Gardenia Bud

Age: 26

Occupation: Marketing

Wedding Details:

Engagement Date: July 3, 2009

Wedding Date: September 25, 2010

Wedding Location: Washington, D.C.

Fiance:

Name:

Age:

Occupation:

About Me:

I love anything that has to do with travel. Though I was born & raised in South Africa, my family immigrated to the United States when I was 12. We spent a couple years in the Midwest before moving down South for high school and college. After a year working in San Francisco, I moved to D.C. for graduate school and I have never left! Whenever possible, you can bet you'll find me on a plane headed to some faraway place - the more exotic, the better!

How We Met:

My fiancé and I met in Washington, D.C. where I moved in the fall of 2005 to attend graduate school and where he grew up and was working for an IT consulting company. One day after about six months living in D.C., I was complaining to friends about the lack of eligible men in the city. About a week later, my friends decided to take the matter into their own hands and get their male friend and me in the same place at the same time. They thought it would be a good match and convinced us to meet at an Adams Morgan dive bar, Tom Tom’s for Group Therapy night. Though I was excited to meet a new guy, I was embarrassed about being set up and so I made my friends swear up and down that the guy did not know that they were playing matchmaker (to this day he says he did not know, but was told there might be some single girls out that night). They insisted that I would know which one he was when he walked in. They were right! After being introduced to each other, we spent the remainder of the evening talking nonstop. At the end of the night, he asked for my number and I happily obliged. Too bad he couldn’t play it cool for too long- he called the next day to ask me out on a date! We have been inseparable from that point on – both domestically & internationally!

The Engagement Story:

My Fiancé’s parents have a lake house in Northern Michigan where they spend the summers. We've been going up there for the 4th of July weekend for a couple years now and this year was no different. Their little lake community hosts fireworks over their lake on July 3rd, so that evening the entire family went out to the bay to sit around a bonfire and watch the fireworks light up the lake. While enjoying the scenery, he asked me if I'd like to go on a rowboat ride. Of course being dark and late, I was a bit hesitant, but eventually I gave in and got on the picturesque little rowboat. The two of us paddled out into the distance and it was on the boat that he got down on one, wobbly knee and asked me to be his wife. I was crying & shaking so hard - I forgot to say yes!

My Wedding Vendors:

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