About their engagement session: "Since the cherry blossoms were not in bloom for the proposal like he planned, we planned the engagement session photos for the next projected date of peak bloom for the blossoms. Nature again did not cooperate, but this time there were several cherry blossom trees starting to bloom, as well as magnolias. It was freezing and windy the morning we took pictures around the tidal basin where Steven proposed, but Jennifer did a great job capturing our love and not my chattering teeth. Because of our long distance and lots of time spent on planes at the Reagan airport, we had the idea to also take pictures at the airport with the planes landing. Jennifer did an amazing job capturing our story!"
Photo credit: Jennifer Gulley Photography
Their love story: We went to the University of Florida and briefly met each other through a mutual friend. We both graduated and moved to the DC area for jobs and ended up reconnecting at the Gator bar in the DC area every Saturday for football games. Saturdays during football season then turned into dates strolling around the Eastern Market and then the rest is history. We have been apart now for 4 years, with Steven working in construction in DC and with myself in graduate school at UF and then working at the university, training in Dermatology. I am finally moving back to the DC area soon and our long distance saga will finally come to an end. "Distance is to love like wind is to fire; it extinguishes the small and ignites the great" is a quote we cherished during our long distance days.
How he proposed: The cherry blossoms around the tidal basin in DC are one of my most favorite things. Steven had me come up to DC under the premises of a work event that I was to attend with him. We planned to walk the tidal basin earlier in the day, as it was supposed to be peak bloom for the cherry blossoms. Nature did not cooperate and they were not yet in bloom, but Steven insisted on going anyway. I was a little stubborn, as it was very cold and I couldn't understand why he wanted to 'look and see if there are any in bloom'. We were walking across a field near the Jefferson Memorial with the Washington monument in the background and Steven got down on one knee. I was pleading for him to walk a little faster because of the cold, and I spotted Jennifer, who he hired to photograph the proposal, taking pictures of us as he was asking, so it took me a few moments before I realized what was happening. I, of course, said yes! We then spent the rest of the day as usual. The surprises continued later in the day, as I thought we had a reservation for two for dinner. He ended up surprising me by flying up both of our families from Florida who were waiting in a reserved area of the restaurant. We spent the rest of the weekend celebrating the engagement with family.
