Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Wedding Wednesday: Engagement Shoot Giveaway!

We generally love Wedding Wednesdays, but this one is even better than normal. Why you ask? Well the darling Karen Schlink is offering one of our lucky readers a free (yes free) 2 hour engagement session complete with a disk full of photos!! She is such a doll that Karen. Already married? Feel free to enter as well!


Entering is easy - in the comments below, tell us a little about your engagement story. We'll go through them to determine which one we love, and next Wedding Wednesday we'll announce a winner. 

What are you waiting for?

9 comments:

  1. I've been married now for 3 1/2 years, but I still can't believe the engagement story I tell is my own.

    My family went into NYC to see a band perform. We'd been friends with them for a while, and had first met them shortly after we had started dating. Unbeknown to me, Sean had contacted them for help proposing. He disappeared at intermission to help bring beers and some merchandise up to the greenroom, but really he was plotting with the band. A few songs into their second set, they called Sean up on stage. He proceeded to bring me up, drop to one knee in front of my family and 500+ fans and propose. The band then played a special song for us and made us dance, though my knees had gone so weak I could barely stand!

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  2. I am getting married November 5, 2011. I met my soon to be hubby almost 6 years ago.
    We took our first 'Family' Vacation in 2008 to Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL. My fiance and I have both been before but this was the first time we would take his 9 year old son.
    One night, while we were at the Magic Kingdom, I had to make a pit stop. When I came out of the restroom my fiance and his son were nowhere to be found. I took out my cell phone to call them, when I looked down and saw a text message from them that said "Meet us at Cinderella's Wishing Well by the castle" As I walked up to the wishing well to meet my boys, DJ (my fiance's son, 7 years old at the time) took the ring box from his pocket, handed it to his dad, who got down on one knee and proposed. My wish came true!!!

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  3. After receiving a call from my mom this past Christmas morning that my stepfather's time was short. My fiance and I got a plane to Florida right away to be with him and support my mom. Together with my family, we sat by his bedside. Praying for him and a peaceful transition to the other side. This was such an emotional time and was so thankful to have him with me thru this. My stepfather passed on New Years Eve, my birthday. Little did I know, he had originally planned to propose to me when the clock struck 12. Obviously, this was not the time or place for such surprise. We spend the next two days getting my mom settled back into her home, since she had been living at the hospital for a week. He decided we needed to get away for a little while and have some time to ourselves. We decided to head out to the beach in New Smyrna. We got out to the beach and it was beautiful. Eighty degrees, sunny, and definately not New England. We walked picking up shells, taking pictures, and just enjoying some time to ourselves. We got out the point, overlooking the Ponce De Leone Lighthouse in Daytona Beach, and he pulled me in close and hugged me. Then he asked me to marry him. It was so perfect. After such a sad week, there was something to be happy about. I had never been so happy to say YES! After a nice walk barefoot in the sand, we decided to head back to check on my mom. We got back and told her we were getting married and she started to cry. She said she finally felt closure in his passing, in that this was the last thing that he wanted before he passed, me to marry him. So a week of such sadness led to complete happiness, for everyone.

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  4. Everyone's story is unique; some are filled with romance, some are epic, and others are hilarious (but very sweet). Mine's the latter.

    My now fiance and I were enjoying a quiet evening at home in November. We had just returned from a romantic trip to Australia where I was sure he was going to propose, but he didn't. We were awaiting the arrival of a house guest who would be staying with us for two weeks. Given the house guest's arrival, I thought that it would be at least a few weeks before he popped the question.

    After cooking dinner, my then boyfriend and I sat down on the couch to watch a few episodes of Battlestar Galactica. We're known for watching television series on Netflix or Hulu long after they air on television. It's a little project we do. Anyway, we were sitting on the couch, watching this TV show he loves so much when suddenly a lead character died. It was very sudden and unexpected, causing my then boyfriend to become overwhelmed and began crying. He then left the living room. I assumed he was overcome with emotions. He went upstairs and after a few moments he returned to the living room. He sat down on the couch again, next to me and put me in his lap. He was obviously still crying. He then went on to tell me about all the ways he thought to propose, but given the character's sudden death and the impending arrival of our house guest, he realized that he couldn't wait any longer to be engaged. He decided that life was too short not to do exactly what you want, when you want to. He had a ring and simply couldn't wait any longer!

    So he asked if I would marry him and I said yes.

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  5. Thanks for having this incredible giveaway! Below is our engagement story! We are from Pennsylvania, but will be getting married at La Cupola Ristorante and Inn, located in Litchfield, CT on October 22, 2011. What better place for an engagement session than Connecticut!

