A match made in music
Kevin and Sarah both attended Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. They knew of each other in Wind Ensemble, but never had a conversation with one another until they both showed up at a freshman writing class on the subjects of Star Wars, Star Trek and Space Exploration. Kevin was surprised to see the person he knew as the 'blond clarinetist from Wind Ensemble' showing up for a nerdy sci-fi class. Sarah was equally surprised to see a senior (which is how old Sarah thought Kevin was) in a freshman class. Although this sort of class fit Kevin like a glove Sarah was only one of two girls (the other girl was only in there as a last resort) who enrolled in what she considered one of the coolest classes offered on campus that semester.
During the class, Kevin and Sarah had the opportunity to talk and work together reviewing each other's class papers. Towards the end of the semester, Sarah became extremely competitive with Kevin on a fun assignment to create a course description that would trick J-Term students to sign up for a trip to the moon. Kevin's group, to Sarah's dismay, won that competition with a paper adorned with a high quality logo on the cover page of their submission (Sarah spent four hours looking for a really cool logo for her cover page, but in the end, resorted to a pixilated picture of the Earth).
After that class, they periodically talked to one another over the summer via email and ICQ but didn't begin hanging out until the fall semester later that year. Kevin occasionally invited Sarah over to his dorm room to play old-fashioned Sega games on a PC-based emulator (Sarah claimed to be the all-mighty empress of Sonic games), and they would hang out with mutual friends for dinner and watching TV. In the second half of the semester, Kevin started a music composition course. During that class, he composed a graded piece to be performed by piano and flugelhorn in an evening concert. Kevin decided to ask Sarah to play the piano part of his piece as a way to encourage her to rekindle her love of the instrument. Sarah, feeling rusty after a couple of years away from the keys, asked that Kevin go over the part with her. He happily agreed and met her a few times in a suspiciously romantically lit rehearsal room to go over the part. Realizing their connection with one another Kevin and Sarah spent more and more time together and, shortly thereafter, became a couple.
Moving in
After just over a year together, Kevin and Sarah found themselves over 7,000 miles apart. Kevin was part of a geology class in the volcanic region on the Big Island in Hawaii while Sarah was studying abroad in the United Kingdom for a semester. In May of that year, they found themselves back on common ground (literally) and realized that they had survived a somewhat lengthy long-distance tenure. As a result, they felt they were comfortable moving to a more committed lifestyle. So that summer, together with two other mutual friends, they moved into a house near campus. Over the course of the next several years, Kevin and Sarah lived together in several different houses with various friends. Eventually, after moving to a great neighborhood in North Tacoma and having their friend move out, they realized they had evolved into each other's ideal housemate. This great compatibility has been going strong ever since.
Ideas best planted in Scotland
Leave it to Kevin's clever sister Toni to plant oh-so-fun ideas into everyone's head. Kevin, Sarah and their friend Mandy (a.k.a Ms. Maid of Honor) planned a trip to visit Toni and her husband David in Edinburgh, Scotland for two weeks. During their time there, Toni and David told everyone about two of their friends who put together a surprise wedding for their friends and family who thought they were gathering together for a birthday party. All it took was one "Wouldn't it be fun if..." comment to set the ball rolling. Toni (the always clever schemer) and Mandy (another clever schemer) began talking about a variety of ideas, and eventually sold Kevin (first) and Sarah (shortly their after) on putting together a surprise wedding of their own. Armed with ideas and plans, Kevin and Sarah returned to the U.S. with a MAJOR project ahead of them.
The duo began a highly aggressive financial savings plan, and started laying out the scope of the wedding, the components... and of course (with the help of Toni), all the little 'white lies' that kept things secret. Over the course of nearly 10 months they tip-toed around all fathomable suspicion to put together a wonderfully elaborate celebration of their lives together as well as an honorarium to those close to them around which they have been scheming for nearly this entire year.
Engaged! (finally)
Although Thanksgiving weekend 2004 coins the official engagement announcement for Kevin and Sarah it all really began in mid-May. After the seed for this event was planted in Scotland, the inevitable purchase and surprise of a big, shiny ring became a reality. After some vague research and sizing with Sarah, Kevin took the reigns and covertly looked into gemstones. With his geology degree in-hand, he had no problem finding rocks the likes of which go largely unseen by the wedding industry. Once the gem was chosen Kevin created a custom design that a local jeweler was excited to help him create. A few weeks past and Kevin saw his creation move from sketch, to wax, to white gold.
With the ring complete Kevin now had to figure out how to present it. Sarah was aware a ring was being created but was under the impression that it would be weeks further out before it would be ready. Finally on Friday, May 14th Kevin tricked Sarah into turning on her computer monitor only to reveal a graphic showing each stage of the rings development. Kevin bent down on one knee and proposed. Although she knew it was coming Sarah was overcome with emotion and couldn't believe her eyes. She quickly accepted and embraced her new fiancé. View engagement video
Kevin and Sarah spent the rest of the day enjoying the weather with a walk on the beach at Point Defiance park then a romantic dinner out.
Wedding day and beyond...
Although planning a wedding by themselves has proven somewhat taxing, Kevin and Sarah are excited that the truth is out. Their ceremony will be small but it is designed to be a personal experience for everyone in attendance where the bride and groom can truly enjoy themselves and honor everyone there. After the ceremony will be a great feast in the same space with more food than our group will surely be able to take in. The rest of the night will be some great cake, excellent music, and plenty of time to relax with those closest to us.
Together for over six years, Kevin and Sarah see their wedding as a means to honor and pay tribute to one another, our family and friends. They don't see this as a new or fresh start but more as a acknowledgment of the good thing they already feel they have and want to continue for the rest of forever.