WEDDING

Their Story

Grace is Pepper...Jason is T-Rex, together they form "PepperRex" (trade mark pending). It may sound silly to you, but it makes them happy, and at the end of the day, a little silliness never hurt anyone. Now I'm going to tell you a tale, a tale of true love. It begins in Gainesville, FL in the Autumn of 2008 at The University of Florida where the two of them met. They met on a Tuesday, but this was no ordinary Tuesday. On this particular Tuesday, the planets were in the same alignment as the day Romeo met Juliet. The sky was the same shade of blue as the day Wesley met Buttercup. The moon was in the same phase as when George met Gracie. And the barometric pressure was reading a balmy 29.92, the exact pressure as the fateful day when Harry met Sally! All signs pointed to "amor." There was only one problem: Grace couldn't stand Jason. Unlike those love stories of yore, this was far from love at first sight. Grace thought Jason was obnoxious, crude, and arrogant. In other words, she got to know him pretty well. Fortunately for Grace, she was in her senior year and would only have to suffer Jason's uncouth behavior for a mere 8 months. Upon her graduation she moved out of Gainesville, and out of Jason's life forever...or so she thought...

 

Fast forward to September of 2011 in West Hollywood, CA. Jason had been living in California for just over a month when he decided to take a chance and ask Grace (who had moved to California 3 months earlier) out for lunch. Grace was hesitant to accept the invitation, but after some thoughtful consideration, she decided it would be nice to see a familiar face in the strange Land of Lala. They met for lunch the following week and for some reason, Grace was able to stomach Jason's company. In fact, to her great surprise, she even found herself enjoying the afternoon they spent together. Yes indeed, this was the beginning of a true and palpable friendship. 

 

Over the course of the next year, Grace and Jason would often meet up for lunch, go to the movies, and enjoy long hikes together. In May of 2012, tragedy truck Jason in the form of a motorcycle accident, which left him severely injured and unable to take care of himself. It was during this time that their relationship began to change. Grace helped Jason tremendously in his hours of need. She would bring him lunches and dinners, and would sit with him for hours on end, as his wounds slowly healed. She played an integral role in keeping his spirits high, and to no fault of her own, caused him to fall deeply in love with her. 

 

As the Summer turned into Fall, they would spend more and more time together, and Jason would fall deeper and deeper in love. However, his feelings would go unrequited, for while Grace grew to cherish his friendship, the bells of love would not toll for Miss Serrano. Or would they?

 

On Sunday, January 10th, 2013, after all of his guests had left his annual Oscar party, Jason found himself alone with Grace and decided the time was nigh to confess his love. He spoke with reckless abandon and left no stone unturned. Grace was speechless. She was not expecting to hear such devotion from him, nor was she ready to echo his sentiments. For although she was touched to the soul by his words, she did not share his feelings. This is the point where most intelligent men would take the hint and cut their losses. But not our Jason, no, not our Jason. What did he do you ask? He did the last thing Grace would ever expect him to do, he asked her to go to Italy with him. Italy you say? Yes, Italy. 

 

Let me back up for a second. About a month before this moment, Jason won a poker tournament in Hollywood, where the grand prize was an all-expenses-paid trip to Tuscany, Italy for 12 people in a private villa in Forte dei Marmi. He had already invited 10 of his family members to join him, and was holding onto the last invitation for a certain "special someone."

 

She of course said "si." While Grace might not have been ready to accept Jason's love, she was more than ready to accept a trip to to Italy. I mean come on, it's Italy! Jason's heart leapt for joy upon her acquiescence to his invitation, but she made it extremely clear their relationship was platonic, and the trip would not change that. Jason didn't blink at this news and they would soon find themselves on board a 10 hour Alitalia flight to the land of his ancestors (yes, Jason is Italian). 

 

From the moment they took off until the moment they came home, Grace and Jason spent every waking moment together. They spent their days enjoying the Tuscan country side, Roman ruins, Renaissance art, Medieval cities, rural road trips, and family reunions. They spent their evenings eating amazing food, drinking fine wine, and laughing with Jason's parents, Alan and Marie, and his cousins Jimmy, Joanna, Andrea and Lisa. They would laugh to the point of tears at his mother's jokes, while enjoying after-dinner drinks on the patio, crying out, "Bene, bene, bene!" and "Prego, prego, prego!"

 

As the days went on Grace found herself seeing Jason in a whole new light. She started to feel a strange and unfamiliar sensation, and found herself holding his gaze a little longer and "accidentally" brushing his hand with hers. Was it Italy? Was it this mystical land of romance that was igniting sparks of love in her heart? This would be the most logical explanation, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized, logic had gone out the window.

 

Ten days after departing for Italy, where they spent every day together, Grace and Jason returned to Los Angeles, and back to their individual lives. It took just under a month for Grace to realize she missed him terribly, and she couldn't hold out any longer. And so it was, on the night of Friday, July 5th, 2013, that Grace Serrano told Jason Weiss that she loved him too.  And the rest is history.