Tara & Bryan

How they met

We met in high school when I was 14 and he was 15. We had one date at that age, but for some reason I wasn’t interested in having a relationship at that time. It wasn’t until three years later that I realized that he was a great guy, and we started dating again.

Our first date was 9 years ago on the 4th of July. We have been together steadily ever since.

The proposal

About six months before he proposed, he was asking me what types of rings that I liked so that he could start saving up to buy it sometime in the future. We had talked about getting married, but we were both still very young, so I thought he’d wait a couple more years before asking. I had fallen in love with a ring that I had tried on, but thought it was way over his budget, so I never expected him to get it.

We were on a family vacation in Maui when he proposed. He had said that he wanted to change his pants because he didn’t want to get cold, and I remember thinking that it was very strange because it was about 85 degrees out. We went for a walk along the beach and then we sat down and were just talking about how beautiful it was. Then next thing I know he reached down into his sock (this is why he changed out of his shorts and sandals) and pulled out the ring that I had picked out six months before. I was so surprised and didn’t expect it at all. He had been planning to ask me all along and my whole family knew as well. It was perfect.

The engagement ring

We got the ring from Helzberg Diamonds. It’s a white gold band, that has three round stone diamonds in the center and smaller diamonds on either side.  (They call it an anniversary ring.)

Photos by Yair Haim