Ashley & Allen's Love Story

At Vowlá, we want every moment of your wedding planning to be just as timeless as your relationship. We feel inspired when we interact with you one on one and are awed by the love each one of you exuberates. That is why we have decided to shine light on a few couples this holiday month #underthemistletoe.

Meet Ashley & Allen

(Soon-To-Be, Mr. & Mrs. Culbertson)

Being Bay Area natives, you can only imagine how much energy these two carry! After meeting on a drunken night at the club, the two dated for three and a half years before getting engaged. Their relationship is one of the most fun things to watch so we were dying to ask them all about it!

How Allen & Ashley Met!

Allen: It is a typical Disney story, we were at the classiest of establishments. It was a perfect spring night, I was out with the boys and decided to go to this nightclub in downtown San Jose called Myth, just dancing my heart away when this cute little strawberry blonde came up and complimented me, which is the quickest way to my heart. After that we danced all night, drank way to much, took our first picture, kissed and exchanged numbers and one drunken hazy night will turn to life long love.

Ashley said that she approached him as she thought he was cute and then goes on to say “...But the weird thing is even though I barely knew him, I remember I had an immediate connection to and an excitedness about him.”

Allen is right, this really is a movie, and we’re here for it! The two stated that what first drew them to one another was their looks, however, they quickly learned that their personalities were the perfect match.

When asked about their first date, the two gave slightly different answers, but both are equally romantic (get the tissues out).

Allen: We had a breakfast date the first time we hung out after we met that went amazingly well, we spent a couple hours after walking and hanging out in the rose gardens. But I like to think of our first date as the first night we went on a date. We went out to Mountain View to this beer garden that had some delicious food and after we went out and played laser tag. I still have the scorecards from that game about 4 and a half years ago.  

Ashley: Our first date was a breakfast date actually. We met at Bill’s cafe and after we went to a park that had a rose garden where we spent hours just laying in the grass and talking. I knew he was special because I never once wondered what time it was or wanted the date to end. That was so rare for me. I enjoyed every moment I spent with him. 

When Allen said he still had the score cards from their date four and a half years ago, I cried. Just a little…

Obviously, these two were made for each other, but how did THEY know?! Ashley said it caught her off guard. She didn’t realize she knew, however she was picturing their whole lives together before he had even proposed.

Allen finally bought the ring shortly before the two moved in together. He was indecisive until his mother asked what a deal breaker would be, that’s when he realized nothing would break him away from Ashley.

The proposal…

Allen: It was planned for maybe a month to a few weeks. Once I figured out the ring i couldn’t hang on to it for too long, I was dying to give it to her. It was a clear winter day and she had been wanting to try this wine bar and I needed to calm my nerves so we had a glass of wine and then I took her back to the rose gardens we hung out at after our first breakfast date, I was talking about the future and trying to figure out the best way to get down on one knee. When I finally did she thought I was joking (which is deserved I have pretended to get on one knee a few times before) until she saw that Tiffany’s box come out she realized it was real. Now I thought one of two things could happen with Ashley, she will take off in a full sprint or say hopefully say yes, thankfully she stayed in disbelief and said yes.

Ashley: The proposal was a complete surprise for me. He kind of threw me off course because we talked about moving in together before he would propose and he had been putting pressure on a trip to NY the coming winter, so I thought he was planning to do it there. One day in February he took me to a wine bar (got me a little liquored up) and then casually went to the rose garden (the one we went on our first date). It was winter so there are no roses but it was still gorgeous. A beautiful clear day, hardly any people there and just brought back a flood of feelings from our very first date. He kept taking long pauses and I thought wow he is probably considering this as a place he should propose to me. I had no idea that he was about to propose right then and there! I’m happy he did it there, because it really is a very special spot for both of us. 

Allen and Ashley are that couple that everyone loves being around. When you see them together they make you feel young and full of life, the way everyone should feel when they’re in love.

Thank you Allen and Ashley for sharing your beautiful story. Congratulations from Team Vowlá~