Calamigos Ranch Wedding Photography | Studio 23 Photography
7 1/2 years ago
We met through mutual friends. He saw me being anti-social and reading in public, so he talked to me about books. He lent me his copy of Catcher in the Rye, and then every time we saw each other after that, he would ask me if I read it. I finally did, and then we went on our first date to get coffee where we both made jokes and laughed so much that we fell in love right away.
The morning he proposed, he surprised me with a very expensive pair of shoes that I had had my eye on. This was his way of getting me to dress up really nice for the evening. He brought me to the Huntley in Santa Monica to “hang out with some of his friends.” When we got there, he said that we would just have dinner alone and then meet his friends up at their room before we went out to a lounge. During dinner we joked around and were being goof balls as usual. When it was time to go “meet his friends” we took the elevator up to the top floor suite. Instead of knocking on the door, he pulled out the key card and opened the door. Inside the lights were low and the room was filled with rose petals, candles, chocolate covered strawberries… It was breath taking. Of course, I am a bit oblivious and thought he was just being extremely romantic. He brought me over to the window and started his proposal speech. He said I was the best thing that had ever happened to him and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. As soon as the ring came out and he got to his knees, everything suddenly got surreal and I got down on the floor with him saying yes.
When we bought our house, we had some work done before we moved in. We went to visit it during construction at night when nobody was there. We put on masks so we wouldn’t breathe in all of the dust and went inside. The one thing that remained in the home from the previous owner was an old 1950’s Wurlitzer jukebox (which we still have). Sam started the song Stand by Me by Ben E King and we danced together, masks on, in the middle of the dust, late at night, knowing that our lives would change and we would grow together in our new home. Our other favorite memories of each other are when we got each of our three dogs. Our hearts overflow with love for a new “child” and each time, it is an amazing moment.
