Jared and I met in 2008 while I was working as a wood block printer at a surf shop on long beach island, NJ. He used to come into the shop, which was mostly full of women’s clothing and art, but not talk to me.
He eventually mustered up the courage…to find me on social media.
The first time we hung out, he was wearing mens ugg boots and sweatpants, and I thought to myself “at least I know i’m not going to date him.”
Six years and a whole bunch of laughs, love, and memories later, on the way to dinner in Rincon, Puerto Rico, he told me we should go up to a well-known sunset spot in an abandoned house on a cliff.
I had just bought a camera and figured out how to use the timer on the drive there. I set the camera up on an empty window sill and snapped a shot of him to make sure the camera was focused. I set the timer, yelled to Jared that we had ten seconds, and took off running, yelling that I was going to give him a big kiss for the photo, staring at the ground to avoid getting broken glass in my bare feet.
When I got to him, he was on one knee, shaking, holding a box he had made out of two clam shells with the most beautiful raw diamond ring inside. The timer went off just before my knees gave out, giving us a cover to our very own trashy romance novel. He took me out for thai food on a balcony afterwards, complete with a full moon and acoustic music.
We got married in 2014 on the beach on long beach island and had a great psych rock band from puerto rico play our reception. Still floating a year later.
Wedding Photos by Kyle Gronostajski