    Here's our Proposal Story!



    Dustin and I had a date night on Friday, June 12, 2009. We were going to go to Fogo De Chao in Baltimore, but rush hour was completely against us. So, we decided to go to Longhorn in Columbia instead. See, date nights are not usual for us. I had a two year old daughter at the time (she's four now), and we could never really get out for an hour, let alone dinner! :)

    During dinner I must had asked Dustin 10 times if something was wrong, or what was up- what he was thinking, etc. He kept telling me "nothing". After stuffing myself full of steak, shrimp and crab legs, I was thinking it was time to go pick up my daughter from the sitter and go home and relax. Dustin had other plans. :) He suggested we go for a walk somewhere. I honestly was thinking "What the heck is he thinking? I'm so full I had to unbutton my pants, why do I want to walk?!" but knowing Dustin and WANTING to have just a little extra "alone" time with him, I thought Lake Front would be good for a nice walk. Lake Front is a beautiful area in the old town we both grew up in. It has a beautiful board walk around the gorgeous lake.

    Once we got there we realized there was a Art Festival going on. There were some great things for sale and some awesome live music. Dustin suggested we go down for a walk by the water (on the boardwalk area). He scoped out a bench at the end of the board walk, so we headed over. He was getting so close to getting "there" when this fisherman popped out of nowhere to fly fish. Dustin got instantly irritated, and he was sweating profusely. I asked him again... whats wrong? are you okay?! He said he was, so again, I just let it go. I asked him if he wanted to keep walking (his behavior was SO bizarre. He had me laughing!)- he said no, let's hang out for a bit here, then he leaned over and kissed me and said "I love you so much, Christina. You are so special to me." I smiled back, and said "I love you more".

    The fisherman FINALLY walked away, and Dustin started to relax a bit... no sooner, a family of 5 came over and sat next to us. Dustin had had enough! He said, "OK, let's walk around the lake!" I agreed after laughing AGAIN at his behavior, and off we went.

    We got to the first break in the trees where we could see the lake... Dustin grabbed my hand and spun me around (he knows I love spontaneous things like this, we dance around the house randomly all the time!). He kissed me, and kissed me again and said "So, why have you been smiling all night." I said "Why wouldn't I be smiling? I'm here with you" He said (as he kissed her again, and started shaking... and stuttering) Think I.... Think I... Think I.... could make that smile even bigger by.... (huge pause)... getting down on one knee and asking you to marry me (he's getting on one knee at the point)... he took a deep breath and said "Christina, I love you with all of my heart. You are my best friend. My soul mate, and my life partner. I want you to be by my side for always and I want you to be my wife. Will you marry me?"

    My response..... "DO I REALLY HAVE TO ANSWER YOU?!?!.... OF COURSE".

    _____________________________________________
    I absolutely love our engagement story. If you knew Dustin, you'd see that this just "fits" him, and it fits US. I cannot wait to make this man my husband on October 22nd!

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  6. Terrell and I had been friends for years, and used to laugh ourselves silly over all the people who would tell us that we would make a cute couple. "Date HIM???" "Date HER??" we would say. No, we were firmly convinced that we were better off as best friends. When we finally saw what everyone else had been seeing, it only took us a little while after that to decide that we wanted to spend our lives together.

    It was a blustery December day, and I was at our church praying for guidance about our relationship...I knew I wanted to marry him, but I also wanted to be sure that it was God's will for us. We were chaperoning a youth Christmas banquet that night, but I wanted to take a little bit of quiet time before the rush. Terrell dropped me off at the church while he ran last minute errands.

    I love praying in church with all of my church family around me, but my favorite time is the quiet moments. I had the whole church to myself that day, and I finally found peace and certainty with our decision to marry. I called Terrell and told him that he could come back and pick me up, especially since we were starting to run short on time to get ready for the banquet.

    As I waited...and waited...and waited...for him to come pick me up, I started to stew. I had just told him that I believed our getting married was God's plan for us, and he couldn't even come pick me up on time!! Finally, he pulled up to the back door of the church, where I was waiting. I saw that he had changed, but I was too mad to note it. I stormed out of the church, barely giving him time to open my door for me. Oh, was I going to give him a piece of my mind!! Then he said my name and I turned around to see him on one knee!! I just started laughing -- I couldn't help it! I had been so mad that he was late, and he was planning to propose! I said yes, of course, and then he told me the story. It seems that when I called and told him that I was ready to marry him, he couldn't wait any longer to make it official, so he raced around to get dressed up before he came to pick me up!

