Meet Nicole and Sal, a duo as cute as you could ever imagine, with a love story that is straight-from-the-movies fabulous. I’m talking a chance meeting at a birthday party, a cute pup nine months post-first date and an amazing proposal in the East Village. Oh, and then there’s this crazy cool e-session captured by Robert And Kathleen Photographers, which is incredible. Join me here for more.
From Robert And Kathleen Photographers… Nicole and Sal are getting married in Connecticut, but wanted to have their engagement pictures in the city they currently call home. They wanted a mix of urban and green space – visiting the Meatpacking District and the Highline.
From the Bride & Groom… We met in the August of 2009 at a mutual friend’s birthday party at a bar in the East Village. A couple of weeks later we went on a great first date and knew from that point on that we had found something special. Within nine months, we had brought home our puppy Ella and moved in together.
Sal has always loved to surprise me and our proposal was the ultimate surprise. We live in New York, but Sal had been attending business school at MIT in Boston for the past two years, so on Monday night, June 3rd, he was scheduled to travel back up to Boston for his graduation rehearsal. On Tuesday, I had dinner scheduled with my girlfriends at my favorite restaurant, Aroma, in the East Village. I thought it was a little strange that my girlfriends had suggested this restaurant, since we’ve only gone for special occasions in the past, but gladly agreed to meet them there. For the first time in my life that day, I arrived early. The restaurant told me that I was the first to arrive and sat me at the bar, with my back facing the door. As I was sitting there with a glass of wine, for close to 15 minutes, I was receiving texts from my girlfriends, saying they were in traffic or stuck at work. I repeatedly was turning around in my chair to see if their cabs were pulling up, when Sal rounded the corner. As he was walking over to me, he said, “I have a question,” and then immediately dropped to one knee and asked me to marry him. I found out later that he had planned to play our song and say a little bit more, but for the first time in his life, he was late, having gotten stuck in traffic driving from his parents’ house in New Jersey where he had been hiding out all day, and had to get out of his parents’ car and run the last five blocks when my girlfriends called and texted, telling him that I was already there. The next couple of minutes are still a bit of a blur and I think all I kept saying was, “Oh my Gosh!” Sal then told me that he had rented out the wine cellar downstairs and that my parents and sister were waiting down there for us. His parents and brother then walked in a few minutes later and we all had a delicious meal in the wine cellar, with lots of champagne. Finally, when I didn’t think that he could have thought of anything else, as our parents were leaving, Sal told me that our closest friends were waiting to celebrate with us at the bar next door to the restaurant. So, the celebration continued into the night. He truly thought of everything and I honestly could not have dreamed of anything better.
Since our wedding will be in Connecticut, where I grew up, we wanted our engagement pictures to be taken in the city. We have both lived in New York for many years, and this is where we met and fell in love, so it was important for us to have the city represented in our pictures. We initially suggested the Highline to Rob and Kathleen, because we’ve spent several fun weekends walking along it and imagined that it would be a great backdrop for pictures. They agreed and then also suggested walking around Meatpacking in order to really capture the city in our pictures.
Photography: Robert & Kathleen Photographers