“To be honest, I thought he was a creep. (I can’t help smiling while writing this.) That’s right, my first impression of my husband, Michael, was that he was just some creepy doofus trying to have a chat with me. I brushed him off with a politely dismissive smile. We met at work. The summer before my twenty-first birthday I got a job hostessing at a restaurant in the Venetian hotel and casino. I remember Michael engaging me in polite conversation, and I just wasn’t interested at first. Then all of a sudden it hit me like a train, I WAS INTO HIM. I was waiting for him to make a move because I could tell he was into me, or at least I got that feeling from him. After a few long weeks of waiting, I decided to make the first move. He was into me, right? So, one night I was ending my shift at the restaurant and he was still working. I decided that I would leave my phone number on a piece of paper and stuff it into his jacket pocket so that he could find it later. When he finally texted it said, “What a pleasant surprise.” I said, “Surprise? I thought you were interested in me!” Turns out he was, but we might not have gotten to where we are now if I hadn’t taken that leap of faith.

We shortly found out that we were both attending the same college and decided to meet up for a cup of coffee between classes. We got to chatting and discovered that we have quite the age difference, (11 years). He asked me straight away if kids were something that I wanted in the future and all I can remember was staring into his green eyes, looking at his amazing chocolate brown hair and thinking “yes, if they’re yours.” So, there we were three years later buying our first home together, adopting three kittens and talking about babies. Whenever we talked about marriage it just felt so unnecessary because we both felt like we were already married and that was enough. While in the process of buying our house we had a saying, “house first, ring later.” I was so surprised when Michael proposed because we were literally in the process of signing the closing paperwork on our house.

On the morning of my twenty-third birthday Michael woke me up with a gift bag. It contained numerous dollar store trinkets like cheap hair clips and nail polish. I could tell it was a gag gift. He said he needed to go to the store to get me a better gift and to stay in bed, that he would bring me home a coffee. When he returned he asked me to come downstairs and sit on the couch. He proceeded to blindfold me and put headphones on me. He said he didn’t want me to hear my present… Wait, what? So this music starts playing and it just sounds like a bunch of banging and clapping and then a man starts singing “ Be your husband if you’ll be my wife, loving all of you the rest of your life.” The tears just started rolling and they didn’t stop for a long time because I knew what was about to happen. I felt Michael take the blindfold off and I took off the headphones. There was a BIG box which he told me to open. It was a calico kitten with a ribbon around her neck and a tag reading, “My name is Luna.” As adorable she was, I was totally sitting there having a “WTF??!” moment. Why would he play that song and then give me a kitten? Then he tells me that there’s something else in the box and that’s when I see it. A tiny purple box with a tiny purple ribbon. He took it from me, got down on one knee like a proper gentleman and asked me to be his wife. There was no big crowd, no fancy champagne, just the two of us, uninterrupted. There’s something special about sharing a private memory with just one other person, and I will cherish it for the rest of my life. We were married on May 28th of this year and were so grateful to have my lifelong friend, Karissa, capture our special day on camera.”

 

I had the pleasure of starting their special day with them getting ready, all the details, and shooting the ceremony. When it concluded I snuck away into the bridal suite and changed to attend the reception as a guest! You see, I’ve known Tiffany since we were in the 1st grade. We grew up together. I’m talking about epic girl scouts trips, summers together, many sleepovers and even a brief time making YouTube videos. (I’m laughing really hard at the last part)

When Tiffany reached out asking me to do their engagements I was ecstatic to do them and get to know her future hubby. The moment I saw them together and interacting across from them at the dinner table, I knew this was truly the man for her. I was honored a few weeks later after I delivered their engagement session when she asked me to shoot her wedding.

Tiffany and Michael, I love you both dearly! I can’t wait to see the two of you create a beautiful family in the future.