It’s finally happening!

In July 2012, Joe moved into Capital View Apartments in Rensselaer, NY. Unbeknownst to him at the time this move made him the downstairs neighbor to the love of his life. Dorian noticed immediately that she had a new neighbor and, wanting to be friendly, looked for opportunities to introduce herself. However, this new neighbor was never home and when he was the blinds were always drawn. On a fate-filled day in early August, Dorian and Joe both arrived home from work at the sametime. Dorian waited at her door to introduce herself, and to her surprise met a young boy who looked about 18, fresh out of his parents’ house. (She soon learned she was way off and he just had the most adorable baby face. Rumor has it that he still looks 18 if he shaves his beard off.) From that day on, Joe seemed to always be home with the blinds wide open and even the front door open, ready to greet Dorian! When he wasn’t throwing gatherings or grilling out front, he would still magically appear to greet her as she would arrive home, all while fooling no one, but pretending he just happened to see her, not that he was sitting and waiting! After multiple talks on the lawn each night while the kids played, it became obvious to both Dorian and Joe that there was a deep connection worth exploring. And for the last 10 years, they have…

After years of making it clear she was not open to getting married, Dorian voiced one day that she may be open to it. This was no surprise to Joe, as he had so much faith in their relationship that he already had a ring made and was sorting through his proposal plan. Joe chose a beautiful resort in Essex Junction, VT, for a romantic weekend and surprise proposal at the resort's fine dining restaurant on Saturday night. On Friday night they arrived, settled into their gorgeous corner room with a fireplace, then explored the resort. The idea was to head into Burlington for dinner, but by the time they were ready it was late, Dorian was hungry and didn’t want to wait an hour to get into town. Despite Joe’s strong encouragement to go out, they settled on eating at the on-site pub. Joe wanted to wait until the next day for the fine dining restaurant so they could get dressed up first. Heading down to the pub, they noticed the fine dining restaurant was not busy. They rounded the corner to the pub and found it had a 40 minute wait time. Dorian then became hangry. She suggested they go to the fine dining restaurant that night as there was no line. Joe kept talking around her suggestion and talking up the pub option. Finally, Dorian sat Joe down and said, “This is one of those moments in our relationship where I’m expressing what I would like and you aren’t listening to me.” So Dorian thinks she’s working on communication issues while Joe is trying to save his proposal.😂 Joe gave in, but said he had to go back to the room to change before dinner. Remember, Dorian is hangry so this pissed her off! She felt what they were both wearing was perfectly fine, but Joe was adamant. They ended up back in the room for Joe to change (secretly slipping the ring into his pocket while he grew a few gray hairs from the stress of moving his proposal up 24 hours). They got to the restaurant and were seated immediately in a private room overlooking the beautiful snowy landscape. The meal was incredible and Dorian was left thinking it was the most romantic dinner they’d ever had. They drank bubbly and had a magical evening! Throughout the evening Joe kept getting up to use the restroom, leading Dorian to think she needed to look up the age men’s prostate started to go. Little did she know he was slyly organizing a surprise dessert and convincing the hostess to take photos of the proposal. By the time the meal was over Dorian was unsure if she wanted dessert, but they had one of her favorites so she decided to go for it. To this day she has no idea what he would have done if she had said she didn’t want any. While they waited for the dessert, Joe worked his way to the other side of the table closer to Dorian. The server then brought the dessert in. From Joe's new position he didn’t see the server enter, which led Joe to panic and abruptly take a knee as the plate was set in front of Dorian. The rim of the plate read,” Will you marry me?” in chocolate syrup. Oblivious to this, Dorian was checking to see if Joe was all right…they hadn’t had that many drinks, how did he fall out of his chair?! As Dorian leaned down to help him up, he pulled out the ring and proposed. Frozen in shock, Dorian couldn’t speak or think. She quietly uttered the word yes after repeated asks from the server of what her answer was. Joe embraced her and told her she didn’t have to answer right away. He said he taken months to process this moment, so it was only fair that she takes some time. With that show of care and patience, she knew right then what her answer would be, but still took some time to come out of the state of shock to say yes. The night started with chaos but ended in perfection, as everything in their lives seems to, especially when Joe is involved! P.S. The hostess did not follow Joe’s request for photos of the moment, so he had to get up and get her after the proposal and we re-enacted for the camera 😂 See below 👇🏼 !