Sacramento native Sarah met Jon on the dating app OkCupid. “Jon was moving to Sacramento from Colorado to be closer to his brother,” she shares. “Although he was originally looking for an easy-breezy, casual connection, he wound up finding his best friend. Sorry Single Jon, you’re out!”

Jon planned to propose to Sarah during a family trip to Kona, Hawaii, in November 2017. Jon, Sarah and her best friend Michelle took a snorkeling cruise. “We were the first two in the water, and he said ‘Why don’t we see how the underwater camera works? Take a video,’” she remembers. “While I was trying to film underwater, Jon dove down and unrolled a waterproof ‘Will you marry me?’ sign.” On the boat ride back to the hotel, spinner dolphins followed the boat for a few miles. According to the couple, even the captain said that the dolphins never hang around that long and must be celebrating the engagement.

Sarah and Jon had a few must-haves in mind for their big day: grilled cheese for dinner, an amazing DJ that would make people get up and dance and a relaxed venue. They only needed to visit one venue to make their choice of location and Drewski’s food truck was already a familiar site at many local events and serves “a mean grilled cheese.”

Sarah says the beginning stages of planning were definitely the easiest and most fun. “You can throw out all sorts of ideas and see what sticks. Let’s have lightsabers! What about cornhole? Can we have the dogs there? Oh look, they have tater tots!”

As self-proclaimed Star Wars nerds, Sarah and Jon decided early on they wanted the wedding to happen on May 4th (you know, May the Fourth be with you). “Lightsaber and Millennium Falcon guest books? Check! Chewie roar at the kiss? Check! Table numbers with photos all of our cats and dogs and favorite foster animals? Check,” beams the bride. Sarah works at the Sacramento SPCA so they wanted to also fit in the animals somewhere.

Both ceremony and reception were held at The Barn at Second Wind. “It was like a large family gathering with the party tables hootin’ and hollerin’ during speeches and dinner,” says Sarah. “Our favorite moments included all the guys (Jon, both dads, brothers) having a ‘dance off’ to “I’m Too Sexy” by Right Said Fred. My dad killed it and didn’t leave the dance floor all night!”

While Sarah says the vows were the most memorable of the day, Jon reminisces about the “no look, first look” photos. “Up until that point, I was a nervous wreck, but as soon as I felt Sarah’s hand and heard her voice, it was the biggest swell of joy I’ve ever felt.” 

—Darren Elms