Danielle and I met back in July of 1998 on a People to People Ambassador Program to Australia and New Zealand. There were 20 students from both Miami and Boston. I was from the Miami group and Danielle was from the Boston group. We all had a fantastic time on a trip of a lifetime. Danielle and I were acquaintance's on the trip, and we don't really remember too much from 10 years ago. So that is basically how we met from the beginning.
How we met the second time around...
(from Jonathan) After the Australia and New Zealand trip, all 40 of the students all went their separate ways. Danielle did send myself holiday cards and I always thought how sweet that was, even though I never sent one back. But needless to say, Danielle was the one that tried to stay in contact with people. I on the other hand didn't try as hard as I should have. Now we fast forward 6 years and I became a Police Officer. Once I realized that Law Enforcement was not the life I wanted to live, I went back home to Miami for 3 weeks, to just "get away from it all." While I was home, I found my journal from the People to People Trip. In the back of the journal, there was America Online screen names and email addresses from people on the trip. I thought to myself, who in the world is going to have the same screen name or email 6 years later. I guess I should have known, one would be Danielle. Well, I sent Danielle an instant message on AOL and we started catching up on all the time we had missed. More and more we talked, we realized that we never ran out of anything to say to each other. Then the topic came up that Danielle had a friend's wedding coming up and she she needed a date. Needless to say, she asked me. I was like well sure, I have nothing planned. Next thing you know, I'm on an airplane to Boston, MA. I was very excited to see Danielle, since we talked almost every night online, but never saw each other face to face in 6 years. As I walked out of the terminal, I'm thinking to myself, "where is she" as I'm waiting for my luggage at baggage claim. Finally, I spotted her and I think she almost walked right past me. Then at last I finally got to see Danielle. The hug was wonderful. When she picked me up at the airport, it was so great to see her. We were probably listening to Mudvayne in the car, and then Danielle says "I think we're lost." I'm thinking, "great, she's from here and she has no clue where we are." Luckily, she has a great friend, Steve, who talked her through how to get back home.
The Proposal...
We were up in Stowe, VT for a vacation. On our first day arriving there, the Inn keeper suggested that today would be a perfect day to go up to Mount Mansfield. She suggested a sandwich shop to grab lunch and off we went. The drive up was amazing, we were just talking and enjoying the scenary. We get up there, decided to eat our lunch inside the car (damn bugs!). Once we were done, we were walking around and we were up on this little area that was higher than all the rest and the bugs were starting to bother me, so I wanted go get going, but Jonathan wrapped his arms around me and asked if we could stay a little longer. So we did - there were other people up there as well (which is why Jonathan wanted us to stay - to wait until everyone left). Once the last person left us alone up there, Jonathan asked me if he could read me something. He broke out a poem he had written (and I didn't think anything of it - he writes me poems often). I start tearing up because it's so sweet and he ends the poem with, "Will you grow old and grey with me?" and I was like, what? Are you serious? I was totally shocked! I, of course, said YES! My eyes were so filled w/tears, I couldn't see anything! It was kinda funny.
My E-Ring
Not actual photo - I couldn't get a clear shot of it, kept coming out blurry, so I gave up. It's a simple diamond solitare.
Ceremony Location
The ceremony will be held at the church I grew up in. We'll be having an interfaith ceremony (Protestant and Jewish). We've found two wonderful officiants who have agreed to perform our ceremony.
Picture from the aisle (little dark - sorry! - not sure mom knows how to use her camera!)
Picture looking to the LEFT (sitting on the right side of the church)
Picture looking to the RIGHT (sitting on the left side of the church)
Reception Location
We're having our reception at the Billerica Country Club. I can't seem to get pictures of the inside off of their site, so I'll be adding pictures soon....
Flowers
Flowers will be done in fall colors - that's the color scheme we're sticking to. So burnt orange, burgandy's, deep reds, fall yellow, etc. will be our flower colors. I don't have pictures - sorry!!!
