Friday, October 12, 2018

Pat's Barn: 110 Defreest Dr, Rensselaer, NY 12144

Ceremony and Reception will both take place at Pat's Barn.

Please prepare accordingly as the ceremony will be held outside.

Attire: Semi Formal

In the Fall of 2010, we each set out to have a little fun and experience something that was sure to be exciting by moving to Florida to join the Disney College Program. At the time, we didn't know each other nor did we think we would end up crossing paths with someone from the Albany area.

Fast forward a few months to October 12, the day the college program was hosting a basketball tournament. I went to watch and Spencer went to play (or at least try). The playing didn't last too long because he ended up getting hurt, but this act of fate was more than to tell Spencer he needed to sit this one out. Our paths crossed when Spencer walked by me with a sling on his arm and in typical, nosy, Danielle fashion I poked into his business and asked "what happened to you?" Spencer sat down, introduced himself and after a few short minutes we asked where each other was from. Assuming neither would know of the others small town we went on to say "10 minutes North of Albany" and "10 minutes South of Albany". Well, not only did we know each other's towns, but we also discovered that we were both attending the same college! After a few months of dole whips, fast passes and cast member exclusives the college program ended and we both headed back to New York. What was a friendship in Florida became a relationship and so much more in back New York.

After a few years of college and internships in different states, we graduated and made the move down to Charlotte, NC. We've now spent four years in Charlotte and its certainly turned to out to be an adventure. We've made new friends, adopted our little buddy Cruz and even bought our first house together.

After a lot of debate, we decided that our big vacation this year would be to head to San Diego! We were both excited to go to the west coast and didn’t want to miss out on anything. Leading up to the trip we researched and developed the perfect itinerary that jam packed our days with all kinds of activities. Little did I know that Spencer added a secret activity of his own!

The first night’s plans consisted of going to In-and-Out Burger for dinner and then to watch the sunset at a popular tourist area, Sunset Cliffs. We packed a bag with a blanket and left the hotel for an eventful night. Unfortunately, on the way to dinner, the sky was filled with clouds and it looked like it was about to rain at any moment. I tried to change the plans because there was no way the the sun was going to be visible for a sunset, but Spencer insisted on sticking with our itinerary. He convinced me that if we change the plans for this night, then the rest of our schedule for the week would be messed up. I had spent a lot of time mapping out the schedule of events so I definitely wasn’t willing to deal with the changes and settled on ..."okay you are right".

At Sunset Cliffs, we parked in the last available parking spot, grabbed our bag and ventured in. This place was filled with people! Spencer saw an area where no people were, but we had to climb down a small portion of the cliff to get to it. The view was amazing! At first, I just stood there and took it all in, but then I wanted to get some pictures. Spencer found an opportunity to take a picture of me facing the water and told me to stay there while he gets a good shot. As I’m standing there, he came up behind me and says he has a surprise for me and to not turn around. At this point, I thought he was either going to lay out the blanket with a surprise bottle of champagne, or he was going to push me off the cliff. After what felt like 30 minutes (but was probably 30 seconds) he told me to turn around. I slowly turned around to find him down on one knee, blushing, with a smile from ear to ear!

The proposal was perfect, except that I managed to not say anything except “are you serious!?” Spencer just held the ring box out as he was waiting for me to say yes. Finally, he asked “so are you saying yes!?” I wrapped my arms around him and said “yes of course!”

Knowing my love for photos and capturing moments, he shared with me that he booked a hidden photographer and got this all captured on camera. I didn’t believe it, but then he directed me to look up at the top of the cliff to find the two photographers waving at us!

We then shared the next 30 minutes in an engagement photo session, where the sun finally peeked its' way through the clouds for a hot pink and orange sliver of a sunset. <3