Images: James Jollay Photography
http://www.jamesjollay.com/
What a weekend Romancers! I hope you all had a fabulous 4th of July! We had such a great time visiting family & friends up in NJ, going through old pictures and memorobilia as my parents pack to move from my 2nd childhood home. Little Evie celebrated her 2 month birthday and we ate entirely too much food – but what else is the 4th of July for? We have a full week of blogging before gearing up for Chrissy & Kristy’s Glen Echo Park wedding on Saturday! How appropriate that today’s feature is a Glen Echo Park engagement session (not planned!). Megan & her fiance Don are just TOO cute and I actually got to meet Megan at my last DIY CapRoWorkshop!
How They Met (From Megan’s perspective)
I had just moved back to the area, and we had mutual friends who had invited us both to a Zumba class. I first noticed Donald because he went straight to the front of the class and was blocking my mirror space. The first words I ever said to him were after the class: “Hey you, you were making up your own moves.”
We both continued attending Zumba with our friends and grew closer during many Saturday nights swing dancing at Glen Echo Park, which is why we decided to take our engagement photos in Glen Echo Park’s Spanish Ballroom. I distinctly remember standing at the corner of the dance floor when one guy was slowly sauntering up to ask me to dance — but Donald quickly swooped in and offered his hand first. I just had to say yes!
Our first date was at his place. It had snowed, but he wanted to show off his culinary skills, so he let me watch Die Hard as he dug a path in the snow to his grill so he could prepare steaks for lunch. It sounds like a ridiculous fairy tale, but it’s all true!
Proposal story (From Donald’s perspective)
Because one of our first dates was a trip to the Tidal Basin to see the cherry blossoms, I thought it would be nice to propose during cherry blossom season. I also wanted to share this moment with the friends and family who had been a part of our lives for the past five years. I decided to organize a picnic and outing to the Tidal Basin for us and a bunch of our friends and family.
A month out from our proposal, I made two Facebook events: One that included Megan with generic event details, and a secret event invitation to let everyone know that I was planning to propose. Later, everyone told me that they were scared to RSVP yes to the secret Facebook event because they were paranoid that Megan might see a notification!
Miraculously, our friends kept my secret for the whole month. On the day of the picnic, Megan didn’t even want to go because it was colder than expected and the cherry blossoms hadn’t even bloomed yet. I convinced her that it would still be fun to hang out with all of our friends.
Because the cherry blossoms hadn’t bloomed, we ended up claiming a picnic spot on the National Mall. Everyone arrived with their picnic food and we all had fun eating and talking.
As everyone was finishing their lunch, I sneakily retrieved the ring from my brother (who had come up from Florida to visit) before asking Megan to come with me to the front of the group so I could thank everyone for coming. (She was reluctant, of course!) I got the group’s attention and immediately, everyone formed a half-circle around us and took out their phones and cameras…
I told everyone how they had been an important part of our lives for the past five years that Megan and I had been together, and I wanted everyone to know how much Megan had been an inspiration and light in my life. Then I got on one knee, pulled out the ring from my pocket and proposed! It took a second for her to say yes because in my nervousness, I didn’t actually ask a question — I said “It would be an honor if you would marry me.” It doesn’t really matter — she said yes and I got the girl!
