Andrew and I met working at the retail store Best Buy in Staten Island, New York. We became best friends and knew that there was something more. We started dating in January of 2009. We spent every hour we could together as we both worked and went to school. After about 4 years we had both moved on from Best Buy, I had become a New York City Public School Teacher while Andrew got a job working as a Super-Intendant Engineer for a Construction Company in Manhattan.

In September of 2015, after being together for almost six years Andrew planned a surprise getaway for my birthday. We drove down to Cape Cod for the weekend and stayed at a quaint little bed and breakfast. He took me whale watching for my birthday and we went out to dinner to celebrate. It was everything I could’ve asked for and more. Later that night after dinner, we arrived back at the bed and breakfast. He then gave me my birthday gift, the most beautiful jewelry box I had ever seen. He had designed it and built it all by hand. He had been working on it for the entire summer. I was blown away by how beautiful and unique it was. The fact that it was all hand crafted made it so much more special. After admiring the jewelry box, he handed me a key and said that the drawer was locked and I had to open it. Only one drawer was locked, the ring drawer. When I unlocked it and opened the drawer, there it was, a beautiful rose gold princess cut engagement ring. As tears filled my eyes, he took the ring from the jewelry box, got down on one knee, and asked me to be his wife. I was so surprised and thrilled and it was one of the best weekends of my entire life.

We spent the next two years planning our dream destination wedding. We decided on Hawaii! We chose the Grand Hyatt Resort and Spa in Kauai, Hawaii. I am from New York but my family including my mom and sister live in Florida, so I decided to do my wedding dress shopping in Florida where I could be with my mom and sister. I found The White Magnolia dress shop on Yelp located in Tampa, Florida and made my appointment. We met Ashley West for my appointment and she was amazing to work with. I described the type of dress I wanted for our destination wedding. I had requested a strapless, sweetheart neckline, light material for the beach and preferably and A-Line gown. She had pulled about 10 gowns for me to try on. The first gown I tried on was the Mikaella gown. I put it on and got that feeling that everyone always talks about, but to be open-minded I kept it hanging to the side and tried on others. Nothing measured up to the way I felt in this Mikaella gown. So I put the gown on again at the end and I just knew it was the one. It fit my body exactly how I wanted it to and the cut was exactly what I had pictured for my dream gown.

Our wedding took place on Friday, July 21, 2017 and we couldn’t have been happier with our choice of venue. Everything was absolutely amazing. We had our beach wedding and exchanged vows with our feet in the sand. We had a garden reception with our closest friends and family. I was so happy with my Mikaella gown and my husband agreed it was the perfect choice. He had not seen the dress until I walked down the aisle but couldn’t have been happier with me choosing the Mikaella gown.

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