Taylor & Mark

Tell us the story of how you met!

We first met at a party in Irvine in 2014. That night Taylor actually had a date with her couch, popcorn, and TV but her friend convinced her to go to a party instead. Mark had plans to go to dinner with coworkers in San Juan but he decided to swing by on his way back home. When Mark showed up he decided it was worth his time to stay!

After that night, we just texted on and off for a year before we decided to meet again.

When Taylor went down to Newport to see Mark, it was a Friday night and there was no parking to be found. She spent over 30 minutes driving in circles waiting for a spot. She thought to herself, if I don't find a spot on the next street I'll just go home. Luckily for Mark someone happened to be leaving on the next street Taylor drove down. Mark quickly learned that if he wanted to keep hanging out with Taylor he should save her a spot in the garage.

How did the proposal go?!

We had made a reservation for a weekend camping trip in Big Bear months in advance. The week before Mark was extremely busy giving presentations to colleagues in Europe and we didn't have any plans for our trip (which was very unusual because Mark loves planning). Taylor asked Mark if he still even wanted to go since nothing was organized, but Mark insisted we go anyway.

After arriving, we took a long scenic walk around the lake. We finished our walk, got ready to go out to dinner but decided to have a happy hour drink by the lake first. We found a great spot so we laid a blanket down. Mark had brought a GoPro which he used to take some candid pictures. After Mark took a few pictures he walked back towards Taylor, but Taylor noticed the camera was recording a video. All of a sudden Mark got down on one knee.

We knew from the beginning that we wanted to design the ring together. Taylor knew she wanted a radiant center stone and then found designs with a radiant from looking online/Pinterest. We sent over the inspiration pictures and info about the center stone and then were presented with a CAD design. From there, we went back and forth and added additional elements from other rings we liked. We had friends with reservations about Taylor being included in the design process because she would lose the element of surprise, but Taylor wanted to ensure she was wearing something everyday that she loved and that we came up with together. Taylor was only included in the design CAD process. The proposal was still a huge surprise!

Any big plans for your wedding? What does your ideal wedding day look like? 

We have about 6 months until we say I do at a beautiful new winery in Temecula. An ideal wedding day for us would be a day where all our friends and family are able to come together to celebrate with us at a beautiful venue and includes written vows, good food/drinks, many champagne toasts (which for Taylor means many tears), and seeing everyone out on the dance floor.

Any advice for other couples who are recently engaged and planning their wedding? 

Our advice for those that are getting engaged or planning their wedding would be:

1. Talk to your soon-to-be husband or wife about what parts of the wedding are most important to you. It is easy to fall into the trap of wanting to have the best of everything for your wedding but it's better to focus the budget and time on the things that really matter to you first.

2. Take your time and enjoy the process. We have been engaged and planning our wedding since June 2020 which we weren't too happy about at first but really appreciate it now. We can enjoy holidays and special events as an engaged couple. We also have the time to enjoy the process and check out multiple vendors until we find the right fit.