Perfect Proposal
THE KATIA HADJ HAMOU AND JOSH MINOR WEDDING
STORY BY PATTY HARDIN
K
atia Hadj Hamou and Josh Minor got married
April 14, 2018, on the Oregon coast. The rain
stopped for their ceremony and although Katia lost
her vows, it turns she didn’t miss anything of the words
she had written. She found the vows the next morning.
Sometimes careers play a role in how two people meet.
So it was for Katia Hadj-Hamou and Josh Minor. Katia
was 2 months out of training and working at Station 4,
downtown Portland, near PSU. Josh was 6 years in,
also working downtown, by the Burnside Bridge.
Attending the Pendleton Roundup Rodeo is a fire station tradition. “The guys at my station
invited me to join them,” Katia said. “I was supposed to ride out there with a guy from my
station when I was informed that Josh Minor was going to pick me up. I was nervous at the
thought of spending a 5-hour drive with a stranger, but
figured it was just a chance to meet another co-worker.
“Well, we drove out there, stopped for breakfast on
the way, and were together the rest of the weekend and
pretty much every day since.
The proposal was made of romance and touches of
unintentional sabotage. “Josh bought us tickets to Maui
as a Christmas gift and we went in February,” Katia
said. “I literally had no idea it was going to happen. We
had talked about forever, but I just wasn’t thinking
about marriage or anything. Forever was all I cared
about.
“Come to find out, Josh had a few other plans that
I unknowingly tried to sabotage. The morning of
February 24th we went to watch the sunrise at
Haleakala. We about froze; it’s 10,000 feet in elevation,
but so beautiful. The proposal didn’t happen there.
“We did the road to Hana in search of the “7 Sacred Pools”; we didn’t find them.
“Last plan of the day was Hamoa Bay, near Hana. We parked, Josh grabbed his GoPro that
he had been doing all trip, at which point I had had enough of it. I tried to tell him to stop being
a tourist and leave it in the car, but he persisted, telling me he wanted to “video the waves” and
thankfully I believed him.”
“All was going to plan,” Josh said, “but Katia had one final attempt at unintentional
sabotage.”
Josh set up the GoPro to record the proposal, him on one knee, on the beach.
“As we walked toward the water, Josh ready to propose, I turned and yelled, “Let’s go jump
in the waves,” Katia said.
The proposal ended up happening in the water, as Josh didn’t want to lose the ring in the
ocean. “And it was perfect!” Katia said.
“We had a trip a few weeks after getting married. Katia’s friend Kasha got married May 4
in Cabo, Mexico,” Josh said. “We went and enjoyed that as a relaxing post-wedding trip, but we
haven’t planned our actual honeymoon yet. The plan is to save up and eventually go to the
Maldives.”
The proposal
was made of
romance
and touches of
unintentional
sabotage.
20
OUR COAST WEDDINGS 2019
PHOTOS BY DON FRANK