Wedding Stories: Patricia & Gabriel

It is so gratifying to get to see a couple walk through their engagement together to the beautiful wedding at the end. It is even more gratifying when I get to take that journey with them. This Wedding Story is extra special to me because I consider both bride and groom to be personal friends of mine. Here is Patricia and Gabriel's wedding story!

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It was a beautiful, sunny day in Miami, Florida. Having just landed from the 30 degree weather in Nashville, Tennessee, stepping out of my rental car into the 80 degree Miami air was quite a welcome change. It also just so happened to be December 23rd.

A December wedding usually brings to mind cold, snowy weather and a bride all bundled up in pretty white fur and long sleeved dresses. This was a beautiful, sunny, humid wedding where everyone wore pretty sundresses and the bride was in a gorgeous strapless gown looking absolutely stunning. 

I had spent the past few months corresponding with Patricia, the bride, on what she wanted me to sing in her ceremony. From the beginning, she knew that she wanted me to sing a beautiful song that Gabriel, her now husband, wrote for her on the occasion of their engagement called 'Deep Within Our Love'. This was what she walked down the aisle to, and it was a beautiful moment. It was also the social media hashtag for their wedding: #deepwithinourlove. 

Later, Patricia added two more songs to the ceremony. One was 'A Thousand Years', a song of Christina Perri's, to be sung during the unity candle ceremony. The other was actually a surprise for the groom! In secret, a group of the couple's musician friends (myself included) devised a surprise, at Patricia's bequest. As Patricia and Gabriel began to walk back down the aisle, after being pronounced man and wife, we began to sing the version of 'All You Need Is Love' ala the film, Love Actually. Gabriel was extremely surprised and Patricia was so happy to be able to give him a special gift on their wedding day. 

The reception was a wonderland of twinkle lights, Cuban cuisine and Latin salsa music. The bride and groom, as well as their guests, danced the night away under the stars. As the limo pulled away to take the newlyweds to the historic Biltmore hotel for their wedding night, I got a little teary. At long last, after all of the ups and downs of their relationship, my two friends were finally joined in marriage.

It was a perfect wedding, full of love and happiness. I loved getting to be such a special part of their big day. Seeing a couple so happy start on one of life's most amazing journeys together is the reason I got into this business. I cannot wait to see where their journey leads them. 

If you would like to learn more about what services I have to offer, head over to my contact page and set up a free consultation with me. I would love to be part of your special day!! 

With love,

Whitney

Engagement Stories: Becca & David

This month's Engagement Story is about two incredible people who decided to take the plunge and tie the knot. The two got married in Dallas two years ago this March. This proposal story will make every man you know want to step up his game when he finally decides to ask that special someone to be his wife! Everyone, meet Becca and David!

HOW WE MET

David and Becca used to live across the hall from one another, and one day, Becca came across the way to invite David and his roommate, Tad Kelsay, to a get together she was having with friends. He was so taken aback by her, he forgot to introduce himself until she was almost home. Fortunately, that was only about 20 feet away, or else this story might never have happened. 

He came to the gathering, and they spent much of the night talking and laughing with each other and couldn't wait to do it again soon. After about a month of spending time together, they finally went on their first date. David came to the door covered in a nervous sweat. Becca, though, found it a lot more endearing than disgusting. He also had a dozen peach roses behind his back that he'd spent three hours picking out earlier in the day. 

He whisked her away to Oddfellows and Crooked Tree CoffeeHouse in Dallas, Texas, and the pair couldn't stop talking for hours. 

All great love stories begin with Southern food and coffee, right?

PROPOSAL 

David writes Becca a love letter every month, so he decided to stick with that theme for Becca's proposal, which she always dreamed would be "Big, difficult to pull off and special only to her." David set out to make that happen. 

A few weeks before it went down, he met with two of Becca's friends, Kayla and Lindsay, enlisting their help in making Becca's dream proposal come to life. The two were enclosed in the circle of trust, but kept it quiet from Becca. 

David convinced Becca he would have to go out of town for work early, instead of taking her on their traditional Thursday night date during the fall. It was only to preserve the surprise. When Becca got out of her last class of the day, she found a letter underneath her windshield that apologized for being gone, but said David had a little something prepared. Becca couldn't help but utter an "Awww," touched that he did something special to try and replace their usual date night. 

Kayla had arranged to ride home with Becca after class, but the letter directed Becca (with a cheesy poem, of course. They write those to each other from time to time) to drive to the place where they met for the first time. She left to go do it, and found another long letter underneath David's doormat, detailing how he felt when he met her for the first time after she knocked on his door. Another silly poem directed Becca to trek to the site of their first date. 

Once she reached Oddfellows in the Bishop Arts District of Dallas, her letter was waiting at the front of the restaurant. It told her his memories of their first date, and what he remembered and loved most about formally taking her on their very first date. The long letter, like those before it, concluded with another poem directing her to the top of a hill in the middle of the two-mile loop where David and Becca often run. 

Even to this point, Becca wasn't sure if this was "it." David was gone, and Kayla being around (helping with directions and taking photos of each stop) had her questioning whether or not he was going to pop the question. An earlier conversation that week in which David (with the help of Kayla and Lindsay) convinced Becca that her ring wouldn't be ready for perhaps a few more months, had her believing it'd still be a while longer, too. 

Still, when she reached the hill, the letter was stuck to the pole and in a Ziploc bag. Those runs can get a little difficult, and that hill is the toughest part. Together, though, they can get through it, and it's always easier with her by his side. So, too, would life's challenges, the letter read. At the end, another poem sent Becca scurrying to Sprinkles' Cupcakes, where a key phrase can often earn one a free cupcake.

The final line of the poem told Becca to tell the workers at Sprinkles "Hi, I'm Becca, do you have something for me?" (It totally rhymed in context. Just go with it.) Once she did, they handed her over a cupcake that David had gotten her earlier in the day, along with her next letter. You'd be hard pressed to find a couple that likes food more than David and Becca, and David wrote about how having someone to share it with made it that much better. 

The poem at the end of that letter directed Becca to her glove box, where David had hidden the next letter the night before. He wrote to her about their road trip to East Tennessee in June to meet Becca's family for the first time, and what the trip meant for their relationship's growth and their growth together. The poem after that letter, though, directed Becca to one of her favorite places in Dallas: Petland. 

You can pet puppies for free there, and David had taken her there several times before. Becca, the biggest pup lover you'll ever meet, took some time to play with a puppy while she read David's letter about how much he loved bringing a smile to her face. Nothing does that quite like a puppy. It always brightens even the worst of days, and makes the best of days, like this one, that much better. David knew that, of course, but the final letter directed her to their church, The Village Church in Dallas. 

David was waiting there with his roommate Daniel and Lindsay, who were helping decorate the altar with six dozen roses and 150 candles while Becca hunted down her eight letters. David had arranged to use the sanctuary for the evening, and had the lights down low with a spotlight on the final letter on stage. Becca arrived while David hid, and the letter's final line directed her to turn around. David walked to the stage, knelt down and told her how much he loved and cherished her. He asked her if she would marry him, and she said yes. 

Even that wasn't all. David went to Becca's workplace earlier in the day and arranged for her to have Friday off work so the two could get a jump on wedding planning. He also had some of their close friends waiting at one of their favorite restaurants, Breadwinners, for a celebratory dinner. David needed it. He was so nervous, he hadn't eaten all day. 

The proposal went just as planned, and they'll both always remember it as the day they decided to spend their lives together. 


If you would like for me to tell your Engagement Story here on the blog, leave a comment below! 

With love,

Whitney