We met on a beautiful summer day, August 15, 2020, at a wedding. We were both sat at a table amongst family and friends. Incidentally, directly across the table from one another, it was hard to focus our gaze anywhere but at each other. The match makers at the table were bound to get us to dance with each other at some point! Not long after, we were headed to the dance floor to dance with each other. But with all eyes on us, we parted ways and headed to the bar for a drink. Later that night, with stars in our eyes, we sat at a table and began to get to know one another—swapping Facebook’s and Snapchat handles. We danced together a few times and then agreed to see each other again for a more formal date!

The famous pumpkin patch story and where our newly budded love bloomed—told by Ashley! After working the night shift at the hospital, I was exhausted. However, I did not want to cancel our date since we only got to see each other every now and again due to our schedules. So, it was time to get dolled up and go on with our planned date. Ben came and picked me up and off we went. I had asked where we were going and he smiled and said it was a surprise. A surprise?Oh? Okay! I noticed we were headed toward Norwalk and my mind was wondering just where we were headed. Now, if you know Ben, you truly know how kind and sweet he is. The kind of sweet that you have to second guess whether this is real life or not. He treats me so well, respectful, etc. so my guard was still up. We get to a road and he says “close your eyes”. Excuse me? Close my eyes? For what, so I can’t see where you’ve taken me?! Alright, I suppose. Me with my eyes closed all I could think “ah I knew he was too good to be true. He’s gonna murder me. Well, it was good while it lasted. I had a good life I’d say!” I mean, have you never seen the TV show YOU?! What have I done?! We go down a bumpy road and we stop. “Keep your eyes closed!” The back door opens, he’s taking stuff from the back of the truck and then closes the door. Next thing I know, my door is opening and he said I can open my eyes. So I open my eyes and I see we are next to a field. “You probably can’t see it, I pulled too far up”. I get down and take his hand as he leads me to a PICNIC in a pumpkin patch! And here I thought he was going to murder me. Phew, what a relief! Home made charcuterie, sandwiches, my favorite wine and beer. My heart was full at how thoughtful this wonderful man could be. We had some food, and drink and he asked me to dance under the chilly, starry night sky. Uh, of course! I could hear his heart thumping out of his chest and the nervousness in his laughter. “Would you be my girlfriend?” And without missing a beat, I said YES! Little did I know that would be the start of our forever story.

Told by Ben I knew I wanted to marry Ashley for a long time by this point. I had to wait for the ring to come in from being custom made. After I picked up the ring it was down to making the plans on how to propose to this amazing woman. I had too many ideas but I knew what was us and what wasn’t! I got the idea to recreate the picnic style idea. The challenge was then to be able to find time in our crazy schedules. Once I did that I had to get everything set up without raising too many questions. Because Ashley always told me that she knew when I was going to propose and that I couldn’t surprise her with that, I told her otherwise. Once I had the whole night set up it was hard to contain my excitement and nervousness. We started out by going to have dinner and wine at quarry hill winery. As we left there Ashley was talking about the time that we had tried to go to Burnhams Orchard. But little did she know that was our next stop. When we pulled in she said it’s closed what are we doing!? I replied with it’s a surprise! I got out of the truck nervously checked for the ring in my pocket and grabbed the picnic basket. Ashley asked why do you have that. I told her she’ll see. After a short walk she saw the picnic set up in the pumpkin patch at Burnhams. The photographer was waiting for us and I said that I scheduled us a couples mini shoot since we didn’t have many pictures from the first. Very shortly after we started the pictures the photographer (who knew the plan) gave me the thumbs up. I got down on one knee and waited heart beating out of my chest. When Ashley finally turned around the shock, followed by pure joy and happiness was unmatched! I will forever remember every second of it. We have the whole thing captured in photos.