Dave Franco Turns 33! Inside His Marriage to Alison Brie: 'We Can Survive Anything'

Dave Franco has a lot to celebrate as he turns 33 on Tuesday — with wife Alison Brie by his side!

The lovebirds married a year ago and recently starred together in The Disaster Artist, an award-winning comedy directed by Franco’s brother James.

“It’s so nice to work with your person, to be on set with someone who is the person you feel the most comfortable with in the world,” Brie, 35, told HelloGiggles of working with her husband before the film’s release last winter. “It’s a really great feeling, especially to be intimate with them on set or to have romantic or kissing scenes with that person. It’s delightfully easy.”

In honor of Franco’s big day, here’s a look back at their relationship.

Staying out of the spotlight

Franco and Brie started dating after meeting at the 2011 Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans.

“There was a semi-immediate click,” Brie previously said of meeting Franco.

The two kept their relationship out of the spotlight for the first few years of dating, rarely appearing together in public. In fact, they weren’t even spotted together until 2012, when they were photographed holding hands together at the grocery store.

The couple didn’t make their first public appearance together until 2015, when they sat with each other at the Dior Homme show in Paris, France.

A surprise gone wrong that brought them closer together

Last September, during an interview with The Tonight Show‘s Jimmy Fallon, Franco recalled a scary moment that made them inseparable.

“When we first started dating, my birthday came up in the first three months of the relationship,” Franco said. “She started planning a surprise party, which was very sweet. But it got out of control.”

The Now You See Me actor explained that the party required costumes and that his anxiety of many people in one space led him to eat a “weed cookie.”

“I freaked out and to alleviate my anxiety I chose to consume a weed cookie,” he said. “It had the opposite effect I intended. I ran downstairs and had the first panic attack of my life.”

Despite the turn of events, Franco told Fallon the party proved something to him about their relationship.

“Alison and I still talk about how if we can survive my surprise party, we can survive anything,” he said.

How he realized she was the one

Franco revealed during the same interview that his love for his two cats, Harry and Arturo, didn’t always leave room for a partner.

“I don’t know how I became the quirky cat guy,” he told Fallon. “At one point in my life I was the single guy with two 16-pound cats.”

When it came to how his devotion to his cats complicated his love life, Franco admitted it wasn’t always easy finding someone who would understand.

“It definitely weeds out a lot of potential dating partners,” he said. “Alison [Brie] loves them, thank God. She was really the only option [for marriage].”

• Watch the full season of SearchHistory on PeopleTV.com or download the PeopleTV app on your favorite device.

He put a ring on it

The couple announced their engagement in August 2015 after more than three years of dating.

“I was so shocked that I actually burst out laughing, and I asked him a number of times if he was being serious before saying yes,” she told Larry King of Franco popping the question.

Brie sported her (sizeable) engagement ring at a screening of her new movie Sleeping with Other People.

At the time, PEOPLE exclusively confirmed that Brie’s sparkler is the work of Southern California jewelry designer Irene Neuwirth. It’s a one-of-a-kind rose gold ring set with a rose-cut diamond and a diamond pave.

Dave’s brother James later took to Instagram to congratulate the happy couple, posting a sweet photo of the two, along with the caption “Congrats Davy and Allison!!! engaged!!! I WUUUUUV YOU.”

But before getting engaged, Brie was open about her hesitation toward marriage.

“I never wanted to get married,” she said. “I was just like, ‘Well that’s not my path in life, because I’m choosing this crazy lifestyle.’”

Then, she says, in waltzed Franco.

“Then, you know, I fell in love,” she says. “So, blah blah blah, amazing. Acting is fulfilling, but it’s also not the only thing.”

Wedded bliss

The couple tied the knot in March 2017 in a private ceremony.

Since the wedding, the couple has been vocal about how much they’re loving married life.

“Something about being married made me feel so settled, almost more free, I guess, rather than like trapped,” Brie told PEOPLE at The Disaster Artist AFI Festscreening in Los Angeles. “It’s great. So now, let’s go do whatever we want. Onward and upward.”