Brenton's parents are getting married!

In the spring of 2012, Dante was completing his second year of law school after a highly successful career in tech. His school was in the city and he was living in Hoboken. Kristen was living in central Jersey, but working in Hoboken. They both happened to be at the right place at the right time because their dating app fired off an alert that a match was close by.  Their first date was lunch at Oddfellows, a delicious, but now defunct cajun restaurant in Hoboken. Dante was finally happy he met some one who was interesting could keep up a conversation and Kristen was finally happy she met someone smart and who was taller than her. On their date they spoke about their lives, what brought them both to Hoboken, their interest in technology as well as their lives in the tri-state area. They immediately started seeing each other more regularly.  There were a few more lunch dates, picnics in Hoboken’s parks, Mets games and dinners. Dante began meeting Kristen’s friends at house parties and birthday gatherings. Kristen met Dante’s friends at law school events and happy hours. These same friends will be dancing with us at the wedding.

Dante had been planning to pop the question for months & when he did Kristen had no idea, but everybody else did. Here is how it happened. One weekend during the pandemic, they visited Garden State Plaza to look at engagement rings. A ring at Tiffany’s caught Kristen’s eye & she made it very clear to Dante that this was it - a knife edge band & a brilliant cut diamond - this pairing was classic, beautiful & unique. Dante got to work. The ring they saw at Tiffany’s was over budget. He knew intellectual property protections do not extend to fashion, anyone could recreate the style. He spent months sourcing the stone working with family members who were familiar with international suppliers. Concurrently, he settled on a supplier in LA who had experience crafting this type of setting. The setting required many small diamonds, so it was important that they match the main stone. Dante decided on a beautiful stone from Antwerp. He had it couriered to the jeweler in LA who used 3D printing technology to create a one time use mold for the ring. It was assembled & then shipped back to Dante in NY. Before this, Dante asked & received permission from Kristen’s father. Their happy place has always been Puerto Rico. While dating they visited numerous times with Dante’s grandmother staying at her apartment. Dante made it very clear that he wanted one last vacation to the island before the baby arrived. Kristen agreed to go & a week later, they were on a plane with their friends Shanon & Dom as they've done many times before. Friday morning they went to the beach & met up with some friends. Dante who loves photography asked Kristen to take maternity photos many times that day, but being in a bathing suit & 6 months pregnant, Kristen wasn't into the idea. She agreed to do photos before dinner. The day was perfect. They enjoyed the sunshine, ordered lunch from the beachfront resort & discussed the plans for the few days they'd be on the island. When everyone was talking about the dinner reservation for that night, Kristen was thrown off. It was very rare that Dante made plans or reservations without consulting her, so when she heard that everyone knew about dinner plans for that night, it was weird. But, she wasn't tipped off about the upcoming engagement. Later that day everyone got ready & met up at the apartment before dinner. Kristen did not know this, but for weeks Dante had been communicating with everyone there that night. The plan was that we would do a photo shoot, Dante would set the scene & lighting by posing Kristen for maternity photos. This would be done at sunset that night. It had to be that day because everyone was in town. Everything was in place. The night before the trip Dante had secretly met up with Shanon & Dom to drop off the ring. Dante did not want it discovered by Kristen if she were to unpack. It was time for our maternity photos. Dom discretely passed the ring to Dante. Originally Dante had wanted to go to Old San Juan to El Morro but given Kristen's discomfort walking in the heat, he opted to scratch that & go to the beachfront park near the apartment for the "maternity photos" aka the proposal. He had Kristen stand in front of a statue of a mother holding a baby & began taking photos. The group then suggested Dante get in the pictures. This was part of the plan. Thats when things got weird.  Kristen said to Dante, wow, everyone is taking so many pictures of us. It was bizarre that everyone's phone was out. Kristen mentioned she felt like the paparatzi was after us. Then it all made sense. Dante dropped to one knee and asked Kristen to marry him. Wow, what a surprise. After so many years of being together, knowing we were each other's person, this was very unexpected. She said yes! We had great photos and video of the proposal & then headed out to Old San Juan for a delicious dinner at an Argentinian restaurant with all our friends. Now, we're so excited to celebrate this next chapter in our lives with all of you.

Why follow traditions? We've paved our own way. By the time we get married, we'll have been together almost 12 years. We started dating in 2012. Moved in together in 2019. Bought a house in May 2022. Got pregnant in September 2022. And 2023 is our year.... got engaged in March bought a boat in April had a baby in May and are now getting married in December.