From the soon-to-be bride: “As I imagine many modern relationships begin, Our love story blossomed online at OKCupid. April of 2012, Ed was living in New Jersey at the time and I was living in California. Both of us dreaded the thought of online dating and we were both not very active on the site.  But one day Ed reached out to me in a message. I knew from what he wrote to me that he was not like all the other guys. His approach was subtle and sweet and from that moment we instantly became friends.

The relationship from the start felt like we had known each other all our lives. Within days we quickly transitioned from online messages to long meaningful phone conversations. We’d talk every day for at least three hours at a time. Juggling the time difference was tricky some days but it never stopped us from connecting. We were in Love before we’d ever seen each other face to face. June 2, 2012 Ed flew to California and we met in person for the first time in the Sacramento International Airport. It was such a surreal moment, a moment we had been anxiously awaiting. I’ll never forget the way we looked at each other with our big smiles and the feeling of our arms wrapped around each other for the first time as our hearts exploded. Because we knew for sure at that moment, this was real. On the way to the car, he kept saying over and over again “You’re so pretty, I can’t believe i’m here”, we were both so nervous yet completely comfortable, if that makes any sense. I knew he’d be hungry from the long flight so I had picked up a pizza on the way to the airport, which was sitting in the back seat of my car when he got in, a car that smells like hot pizza.. great first impression. When we look back at that, we laugh.  We probably laughed about it then too. He stayed in California for just the weekend, we cried together when he had to get back on the plane to New Jersey. We had some figuring out to do.

We never could have imagined falling in Love with someone on the opposite side of the country, 2,838 miles between us. Almost an exact straight line from coast to coast.  On July 4th weekend I flew to New Jersey to meet his family and just six months after that first message online, on October 1, 2012, Ed moved to California so that we could be together. He moved in with me into my tiny apartment, we saved every penny and two years later we bought a house together in the same neighborhood. ”

“When Ed told me that he booked a flight to visit me on June 2, 2012, I downloaded a countdown app. I think it’s neat because I originally downloaded the app to countdown the hours until we first met, now it’s counting the time since we first met. By the end of this email it will be 5 Years, 3 Months, 1 Week, 2 Days, 18 hours and 45 minutes. We have been so blessed to share our lives together. Over five years later and we are closer than ever before. I love that he has old fashioned values and opens the door for me. He loves that I set up his coffee and make sure he has clean laundry. It’s the simplest and smallest things that mean the most to us. We make it a point to take good care of each other and that goes a long way. It sounds silly but one major things that we always do, that I believe makes a huge difference in how we communicate, is simply saying thank you to each other, for everything. Thank you for making dinner, Thank you for getting the mail, Thanks for handling that thing for me – I really appreciate it. Life can get crazy and so being able to make that small acknowledgement for each other kind of speaks to our hearts. We’re a team.”

About the Photographers

Idalia Photography is a team of husband and wife wedding photographers serving NJ, NY, PA, and beyond. We specialize in romantic, timeless, and classic weddings. Are you planning a wedding? Click here to view our wedding portfolio or contact us for availability and pricing. Happy wedding planning!