Believe it or not, we have been married for more than one year. During that time, we've adjusted to our new life easily. We took a long weekend trip to New York City for our one-year anniversary, and created some special memories we'll remember for the rest of our lives. Check out some photos here.
Bryan has settled into his job as a trauma nurse. He continues to educate himself, earning numerous certifications that have furthered his career. Kara is growing as a magazine editor, and hopes to move up in the ranks soon. She is also doing at least one massage per week.
Most recently, Bryan and Kara, with the help of Kara's mom, bought a house in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Talk about an exciting change! Check back for photos when they have it furnished with their things. Here's some early photos, from the home inspection. Here
Tell us what you think of the website. Send us e-mail What ... where ... when When They Met: Early August, 1999 How They Managed to Find Each Other
Kara Renee is a Gemini, born June 10, 1980. Much of her childhood was spent as a competitive gymnast. She competed across Ohio and in Kentucky, Maryland and Pennsylvania. She graduated in 1998 from Ontario High School, where she was the yearbook editor and class treasurer, and danced on the drill team. She spent a year at the University of North Carolina Asheville, where she was also on the dance team. She decided to major in journalism, a program that UNCA didn't offer, so she transferred to Ohio University in Athens to finish her last two years of school. She wrote for The Post, OU's newspaper, and worked at the Media Services office writing press releases and short articles. She interned with Palm Beach Illustrated magazine during her senior year, and was offered a job with the magazine at graduation.
Bryan James Hagerman is a Libra, born Sept. 25, 1980. He has played the drums since the age of four. He went to Madison High School, where he was voted "Most Musically Talented" in his graduating class in 1998. Note: Ask him about the other title he was awarded. Musical endeavors took him to Disney World and New Orleans during high school. He received the United States Achievement Academy of Music award two years in a row. He took one year off after graduation to work full-time at Richland Aviation at the Mansfield Lahm Airport before he entered MedCentral's brand new bachelor's degree program in nursing. Throughout college, he worked in the emergency department at MedCentral as a patient care assistant and a psych. tech. In Jan. 2002, he joined the Madison Township Fire Dept. as a volunteer firefighter. Now, Bryan is a licensed registered nurse in the state of Florida, and works in the emergency room at Delray Medical Center in Delray Beach. He plans to join the fire department in Florida as soon as possible.
Where They Met: The Flying Turtle Restaurant
The Day They Became a Couple: August 30, 1999
The First Date: A fun-filled night in Columbus
The First Vacation: Florida at Christmas, 1999
The Day They Got Engaged: October 26, 2001
It was the summer of 1999. Kara was in-between her freshman and sophomore years of college. She spent the summer working at The Flying Turtle, a restaurant owned by her mother at the Mansfield Lahm Airport. Bryan was working at Richland Aviation, also at the airport, while preparing for his freshman year of college. Bryan came into the restaurant to eat every time he worked. The two noticed each other off and on, but waited until August (when Kara was about to leave for college again) to finally talk. One Saturday afternoon, after Kara had worked serving tables from 7 a.m. on, Bryan came into the restaurant to get some food. Kara asked him how the weather was because she hadn't been outside since 6:30 a.m. Those were the first actual words.
About a week later, Kara went to the Turtle for lunch with Lyndsey (best friend, bridesmaid) after their summer History class at OSU-Mansfield. Bryan happened to be working for John Puglisi at Hertz Car Rental also (helping out from time to time). He stopped into the Turtle for lunch and they chatted for the first time. Kara took her brother Josh to the airport that afternoon (he was headed home to Florida) and then came back to the restaurant afterward to see if they needed any help. Bryan randomly got done at Hertz around the same time. They hung out and talked. At about 7 p.m., when the Turtle closed, they went outside and continued talking. They finally decided to go sit on the bench near the runway. It got dark ... and they talked ... and talked ... and talked. When they finally looked at a clock, it was 11 p.m. They had chatted for 4 hours and not even realized the time had flown. Bryan asked Kara out on a date, and all is history from there. They saw each other everyday until Kara left for school a few weeks later.
A Few of the Many Funny Moments
Around Christmas 2000, Kara wore a brand new pair of high-heeled black boots to Bryan's house. They were getting ready to leave and Kara walked downstairs to tell Jim and Linda goodbye ... but didn't make it. She tripped and went tumbling down the stairs to the bottom as they watched. As Bryan likes to recollect it, she yelled "Ahhh" and then there was a "thud, thud, thud!"
Kara was talking on the phone one day to Bryan, lying on her bed in the dorm room. She leaned over to grab the tv remote off of a nearby desk, fell off the bed, and broke her big toe!
One night at OU they left a party, only to find that Bryan's car had been towed from the parking lot down the road. They walked all the way back to Kara's dorm and called a cab to take them to the tow lot, then they discovered they didn't have the money to pay for the car. So they started running down the road in the pitch dark to get to a bank. They eventually got the car and went back to the dorm. On top of all that, it was daylight savings and they had to set the clocks FORWARD an hour! No sleep for them that night!
Enjoy a few excerpts from Brides magazine's recent issue —
Wedding Day Play-By-Play For the Groom
What really happens:
3:00 a.m. - Wake up, sweating profusely. Spend next three hours trying to go back to sleep.
6:00 a.m. - Shut off alarm. Check CNN for any world events that might prevent wedding from happening that day.
9:00 a.m. - Have anxiety attack. Look at fiancée's photo. Resume normal breathing pattern.
Noon - Eat light lunch, demonstrating keen sense of responsibility by declining double scotch with beer chaser.
2:30 p.m. - Fend off inquiry by known practical joker, who "innocently" asks where you will be spending the night.
3:00 p.m. - Arrive at church. Smile at people you've never seen before and probably never will lay eyes on again.
3:30 p.m. - Endure prewedding photos. Fight off sinking fear that jaw will permanently lock into the grin position.
4:20 p.m. - Practice saying "I do" in the mirror.
4:30 p.m. - Gather with male attendants. Discuss last night's fourth-quarter field goal.
4:31 p.m. - Ask best man if he has rings. Resist urge to vomit when he (jokingly) frowns and fumbles.
4:45 p.m. - Order knees to unlock as you walk to your starting place at the altar.
5:00 p.m. - Look down the aisle at a vision that banishes all doubt.