Our story is one of the modern times... We met online! Hinge to be exact! What sparked us to message one another was the fact that we both lived in Cream Ridge... A town that people only understand where it is located when you say "have you heard of 6 flags?" After chatting online for a while we decided it was time to meet in person! A coffee shop by the shore on Memorial Day in Asbury Park sounded like a good first date! We walked the boardwalk and talked for about two hours. It went so well that we forgot it was a holiday and as Ken went to ask me for a second date they began to play the National Anthem over loud speaker... I wish I could go back to the look of confusion on our faces that ended in a shared laugh and eventually my favorite line "when do I get to see you again" Obviously it was a huge yes! Our second date was at my favorite place that has become a staple in our relationship... Tommy's Tap and Tavern! Earlier that day I had captured maternity pictures for my beautiful maid of honor, Vilinta, and I remember describing my excitement the entire time. The dates continued and on "flag day" 6.14.22 Ken officially asked me to be his girlfriend! While it had only been a few short weeks of knowing one another it felt like we had been in each others lives for a long while. Our paths weren't as distant as we may have thought. My grandmother was the bus driver for both my uncle and Kens aunt! Our grandfathers were also both in the horse racing industry, they crossed paths a few times. Funny enough they lived about five minutes away from one another!

One of our concerns initially was the fact that I am a wedding photographer and Ken works in the corporate industry. However, we quickly learned that if you want something to work you do everything in your power to make that happen. Weekly date nights became our thing and saving a weekend or two for one another was something I was more than happy to do! After our first vacation together in Ocean City Maryland I knew he was the one. It was a full family vacation and it was absolutely perfect. We've always bonded over our love for our families. The more we have uncovered about one another we have realized they instilled the same values in us and we are so grateful for that. It's honestly something we can say is our favorite virtue in one another.

Flash forward to May 2023.. We were walking through one of my favorite places, Central Park New York. Ken was in the city for work and so was I. It is always a dream capturing a session in Central Park so I thought to myself "it's about time we have our photos taken here" So I scheduled a session with my dream photographer and dear friend Cassi Claire. We were going to have our photos captured in June but due to life we pushed it back to September... This happens to be one of my favorite months because of the song "September" by Earth Wind and Fire! Little did we know life would be getting a little more crazy and we would actually be first time home owners when this session came around! Ken knew this session landed on my favorite date 9.21 and that these photos would take place in the city that I adore... So he chose to pop the question! Cassi and Ken had conversed about his plan and decided the Que would be to ask us to slow dance on Bow Bridge and I would get to pick the song. Even though I love September I picked "Better Together" by Luke Combs because to me we really make the perfect team and everything is truly better together. Whether it is sitting together to eat, walking our pups, trying a new or old fun activity, making jokes, traveling, sharing our passion for work, or enjoying some family time, together is our favorite place to be and it is where we thrive. So as these monumental and little moments flooded my mind, picturing so many more of them, there was an ugly cry for a split second, a lot of excitement followed by another dream of rowing a boat by the iconic boathouse and it will forever live in my mind on replay. This rom com enthusiast watched the best one of all unfold in reality.

Ken's words were "this is not me but I will do anything for you" He certainly did exactly that! We cannot wait to marry one another in the month and almost to the day where it all began. We'll be saying our vows by the water which is a huge reason we Chose Glen Foerd! Our story is just at its beginning and we cannot wait to share this momentous moment with our loved ones!