just graduated from San José State University with my bachelor’s degree! I had been looking forward to going to one of our favorite places–San Diego! This beautiful city holds a special place in our hearts, as it was one of the first big road trips we took together, and on June 15th, 2017, it also became the place where Julian asked Ryanne for her hand in marriage.
They were at The Shout! House, a sing-a-long dueling pianos bar in the Gaslamp District, which I love so much that I’ve always insisted on going to nightly every time we’re in town (not that there was any resistance from Julian!) and has become our little tradition. As we were enjoying the show, I put in a song request. Sometimes they play these requests, and sometimes they don’t, so you can imagine my surprise when they not only played my request, but actually called me up onstage!
“I hear we have a big Elton John fan in the room tonight!” the performer announced into the mic, “Can I get Ryanne up onstage?” I slowly but happily obliged, but I was still confused as to how he knew I was an Elton John fan! I figured that Julian must have told them I just graduated and he had asked them to do a special performance or something. Little did I know, my soon-to-be fiancé had actually coordinated a very special performance I’d never forget!
After being instructed to sit on top of the pianos in the middle of the stage with a full house in the audience, I was extremely nervous but willing to play along! I looked over at our seats, and Julian had begun to record the performance and was grinning ear to ear. Not knowing what else to do, I began to sing along with the crowd to Your Song as I smiled at Julian and the camera in his hands. Eventually, the singer called Julian onstage, and to the melody of the song, sang that there was a question Julian would like to ask. The crowd went crazy, knowing exactly what was about to happen! I said yes, of course! After that, it was all smiles, tears of joy, and happily ever after!
