A Mystic Yachting Center Wedding || Brian and Beth || Mystic, CT

Beth and I first met during my third year at UConn Law School and her second year at UConn Dental School. We arrived at the law school prom separately, but some of our mutual friends had been telling me for months about a “girl I had to meet” so, needless to say, I was on the lookout for her. I bumped into her “accidentally” and I immediately understood why her friends had so many great things to say about her. She was smart, happy, passionate about her career, and pretty easy on the eyes.

We traded small talk via text message for a few weeks, and she was very impressed with my wit and charm, but we both knew I was getting ready to move from Hartford to Stamford so we approached the situation cautiously. But on the night before I moved from Hartford, I met her out for a drink and we both realized we weren’t ready to give up on this possibility just yet.

The next few weeks were filled with a bunch of new adventures. Just kidding—I was studying for the Bar Exam and she was studying for her Boards, so we mostly did flash cards together. But then the fun began. She took me hiking in the Berlin hills, where she discovered I did not share her passions for nature or country music. I took her to my hometown of Stonington, where I learned that she couldn’t hit a beach ball with a tennis racquet. But we always laughed and had a blast sharing each other’s hobbies, and to me, that was the sign of a promising relationship. Before long, we had met each other’s families and were planning our first of many trips to the Gulf Coast.

We spent the next two years sharing weekends between Stamford and Hartford while Beth finished dental school, but we managed to create more memories despite our busy schedules. Our separate locations allowed us to explore parts of Connecticut that we might never have seen if we were living in the same place, and we also grew our love for New England by traveling to Montpelier/Barre, Stratton, Ogunquit, Portland, Newport, Watch Hill, and of course, Boston. We even reluctantly ended up in NYC occasionally, once for about a year.

We now live together and are building a foundation in Stamford where neither of us ever thought we’d end up. Beth let me turn our spare bedroom into a man cave, where I even welcome her to use one of our recliners once in a while. In exchange, I let her furnish our apartment with things like coffee tables, rugs, and a kitchen, all things I never had much use for before I met her—true love indeed!

On a summer Saturday morning in Berlin, I asked Beth’s parents for their blessing in anticipation of an upcoming marriage proposal. Bonnie said yes because of our shared love for Beth and Jim was on board because of our shared love for the Red Sox. I couldn’t be happier to be joining their family and I look forward to many more trips to Venice and Fenway.

The day of my proposal was a typically beautiful summer day for us. We rode a pair of stand-up paddle boards around Stonington Harbor then took a boat ride out to Fishers Island. On our way back to Don’s Dock, I grabbed the ring from the center console while Beth was looking for the perfect Instagram. She accidentally captured the seconds before my proposal on her phone, and after the excitement died down, I think she even said yes! We celebrated at our favorite bar, Dog Watch Café, with family and some of our closest Stonington friends.

Beth is an incredible girl who’s loved by everyone she meets, which explains why “Congratulations” wasn’t the most common reaction to our engagement. When I told people I popped the question, almost everyone said “It’s about time!”