We Eloped in the Mountains!

We started as friends while attending graduate school at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University working in the same aerospace engineering research lab. (We actually still remember the first time we officially met: Spring 2014 when Bianca was introduced to Dan by a mutual friend because she heard he could help her with Matlab)

Middletown, CT: Apartments When we both moved from Daytona Beach FL to Connecticut to work for the same Jet Engine company, we lived in separate apartments in the same complex - only to discover once we were both in CT that we selected the same building with apartments right above each other! We took this as a sign and on May 22, 2016 we went from "friends" to "in a relationship". Wethersfield, CT: Rental House After essentially living in a 2-floor apartment for our first year dating, we decided to rent a house together (no sense paying rent on two units!). We found a lovely rental house with just days to spare on our apartment leases, and started to build our life together there for the next 3 years. Berlin, CT: Our first home We decided in mid-2019 that it was time for us to move from renters to home owners, and we began our house hunting journey: a 9 month long adventure where we toured over 60 homes, and viewed even more online. Just when we thought we weren't going to find our perfect first home, we walked into an open house in March 2020 and instantly fell in love -- this was the first house we both liked the moment we stepped inside. Within a day we submitted an offer, only to discover we were a backup offer. However, our luck turned around and a couple of weeks later we got the call that we were up! We quickly got everything submitted, and managed to get our house inspection completed the day before Connecticut shut down for Covid! It was a wild few weeks to complete our home buying journey at the start of Covid, but on April 21st 2020 we officially bought our first home!

Check out the photos in the 'Our Adventures' section to see highlights from our Adventure Elopement + our travels around the US, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand!

After a year (or at least what felt like a year) of masks and quarantining, we decided to get away for New Years 2021. Traveling has been such a big part of our relationship that we wanted to get out of the house and go hiking - an activity that we both very much enjoy, and allowed us to keep safe and socially distant. We decided to go back to the White Mountains, and that's when Dan knew after months of trying to plan when/where to propose this was the moment. He always wanted to propose while on one of our epic adventures, but since all of our 2020 travels (and foreseeable large trips) were cancelled he didn't want to wait any longer. With the custom-designed engagement ring in hand, he stealthily hid it away inside a large winter jacket while we went hiking up the snowy Artists Bluff trail on December 31, 2020. We stopped to take photos at an overlook using a bendable camera mount that Dan cleverly thought to purchase right before our trip to wrap around a tree limb (can't have strangers touching our camera! made perfect sense). We took the usual 'stand there and smile' photos. Dan went to check them out but said "eh, they didn't come out quite right, let's take some more" and reset the timer before running back to Bianca at the photo spot. Only this time, he didn't face forward towards the camera, but turned towards Bianca and got down on one knee! What a surprise that was when he pulled out the 3D-printed Apollo command module ring box and asked Bianca to marry him (and thankfully not dropping the ring off the cliff edge!). Needless to say the hike back down was all smiles :)

We're Married !!! The day was amazing: we started by hiking out to our secluded waterfall ceremony location where we changed into our wedding attire and had our first look. Natalie (1 of our photographers) officiated the ceremony and gave us some privacy for our vows before we exchanged rings and officially said 'I Do' as Mr. & Mrs. Port! We then went into the local town, Littleton, for a beer at Schilling Beer Co and walked around town. The clouds rolled in, so we headed back to our AirBnB cabin, Sugar Bear, just in time before the rain started. We had our first dance inside by the fireplace and a midday picnic under the cabin's covered deck of charcuterie, cupcakes, and champagne. The rain stopped, and we picked up our hiking gear and set out for our sunset mountain hike just in time for the most beautiful golden hour. It was absolutely magical. We ended the day hiking back down via headlamps, and eating our favorite Schilling pizza back at Sugar Bear. The day was perfect in every way :)