A few weeks ago we met up with Gina and Jason for their Cheesequake State Park engagement session. Jay and I never been to the park before so we got there early to explore and figure out our game plan. There’s something so fun about shooting in a completely new location, especially at the peak of fall season! The park had the perfect mix of scenic paths, wooded walkways, and tall grasses. Jay and I enjoyed spending the afternoon with these two and hearing about not only their wedding plans, but also about Gina’s most recent marathon (She ran the Marine Corps Marathon this fall! We were so jealous!) and Jason’s quest to support her throughout the course (Adorable!). It’s only just the beginning for Gina and Jason but they already care so deeply for each other and are so incredibly supportive of one another! We’re so excited for them to tie the knot next summer! Gina and Jason, congratulations on your engagement!! We can’t wait for your big day!
How they met:
Gina: Jay and I met each other at a local restaurant we both worked at in 2005. I was sixteen and a junior in high school. It was my first job working as a hostess. I guess that would have made Jay nineteen. He was a bartender and had several of his high school friends who worked with him. We never really had a moment where we ‘met’. He was one of the servers that got irritated with me and the other hosts when we sat them with unfriendly tables. I think sometimes we did it on purpose just to get on their nerves. We were never formally introduced or anything like that but for five years we hung out in the same circle of people because everyone that worked there also hung out together outside of work. It was a big social circle. After the restaurant closed down in the spring of 2009, we all went our separate ways. Jay moved up to Buffalo, NY and I moved to Rutgers for my junior year of college. Jay and I weren’t in contact or anything. I don’t even know if I had his number. In November I ended up moving home because I was miserable with where I was living and Jay moved home right around the same time but we didn’t even know it.
Jay: Gina and I met when we were working at a restaurant in Branchburg. I was bartending and she was a host. I remember co-workers teasing us about liking each other back then. I was in a relationship at the time and Gina was well, Gina! It wasn’t until a few years later that we actually started dating.
What they remember about their first date:
Gina: Well, we never had a conventional ‘first date’. I don’t really remember how we found out each other moved home but I invited everyone we used to work with to Friday’s for my 21st I asked him if he could come and he showed up that night with two friends who are now two of our groomsmen. There was no ‘first date’ where we went to dinner or got dressed up. I remember one of the first times we spent time together was when he asked me if I felt like coming to take tree stands out of the woods. My guess is that I agreed because we got coffee first. He knew how to suck me in from day one.
Jay: It was cold! Haha, I invited Gina on a super romantic first date. I asked if she would like to join me as I took treestands down after hunting season. I was mid-February, and like 10 degrees outside at 10 or 11 at night. She was a trooper, holding the flashlight for me and all. She didn’t complain at all or even act like she was cold….from there I knew she was a keeper.
When they knew they had found the One:
Gina: Oh man, more like a series of things over the course of time I guess. There was never a moment but more of just a gradual friendship, love, trust, and growing together. When Jay and I began dating I was kind of in a difficult place. I had just moved home from a bad living situation in college and was honestly a mess. College was not my happy place, at all and I really struggled a lot during those years. Jay jokes about what a mess I was but it was true. He clearly saw something in me that I couldn’t see in myself at the time and stood by me through all of that and has been standing by me ever since. That will always be my miracle. I’ve changed so much since then and he has been there every step of the way. I could name a thousand reasons and then some but I’d be writing for a lifetime.
Jay: Gina is just sooo different from anyone I have ever met. I can’t be in the same room with her and not have a smile on my face. It’s hard to explain but there is no one else in the world for me. Also, being able to marry a woman who can bowhunt and shoot is never a bad thing!
The proposal:
Gina: We went to one of Jay’s hunting properties in Neshanic Station up last October to just hang out and take pictures. It was the first weekend we had spent together since I began teaching and I will never forget how absolutely beautiful it was outside. Jay set up his camera on the tripod to automatically take pictures so we could pose for a few. We were in the middle of a field near a fence and a huge tree. I remember the camera was snapping pictures and I turned away for a second and as a I turned back, Jay was holding a little black box and getting down on one knee and there was a ring staring back at me. I was in total shock. He had this smile on his face, looked right at me without blinking an eye, and just asked ‘will you marry me?’ I couldn’t really comprehend what was happening but I asked him, ‘did you ask my dad?’ Thinking about it now I’d known that he asked my father over the summer so I don’t know why I blurted that out but I did. He nodded his head and I said ‘of course I will’. The camera snapped a picture of everything happening except for him down on one knee. It was perfect though.
Jay: We would always go to one of my hunting properties to take pictures or shoot guns/bows. It’s a place that is very special to both of us so I told her I wanted to take some pictures and hang out there one afternoon so I set my camera up to take pictures automatically and we went in front of the camera and took a few…she turned around to look at something and I pulled the ring out of my back pocket and proposed. I set my cameras delay to long and we only have a picture of me half on my knee. A little upsetting but I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Something they love about each other:
Gina: The absolute patience and grace he has showed me over the last five years and continues to show me and others. He would do anything for his friends, family, and all animals.
Jay: Her personality – We can have fun doing ANYTHING together and we always do. Anything from grocery shopping to cleaning up the apartment, if we are doing it together we are having a good time and laughing. Never a dull moment when we are together!
Besides getting married, one thing they are looking forward to on their wedding day:
Gina: The look on his face when my dad walks me down the aisle. For once I won’t be in running clothes. : )
Jay: I can’t wait to see her for the first time in her dress. I look at her and can imagine what she will look like but I know it will blow me away when it is finally that time. I’ll have to really work on it but I think I’ll be able to keep it together
A Cheesequake State Park Engagement Session by Idalia Photography, a husband and wife photography team based in Central New Jersey. CONTACT US for more information.
