We want to take a moment to say how much we appreciate all of you. We recognize and understand that destination weddings can be a lot for guests for many reasons. We understand that not everyone will be able to attend and we will definitely miss those who are not able to. Thank you to every one of you for being a part of our lives and our story. We look forward to celebrating our journey and love surrounded by friends and family.

We wish we could say that we are high school sweethearts but that would be far from the truth. We met when Derek was in his freshman year of high school through a friend. After that we quickly connected. Throughout high school we remained connected and drawn to each other. It wasn’t until after we both graduated that we made the decision to become a couple.

Anyone who knows Derek is aware that he is not much for romance or drawn out words. In 2023 we were getting ready to celebrate our 15th anniversary as a couple. A few days before Derek was at work and I was laying with Alya trying to get her to sleep. Not too long after Derek arrived home he texted me that he needed me to come out to the living room. Unsure what was up I got up and headed to the living room. When I got out there I heard music and saw Derek’s outline, which was confusing as I was pretty much blind having taken my contacts out for the night. It took a couple of seconds as I walked closer for me to really see and understand what was going on. Derek asked me to marry him and proposed with the ring he had bought me back in 2013 when I had returned from Spain for my bday. I was definitely surprised.

Destination Wedding was the only detail Derek came to me about without being prompted about wedding planning. So that definitely made it an important detail I didn’t want to overlook. After looking at many locations and making lots of considerations we decided to return to La Romana, DR as it was a place we truly enjoyed when we came last time.