A destination wedding? Why not? A wedding away from home is the choice of many couples who want an intimate feel. Ryan and Danielle, with such desire, opted to tie the knot with only family and close friends. They also wanted their special day to reflect their relationship. If you are mulling over the destination decision, check out Ryan and Danielle’s journey to forever and may you find practical inspiration!
The Love Story
From the bride:
My husband and I met while working with at risk youth. This is a very rewarding job, yet can be stressful at times. We were suppose to go out with a group of coworkers after a long day at work, but it ended up just being Ryan and I. We sat at On the Boarder, sipping margaritas, talking and getting to know each other. Before we knew it, it was closing time and we had been there for eight hours. Looking back on that moment, we both would say that was the moment we knew that we would be more than friends, even if it took one of us more time to see that than the other. A couple weeks later we went on our first date and continued talking everyday after that. It seemed as though our relationship just blossomed as we began the beginning of our future together.We talked about getting married earlier on in our relationship, as we knew we were meant to be together.
How He Popped The Question…
I always joked with Ryan that he would never be able to keep his proposal a secret because he is the worst at keeping secrets. Well, as it turns out, I would be wrong on that one. Almost two years after we started dating, we began a Friday like any other. We did some grocery shopping, stopped for lunch and went to grab a drink at our favorite winery. Ryan seemed a little distracted throughout the day, and was on his phone, which made me a little agitated, but I thought nothing of it. While having a glass of wine, Ryan said that he had a little surprise for me since I had made a small gift for him recently. He took me into a separate room at the winery and there was a large wine box on the table. He told me that I needed to look at the wine bottles in order, they were labeled by number. The first was a bottle of wine with a custom label that had a picture of where we met. As I proceeded to lift out each bottle, they all had custom labels with pictures that ranged from the moment he fell for me, to our first date, to our first vacation together, to where he told me he loved me. As I was getting ready to pull out the last bottle, tears in my eyes, Ryan had dropped down on one knee and asked me to marry him. The last bottle had a picture of the winery on it, and it said the place we got engaged. I do not think either of us remember what he said exactly, but there was crying, laughing, and of course I said Yes!
The Happily Ever After
Extra Special Details
The planning. After the excitement of the engagement, we immediately started thinking about our wedding. There was only a little bit of discussion on the matter, but rather quickly we decided that a destination wedding was something that fit our relationship and our personalities well. After that I spent most of my free time researching what exactly we wanted. It was so much less stressful to plan a destination wedding than I imagined.
The theme. As far at the theme goes, we did not have a specific one, we only choose things that we absolutely loved, and went with more simple decor to have the wedding focus on us and the beautiful, natural surroundings of Mexico.
Favorite parts of the day. The first is that we had a coordinator that was able to make our lives so much easier. All we had to do was decide what we wanted, find a picture and send it to her, she did the rest. I think this is what made the actual day so memorable. We were both so relaxed and did not worry about all of the little things that could have gone wrong. We were truly able to enjoy the beautiful day with each other and celebrate with our family and close friends.
My other favorite part is that we did a “first look”. This was a personal moment between by future husband and I that was ours alone. We were able to have that time to ourselves see each other moments before we became husband and wife, before everyone else was around. It was so beautiful and special, and it made my nerves go away for those few moments, knowing that we were about to make a commitment to spend the rest of our lives together.
Heed Her Advice!
If I had one piece of advice for future brides, it would be to make the day yours. It’s not about what other people would like, or what they will say. It is about you, your partner, and what the two of you want. –Danielle
Beautiful story! So true, it should always be about the bride & groom!