Alyssa and Will had their spring engagement session at Branch Brook Park during the Cherry Blossom Festival in Essex County. This beautiful festival draws large crowds of people seeking to enjoy nature’s beauty. Luckily, for us we found an area where we can be away from the crowds yet take advantage of the pink puffy cherry blossoms hanging on the branches.

 

How they met:

They grew up in the same town but never crossed paths. Later in life, they both worked as volunteers emergency medical technicians at their local ambulance and rescue squad. Just because they worked in the same facility, did not mean they hung out or even spoke to each other. In fact, Alyssa found Will rather annoying after a work incident. She knew her limits as far as physical strength goes but Will wanted to push her beyond her limits to see if she could step up as an EMT. She did as he said and tried to lift a patient that she knew would be difficult for her and ended up dropping the patient. Luckily, the patient dropped only a few inches and didn’t even notice. No harm, no foul; except she couldn’t stand Will.

A few months later, Alyssa was home from college and spent a lot of time at the rescue squad – and so did Will. They spoke more often and she realized he wasn’t so annoying after all. As a matter of fact, she enjoyed his company. When she went back to college, they texted, called, and facetimed all day long.

When Alyssa came home for winter break, Will kept the details of their first date a secret. He told her to wear something festive and that’s all she had to go by. He surprised her by taking her to see The Rockettes, which is  something she had never done before but wanted to experience. Alyssa described it as, “the best first date I could have ever wished for”. She began to fall in love with that man that she though was rather annoying.

 

How he proposed:

Nothing went according to plan – besides Alyssa saying, “yes”.  As a Christmas present, Will planned a trip for them to travel to Peru later in the year. Family and friends knew that this was when Will would pop the big question.

Naturally, he had to throw everyone for a loop.

He quietly decided to book a small getaway to Utah for some skiing. His plan was now in motion. They arrived, they went skiing, the photographer was in position waiting for them… and then Alyssa got hurt. She felt terrible that she got injured and didn’t want to ruin the trip but little did she know what was really being missed.

Luckily, the injury wasn’t too bad so they decided to switch over to snowmobiling. The plan was back in motion. Buuuuuuut then, she got her snowmobile stuck and lost Will and of course cried because who wouldn’t? Especially when you have no cell phone service!

Alyssa and Will eventually found each other and stopped at a location that looked like a painted snow paradise with trees opening to a lake and mountains in the background. Right then and there, while surrounded by snowy silence, Will began expressing all the reasons why Alyssa meant the world to him. However, he had some difficulty because, she kept responding with, “awwww me too!” – clearly not understanding what was happening.

Will finally grabbed her hand – the wrong hand – and pulled out a custom heart shaped ring box, dropped down to one knee and she started crying – ugly crying. At last, he asked her to marry him. She continued to cry for a few minutes and eventually allowed him the pleasure of that one word he worked so hard for, “YES!”