He was DJing; she requested a song. “I got pretty busy and hadn’t gotten to her song yet (something by Bloodhound Gang). I had a pretty packed dance floor and didn’t want to kill the mood that her career-ending request,” he said.

She continued, “After what I thought was more than enough time to hear it and hadn’t, I walked right back up there to request it again. He told me I was beautiful and that he wanted to take me out to dinner sometime…and that my song request was queued to play shortly. I wasn’t going to text him at all after our encounter because I was of the mindset if he wanted to talk to or see me again, he would get ahold of me. [My friend] thought that was stupid and took me phone from me and texted him. We agreed to meet for dinner. So I went to his house where he made me dinner and watched movies. This was on April 10th, 2012. I had butterflies in my stomach the whole time. He was so very sweet and I know it is cliche to say, but I knew that night I was going to marry him.”

It was a rough 11 degrees outside + freezing winds when we met up for their Kent Park engagement session. But despite the cold (and it was cold), they brought their smiles, laughter, and love. Given that they are planning a winter wedding, I am glad we got the cold out of the way now. We’re all hoping for 40 degrees and sunny this coming December.

Emily described Derek as a “snow bunny” at our first meeting. After joking with both of them about their choice of such a cold day for their session, I learned that Derek likes snow sports where he’s properly dressed to be in the snow. I guess jeans and a jacket don’t count as snow gear. 🙂
I love how she laughs when she’s with him.
For the proposal, Derek said that after he purchased the ring, he wanted to get it on her finger as soon as possible. He thought that having “family photos” done somewhere nice with the kids would be a good cover up. Emily says there were so many hints along the way–him getting a call from their photographer for a change of location on their way there, him not complaining about said change of location and extra drive time, and the photographer asking him to go grab something in the car that she had forgotten. After some family photos, the photographer took some photos of just her and Derek. “She made Derek move away from me and was taking what I thought were pictures of me by myself when in actuality, it was a picture of me with him in the background on one knee. … Finally she said, ‘Okay, Emily, go walk towards the water.’ So I did and when I turned around I saw Derek. On one knee. Ring box in hand. I was shocked. I bawled like a baby. It was perfect.”

I’m so excited for this wedding! These two have such a special love and it’s an honor to be able to witness it.