Alaina + Ryan's Sanibel Island Engagement Session
Alaina and Ryan met on a blind blind date. Why the double blind? Alaina didn’t even know she was being setup!
“I was walking for the American Heart Walk in 2013 and ran into a friend from high school. She invited me to a Christmas party that her friend was throwing, and I thought: ‘you know what, I should go to this because I need to make friends here’.“ - Alaina
What Alaina didn’t know, was that her friend had conspired to set her up with Ryan, who was also attending the party.
Once Alaina arrived, a mutual friend spilled the beans, and Alaina was sheepishly introduced to her intended cupid-match. Ryan politely shook her hand, but noticed that she was wearing a moonstone ring on her left ring finger and thought she was ENGAGED! Being the good man that he is, he proceeded to ignore Alaina for the rest of the party, (even though he thought she was really cute)…
Noticing his cold attitude, Alaina assumed he was not interested! But thankfully, things were cleared up later that week, and they went on their first (official) date the next weekend.
“The more we got to know each other, the more we realized we are really similar! We have the same sense of humor and very similar outlooks on life… We have been together ever since!” -Alaina
Ryan proposed 6 years later, over his birthday weekend.
“So we’re sitting there [on the beach] looking out at the water and the sky is GREY… Not a speck of color in the sky! The most underwhelming sunset ever lol and I could tell he was sort of assessing the situation…
Then he goes ‘well, I have a present for you’ and I was like ‘A PRESENT?! It is YOUR birthday!’
Then he took this little black box out of his pocket and HONESTLY I DON’T REMEMBER WHAT HE SAID!! But I got the gist of it which was 'will you marry me’. Then he opened the box and it was the ring!
I freaked out, grabbed it, and went to put it on myself. He was like ‘hey wait I have to do that’! Then he said he had one more thing for me, and he went back into the truck and pulled out a bottle of champagne and our nice champagne flutes!
It just felt so right. Like nothing else mattered anymore as long as we’re together. I’m just so grateful that we found each other!” - Alaina
Both local to SWFL, Alaina is currently a yoga instructor and graphic/web designer, and Ryan is a charter fishing captain. They’ll become Mr. + Mr’s Butcher on Sanibel Island in October 2020!
Pro Tip:
Beach sessions in Florida can be breathtaking, especially at golden hour! But in addition to the beautiful white sand beaches and vibrant sunsets, we also have a variety of flesh-eating bugs that love to snack in the late afternoons… Bring non-greasy bug spray to your session to help keep you comfortable!