How We Met
Shauna and I met on Hinge last summer. I am from Tampa, Florida and have been a freelance digital creator for the last 4 years. Shauna is from Dublin, Ireland and has been in America for the last 7 years as an educator and a soccer coach. On a personal level, Shauna was in no way wanting to be in a relationship let alone one with a child and two dogs. Within 2 months of knowing each other, I asked her to be my girlfriend and we got matching tattoos. Life with her is so easy, it’s effortless. I knew she was my voice of reason and partner for life the day I drove over an hour and a half to meet her. She will tell you when I got out of my car in her driveway wearing just jeans and a white top she knew she found her mate. Shauna has taken on motherhood as if she was with us from the start and honestly Willow knowns nothing other than having two moms who love her endless.
How They Asked
Being in the fashion + social media community it was no shock we had a photoshoot coming up. On the morning of the proposal, I told Shauna I had a few surprises throughout the day for her. As one who hates surprises, she thankfully went along with it under the assumption I was being sweet making up for being moody a few days before (when really it was my stress and anxiety over the proposal). I took her to get her hair done at crown and mane, brought her to the boutique I manage, Sunni Spencer, to pick out a dress, then over to the Posie Flower Truck to make a custom bouquet of florals, followed by a nail appointment. I saved the best two for last – Dermont Kennedy tickets for the sold-out concert in Tampa and the surprise proposal.
At first, we took some family photos with our daughter, Willow, along the shoreline so she wouldn’t suspect anything. After a few different locations, Stacy (our family friend photographer) suggested we put down a blanket and create a little picnic vibe with our blanket and basket. We laughed and giggled as I secretly whipped out a rifle paper co fields notebook from inside the basket. Shauna is a writer and always leaves me notes around the house. I joked and said, “Remember that one time I asked you if I could ever make you cry from a note?” And at that moment the floodgates opened. At first, she still didn’t catch on to what was actually happening.
I got to the very last paragraph that read ” By now your heart is racing and wondering what the actual heck is going on and if I’m ever going to stop reading this overwhelming long note. If I have even made it this far I am most likely shaking, sobbing or laughing for a reason you keep replaying in your head. My entire life has been a show and tell. This moment, for once, will be no show but one big tell. This will be our time to be fully emerged in watering eyes, bliss, and pure authenticity in the way we will express these emotions freely, without imagination anymore. We now have the power to write our rest, together, as family, as mothers, as creators, and as wives.”
If she wasn’t already sobbing then she sure as hell started to when she realized my mom had Shauna’s sister on facetime the entire time even though it was about 3 am in Ireland. I’ve watched heavy hearts knowing she can’t go home right now and seeing disappointment knowing her family can’t come here. I wanted to make sure no matter what I had her sister still apart of this moment with us.
Needless to say, no matter the obstacles we still face we are getting married January 2021, on Stacy’s property, with our friends and family and can not wait to give each other our last names.