    Ours may not have been the classic "moonlight and roses" kind of proposal, but that just makes it all the sweeter to me. Life, after all, isn't always roses and moonlight, but I knew that the man who was willing to get down on one knee in the icy gravel parking lot of the church because he couldn't wait one second longer was the one for me! Two years later, we're happily married, and our proposal story still makes me smile fondly.

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  7. This is part of my life that I will truly never forget. Mike and I were on a already beautiful Caribbean cruise. He expressed interest In taking a catamaran cruise to St. John while we were docked in St.Thomas. It involved an hour cruise to the island and while we were there you were able to spend 90 minutes either snorkeling, swimming or just laying around on the secluded beach appropriately named Honeymoon beach.
    We both were anxious to try snorkeling for the first time, but rather than jumping off the catamaran, mike had wanted to take the dingy that was available, to the shore, so we could venture out from there. Little did I know at the time that this was because he had the ring in his bathing suit pocket.
    When we got to the beach, we found a nice private spot. Mike, unknown to me, placed the ring in our beach bag. We proceeded to snorkel for awhile which was absolutely amazing. After that, we returned to our towels. The way we were sitting, I could see the dingy continuously coming to shore and picking up people and taking them back to the catamaran, so I knew our time there was coming to an end. As mike started speaking to me, I quickly lost interest in the dingy, and was strictly focused on him and his words. He expressed his love for me and how he couldn't imagine not ever being with me. Mike is genuinely a romantic man, so these words didn't make me think that this was the big moment. He then reached in the beach bag and put a box in front of me. He opened it up and my mouth fell. He then asked me to marry him as his hands shook tremendously. I did not waste a moment in responding through my tears. YES!! I answered. We hugged and kissed, laughed and cried together. I could not believe it. It was such an emotional moment for us. All of a sudden, I caught a glimpse of a man standing up in a dingy obviously searching for someone......us! We stood up, grabbed our belongings, and proceeded to run down the beach to meet him. The whole way, I was smiling ear to ear, saying to beachgoers as we passed them by, look we got engaged. Look we got engaged! We made it to the dingy, and once we returned to the catamaran, tne crew had a bottle of champagne for us.
    This was the most perfect day, most memorable day. I love our story, and how it was and will always be an extremely emotional day tat we will never forget.

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  8. Karen - Thank you for offering this, I love your work!

    Our engagement story - Matt and I quit our jobs in New York this summer (I used to work with the design team at Kate Spade) and we moved to Vermont so he could go to business school at Tuck; a major life change! We moved without being engaged but I knew it would happen one day. I also thought it would happen in the summertime at his parents lake house so I was very thrown off when it happened right before Christmas.

    We are both total Christmas nuts. We start playing Christmas music at Halloween! The day after Thanksgiving we cut down our 1st tree together and spent all week decorating the house. That weekend Matt orchestrated a way to get me out of the house. There are a group of wives & girlfriends that have become good friends while the boys are in school. He asked one of them to get me out of the house for a few hours. So, Sarah invited a few girls over "Christmas Champagne". They all knew what was about to happen but kept filling my glass and chatting away. One of them very happily volunteered to drive me home and when I got there all the lights were out in the house, except for the candles in the windows and the Christmas lights. She just smiled and said she'd see me later on that evening. When I walked in the table was set with Kate Spade china, candles, new champagne glasses from Simon Pearce, my favorite flowers, and a card on my plate with my name on it. I got very nervous and started playing with the puppy and ignoring Matt's urging to come talk to him. He eventually came into the kitchen, dressed and clean shaven, and gave me a hug and a kiss and told me to open my card. Inside was a beautiful poem by Walt Whitman and a note from him about how happy he is with our new life together. He said in the note that he had bought a new Christmas ornament to commemorate the occasion, "see if you can find it". Hanging on the tree was a ring box wrapped in red paper and tied with a white bow (and hung with a green and white polka dot ribbon. He not only found my ribbon stash but he looked up online how to tie the perfect bow!). When I unwrapped the box he took it from me and got down on one knee and proposed! I happily said yes :) He also had arranged for our camera to be on a tripod to snap some candid engagement shots which was wonderful (I am a big scrapbooker!) We then cooked the first meal we ever cooked together which was on our first date. Afterward we headed out to a bar to celebrate with our friends and spent the next day skiing together.

    It was a wonderful surprise and I can't explain how happy I am that I get to marry this man!

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