Our Story
As told by Brandi:
We reconnected through our closest friends who set us up back in July of 2010. We hit it off right away, but soon thereafter I found out I would be going back to Japan for a third contract. I left about a year after we started dating with both of us unsure how the time apart would affect our relationship. That 16-month Tokyo Disney contract of long distance turned into an additional 2 Disney contracts and a cruise contract (almost four years of long distance). A little longer than we expected...Oops! Long distance was very difficult but we were able to see the world together at such a young age. We were taught how to cherish each other's presence and how communication is key. (Thank you FaceTime and Skype!) It has been over two years since I have been home and while so much has changed during those last two years, our bond and our love is stronger than ever. We are SO excited to have you at our wedding. Both families and friends combining into one big Freas/Cusick wedding!
As told by Jon:
Let's set some things straight. Brandi was attracted to me first. I decided, "Hey, why not?". And, now we are here.
The Engagement
As told by Jon:
Brandi and I had an interesting year (2016), to say the least. We both started new jobs, we moved in together and we knew we wanted to spend the rest of our lives traveling, eating awesome food and getting fat together until we are old and couldn't eat anymore. So, we began planning for a much needed vacation in our favorite city, San Francisco. Brandi had no clue that I had been planning to propose to her during this vacation. However, just before our vacation was supposed to begin, my grandfather, Fernando Reyes, passed away after battling complications from a surgery performed years ago. If that wasn't enough, Diane, Brandi's mother, was admitted to the hospital a few days before my grandfathers funeral. Little did we know, our lives would change forever. The vacation and engagement was going to have to wait. Diane was diagnosed with Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia. The doctors tried numerous things, but nothing seemed to be helping. Diane only wanted to see one thing—to see Brandi walk down the aisle. I know this because it was brought up, A LOT. I wanted Diane to know that her daughter would be married. I pulled Brandi's dad aside and asked for his blessing and he gave it. It was strange feeling but Diane and I knew we needed to talk; it was as if she was reading my mind. Brandi and Bob left the hospital room and it was just Diane and me. I told her I wanted to tell her something. I said, "I'm going to marry your daughter." She already knew, as she acted unsurprised but responded happily with joy and tears. She asked me to do two things: take care of Brandi and take care of Bob, both of which I promised to do. Those were the last words I said to Diane. She was admitted Thursday, June 30th and passed away Wednesday July 6th.
The rest of 2016 just passed us by. 2017 presented a new year and new opportunities so we decided we needed to finally take that vacation. I called Bob and said, "This is it, I'm going to propose to Brandi". San Francisco, our favorite city, was one of the options but the forecast was rainy. So, we took our chances with Lake Tahoe instead. We decided to drive up with our new puppy Remi and to show him snow for the first time! The weather was AMAZING. We explored a little bit of what Tahoe had to offer but the whole time I was focused on finding the right time and place to pop the question. My original plan got shut down by the gentlemen in the booth saying, "Sorry, ski lifts are closed to the public." - due to the massive snow storm the week before we arrived. Great. So, doing what we do best, we decided to go eat and have a nice brunch on the lake. We talked about everything during brunch: life, death, past, future, dogs, kids, jobs, etc. I was beginning to worry that maybe it was too soon.
After our brunch we walked down to the lake. Boy, I got really nervous then. I asked her, "How do you feel about our future?" She responded with something along the lines of, "Good?". Perfect, a very ambiguous response. For me, that was the green light. I took out my phone to distract her and asked her to hold it while I "fixed" my shoe (wink, wink). She turned around and there I was, awkwardly on my knee. I had a whole speech prepared that managed to miraculously disappear when I needed it most! I stumbled with my words but managed to ask the question! Although it was tough, we were both so excited for the future.
Here is a link to our engagement photos shot by Amy Bjornson!
https://byamylynnphotography.pixieset.com/engaged-4/f/3646351/
Be sure to check out her stuff as well!
http://byamylynnphotography.com/
https://www.facebook.com/byamylynn/
https://www.instagram.com/byamylynn/?hl=en
The Wedding Day
Saturday, March 24th 2018