How We Met: Sometimes life throws you one of those unexpected curve balls that you just did not see coming. Perhaps it was fate or serendipity or maybe it was just a lucky coincidence, but it is the best thing that has ever happened to us.
We were actually matched up through an on-line dating application (mistakenly) because I lived in San Francisco and Jenny lived in Atlanta. We began exchanging messages for about a week before we figured out we were on opposite sides of the country. The initial chemistry was so good that I told Jenny we should at least meet so that we could see each other in person.
Our first date was December 26. I was visiting my family for Christmas and drove from their house to finally meet Jenny at a local restaurant outside of Atlanta. When I walked in, my heart just melted. I remember thinking if this girl is fun and has a great personality, then I am in big trouble! It did not take long to figure out that Jenny was everything I could ever want. We had so much in common, and the conversation just seemed to feel like we were old friends. The night and our time together was so easy and so perfect. Midway through the date, I knew this was the girl I was going to marry. After a day or two, I asked Jenny if I could see her again, and we have seen each other at least every other weekend since we first met. We have even managed a couple mini vacations to Napa and Las Vegas so we could spend more time together.
how they asked: Jenny’s dream has always been to have a fairy tale proposal. While Jenny and I were dating, we used to send each other quotes. There were two quotes that served as my inspiration. The first quote was “I’d choose you….in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality….I’d find you and I’d choose you.” The second quote was “A fairy tale starts out as merely a hope or a dream until you meet that one person who will give you your happily ever after.” Now I just needed to figure out how tell Jenny this.
I wanted to do something creative and something we would remember forever. To me, no fairy tale would be complete without a castle so as things moved from “serious” to “there is no way I am not proposing to Jenny” I began to look for castles. I found the perfect spot in New York called Oheka Castle. On the property, there was an English garden that seemed so beautiful. I had seen this amazing tree in some of the pictures of weddings at the castle and decided to reach out to the florist. I explained my idea, and he was immediately on board. He would create a tree for the garden from which we would hang meaningful quotes Jenny and I had sent to each other. A fairy tale proposal, though, needs an actual fairy tale book. I was fortunate enough to find Jackie Huang, who makes custom pop-up books. Together, she and I created a custom pop-up fairy tale book that included some of my favorite memories with Jenny. The last thing I found was a fun picture of Georgia and California with hearts in our cities that said “Happily Ever After” underneath the states. The scene seemed to laid out perfectly in my head.
There was just one more thing I really wanted for this proposal. A couple years ago I had seen a proposal video that Michael Justin had helped produce. The video just floored me! It captured the moment so beautifully and was so well done. I knew if I was going to propose that I wanted Michael to capture that moment. He and I began to plan out the day and work out all the details. After a few meetings, many emails, and a couple phone calls, we had our plan ready.
On May 27, the day finally came! It took some creative stories to get Jenny there and some cooperation from the weather, but the day turned out better than I could have imagined. I walked Jenny out to the tree, we looked at a few of the quotes, we read through the book, and then I got down on my knee and popped the question. She said yes! I hope you enjoy the video and pictures because I sure enjoyed the proposal!
Videography and photography by: Michael Justin Films