Brian knew Alana wasn’t like a regular date when he suggested going for dessert or picking up a movie and Alana said she wanted to watch Blood Sport.
“I thought she was just pulling my leg,” Brian says, but when she started singing along with the soundtrack, he had no more doubts. “It was definitely one of the things that initially set her apart,” he says.
Before they started dating, the pair already had mutual friends with whom they spent time. “He made me laugh so much,” Alana says. “Brian is so friendly…everybody loves [him].” The importance of family to him also attracted Alana. “I knew he was very special because of that,” she says.
Before they got engaged, the couple took a five-day camping trip up Highway 1 to Oregon. “I think that might have been the deal sealer for me,” Brian says. “We didn’t kill each other out there, after a week in the car together.”
Brian decided to propose on Valentine’s Day. He had carefully selected the ring and put the box inside a new purse Alana had been hinting she would like to have. “I came home from work, and I’d had a really stressful day,” Alana says. “I saw he was all dressed up and had made these really nice steaks…and he had the kitchen table all done up with balloons and flowers.”
Alana had a bewildered look when she saw the box, Brian says. “I thought ‘oh, they are earrings or a bracelet,” she says. “Then I looked at it, and thought, ‘it’s the ring!’”
The planning started right away. Vierra Farms in West Sacramento immediately clicked with Alana. “The river’s right there and it has the levee—it made me think of the area my father grew up in,” Alana says. “And of course there was a big jumping pillow, which is [basically] a 25-person, giant inflatable trampoline.”
The two wanted the food to be really special, and Joe of Crisp Catering provided just what they needed. “He made up a recipe for us, which was hand-cut pork chops, and he did grilled salmon with mango salsa. And he actually made mustard!”
Alana and Brian both wanted an alternative to wedding cake, so they went to a food truck meet-up to see what choices were available. Enter Steve with the Happy Cowmobile. “It was awesome,” Brian says. At the wedding reception, Steve made sundaes for everybody and a gigantic sundae for the bride and groom to share.
“The food was a big thing,” Brian says. “The party was great, and the drinks were great. All those things were great, but every time I see somebody I haven’t seen since the wedding, the first thing is, ‘Oh, man, your wedding was the most fun wedding I’ve ever been to. I’ve never been to a wedding where there was a jumping pillow.’”
—Margaret Snider
