Once upon a time, Drew was a hot commodity stage manager in the luxurious Canoga Park, working for a company that would eventually become part of Viacom. Claudia moved to Los Angeles after graduating from a film school that Drew didn’t get into. Her first production assistant gig happened to be at Drew’s stage. Early in the production of whatever project was happening at the time, Drew was introduced to “Claudia,” the new Office PA, and felt an immediate sense of significance. Candidly, Drew was in a relationship at the time, so he wouldn’t say it was love at first sight, but he somehow knew she was going to be important in his life, even if just as a friend or coworker. That said, let’s not pretend he didn’t also think she was cute. Claudia, on the other hand, was later asked by a coworker (and her future maid of honor) if she thought Drew was cute and responded, “Eh, he talks a lot.”

Because production crews often work long hours, people get close rather quickly. Claudia and her maid of honor ended up becoming best friends, and Drew was happily (for a time) the third wheel on that bike. During these budding months of friendship, Drew got dumped and quit his job, but Claudia was there to cheer him up. As Drew spent more time with Claudia, an attraction started to develop that he couldn’t ignore. However, Drew feared ruining the dynamic for both himself and their friend group if anything went wrong.

After moving on to different projects, Claudia quickly surpassed Drew in rank, and he ended up working somewhat adjacent to her on a new gig. Although they weren’t really in the same department, Drew would now interact with her alone more and started getting increasingly flirty, largely unintentionally at first. Drew is and was the kind of person who won’t take a huge risk to make you fall in love with him, but he will shamelessly flirt until you realize he’s interested. Claudia picked up on none of this, despite Drew ditching his entire department to eat lunch with her every day for months.

After many after-work hangouts and a few house parties, everyone but Claudia knew how smitten Drew was, even her visiting mother. Coming from a traditional New Jersey Italian-American family, Claudia’s mom was baffled as to why she wasn’t falling in love with the guy who insisted on washing all the dishes at dinner. Truthfully, by then, Claudia was also interested in Drew, but she was equally nervous and unsure how to act on it.

Since Drew was crippled by anxiety over losing someone who had become one of his closest friends, he was content to carry on as long as he could keep his feelings at bay. Until September 7, 2019, when Claudia asked Drew to go on a hike to the Griffith Observatory. Drew, a frequent hiker, assumed it was just a friend sharing in another friend’s interests (like he had done for her with cooking and baking, and she had done for him with trivia nights). But as the hike went on, Drew decided that by the end, he was going to ask Claudia on a date, nerves be damned. As a result, he remembers very little of the actual hike other than feeling like a nerd with a backpack on in the observatory. Still scared, Drew let the night end without saying anything. But mid-drive, he had an epiphany: “Oh shoot, that may have been a date.” That realization gave him the confidence to follow through and ask Claudia to dinner. Claudia was relieved Drew finally caught on, and they’ve been stuck together ever since.

Somewhere along the way, they became absolutely smitten with each other, moved in together, and two became three when Claudia’s dog (and Drew’s future best friend) Walter joined the team. Their adventures carried them through COVID, family loss, and eventually out East to Atlanta. Although Claudia and Drew see their time in Atlanta as temporary, it’s where the next major chapter of their love story would unfold.

Atlanta isn’t exactly known for its pizza, so Claudia and Drew had to improvise. With a backyard for the first time, they bought a pizza oven and quickly became amateur pizza chefs. Making pizza became a bit of a hobby, and anytime someone came to visit, they were excited to show off their subpar expertise. When Claudia and Drew hosted Thanksgiving, it was the perfect moment to show off their skills…and for Drew to finally propose. The pizza only cooks for about 90 seconds, so Drew seized the moment, got down on one knee, and proposed very quickly to Claudia…and to Walter, who also got a ring. The pizza was burnt, but it was mostly worth it.