Hans and Brittney met in college in 2010. They dated mostly long distance after they graduated as Brittney moved around the state for work. In 2013, she moved back to Stark County to start a new job. The following year the two of them decided to start looking for a place to live together. It has always been Hans’ dream to own a farm so when a farm came up for auction in Paris (which Brittneys aid she had no idea existed!) they decided to bid! They purchased their farm in September 2014 and after much renovation & cleaning, moved in in February 2015.

One of Brittney and Hans’ first dates in college was a hike at the Gorge Metro Park in Cuyahoga Falls. Hans took her there after class one day and it became one of their favorite go- to spots. The two of them had a long weekend so Hans suggested a drive up to Akron and go to the Gorge for the day. Brittney insisted we take Bentley (her baby and has been around longer than Hans!!) so they packed him up and headed to the Gorge. The weather was beautiful; a perfect fall day (10/10/16). Near the end of the hiking trail there is a deck with a few benches looking towards a waterfall. They always stop to look at it and that day was no different. They sat on the bench and then Hans says to her, “I have something for you.” He then pulls the ring box out of his pocket and opens it. Brittney said she was so in shock that she let the lock on the dog leash release and suddenly realized that Bentley had wandered off and was visiting with some new friends, a family with two young kids! HA! She told Hans to “hold that thought” and got up to go get Bentley. She apologized to the family he was visiting with and hoped for a quick getaway, but they started asking her a million questions about Bentley and just wouldn’t quit talking. They were so nice, but she just wanted to say, “pardon me, I’m kinda in the middle of getting engaged!” When she finally broke away, she scurried back to Hans and he just shook his head in disbelief. We laugh about it now, but he was so mad that Bentley “ruined” his proposal and that I left him stranded on the beach, mid proposal, to go get the dog.

“Keeping with the trend of doing things in our own time, we decided to wait to get married until our 10 year anniversary. We chose to have a courthouse wedding with just him and I because we didn’t want the stress and expense of planning a big wedding. We both agreed that a wedding is meant to celebrate the love a couple has for each other and didn’t want to lose sight of that. We had the most perfect wedding day, every detail fell into place so naturally, and we wouldn’t change anything about it.”- Brittney Balzly