Central Park, New York City: Sam & Gareth's Engagement Session

Even though they were both pursuing PhDs at Yale, Sam and Gareth didn’t met for the first time in any of the many gothic hallways or lush green courtyards of the university. Instead they first locked eyes in a crowded bar in New Haven.  It was a bar that Sam would visit often (he happened to live in an apartment right above it), but he knew that he had never seen this particular handsome gentleman before.  The conversation they had that night set the tone for their relationship; it came naturally, flowed easily and just felt right.  They started dating and almost instantly they had both come to the same conclusion: they had found the one.  Three weeks in, they were unofficially engaged.

The actual proposal was decidedly less low key.  They flew to Europe at the end of December and made plans to celebrate New Years Eve in the city of lights.  On their way to dinner that night they walked around the Trocadero as the Eiffel Tower shone brightly just behind them.  It was there that their engagement became official.

Next June, Sam and Gareth will stand together in one of those lush green courtyards of Yale.  There, in front of their family and friends, they will make the commitment they had known was in their future from shortly after that very first night in the bar.