How We Met: Gabe and I immediately hit off when we met at a good friend’s birthday party, we were both on winter break from college. We danced the entire night, I was quick to tell him that I wasn’t interested because we went to two different universities and that this would be very “inconvenient.” Later the next day “Gabe” appeared on my phone, turns out he had put his number in my phone when I wasn’t watching and then called himself so he would have my number. He called and asked if he could take me out before our winter break was over.. for whatever reason our schedules didn’t work out but both of our birthdays were approaching (within 5 days of each other) and he called me on his 21st birthday, while he was out with friends and his parents, to tell me that he missed me, that he was thinking about me and was really sad that we weren’t going to be able to get together before heading back to school. That’s when he told me he would come visit me at school. Of course, I didn’t believe him. I laughed and said “ok, I’ll believe it when I see it.” Over the next few days leading up to my birthday, I received sweet texts, we talked all the time and then 2 dozen colored roses showed up on my door with a message that said “I hope you have a great birthday beautiful” the best part, he signed it “conveniently, Gabe.” He showed up to visit me at school and we’ve been together for the last seven and a half years.
how they asked: We were in Miami, just the two of us, for Fourth of July weekend. We had plans to kick the weekend off with a nice dinner on Friday. We got dressed up and Gabe thought it would be fun to grab some hors d’oeuvres and a drink before dinner at Smith and Wollensky’s in South Pointe Park. South Point Park is where the intracoastal and ocean meet and it’s a beautiful place. As we got out of the cab, he said “this is supposed to be a really cool place” and he asked if I wanted to walk around and check out some of the scenery. To be honest, I didn’t want to, my hair was done, I was wearing heels… it’s July in Miami! Though I didn’t feel like it I could tell that it was something he really wanted to do so I obliged.
As we approached the red and white lifeguard stand, there wasn’t anyone around. Gabe told me how beautiful I looked and I knew something was about to happen, I could feel this big ball of nerves and emotion welling up inside of me. He spun me and when I turned around he was down on one knee. He said “ you are my soulmate, my best friend, will you marry me.” Of course I said yes! We were both so happy and completely in the moment. Evan, our photographer, was snapping pictures while Gabe filled me in on his side of the story. It turns out, we had been running late for the perfect lighting at the park, but it worked out since it was raining at the time we were suppose to arrive. Gabe told me our dinner reservation wasn’t until later and that we could shoot some pictures. We shot some photos celebrated with champagne and dinner. Evan did such a great job capturing the emotion and happiness of the moment.
Photos by Evan Rich