BryanAndJoy.com : Our

Our Mushy Love Story

How We Met

Bryan and I met while working at the Bimini Biological Field Station in Bimini, Bahamas. I was an assistant laboratory manager and he was the primary investigator conducting research for his PhD project. I was very nervous around Bryan. As the P.I., he could have made my life less enjoyable if he did not like me. But my anxiousness didn’t last very long. Our first night out in the field I was assigned to a boat with 2 other people and Bryan as the boat captain. I was very nervous at first but soon realized that with Bryan I had nothing to worry about. He immediately put me at ease and we worked the whole night catching sharks and having a blast. After a few nights out in the field, we became quick friends and being out on boats catching sharks, laughing and joking the whole time, will be some of the best memories of our lives.

The Courtship

It is hard to define when we started dating. We worked together and lived in the same building from the moment we met. Perhaps it started while I was holding a shark while Bryan implanted a transmitter; or pouring over every identification book to find a certain species of fish; or perhaps while on a boat zooming over glass water on a much needed day off. Either way, the ending is the same. I left Bimini in the summer of 2004 to attend college in Tennessee. Bryan still had 1 ½ years left of research in Bimini. We were both unsure of what would happen being so far apart, but as they say ‘distance makes the heart grow fonder.’ After being apart for 1 ½ years, we reunited in Tennessee while I finished my degree program.

The Proposal

Bryan proposed on my birthday, February 13th, 2006. I was at school and returned home in the afternoon. I opened the door to a house full of red roses, rose petals and candles. Laid out was a new bathrobe (which I had asked for). He asked me to put it on, which I was a little unsure of, but he encouraged me to try out the pockets. Inside the right pocket was the box with the ring. That’s when the tears started. Of course, I said yes. We spent the rest of the night calling family and friends and dining on an awesome dinner of homemade onion rings and veggie burgers. To my surprise, Bryan informed me that our families already knew. He had shopped for the ring with his family and asked my dad for his blessing over the previous Christmas.

The Future

We plan to get married on Bimini, the small Bahamian island where we met. It is a beautiful island, hailed in its heyday as the fishing capital of the Bahamas. Made famous by Hemingway, large tuna once ran very close to the island in the gulf stream. Bimini is a small island, but rich in animal diversity and culture of the Bahamas. It is a shame that current construction threatens to destroy the delicate balance of nature, particularly the mangroves and the animals that use the protected shallows as a nursery. We look forward to sharing this unique island with the people we love. We both feel very passionately about the island and ocean life of Bimini. And through your experience at our wedding, we hope you love it as much as we do!