Patrick & Faye’s Wedding in Shades of Purple

Faye and I first crossed paths working for PB&J Restaurants but had not officially met until the evening of August 6, 2013. Many of us had met up at a local establishment after work for a few drinks. Faye and I ended up sitting at the bar together discussing work and life. Faye and I both love to laugh, joke, and tell stories. I told her a story about how great I can karaoke Justin Timberlake’s songs. At that moment, “Holy Grail” by Jay-Z featuring Justin Timberlake came on. Being funny, I sang that song to her.  She thought it was hilarious, but probably also thought “what is wrong with this guy?” We talked and laughed for awhile longer and then decided it was time to head home. We walked outside to the parking lot and said our goodbyes. I gave her a hug and then stole a kiss from her, which I had never done before in my life. We then went our separate ways wondering what had just happened.

Faye wouldn’t give me her phone number that evening but she sent me a Facebook friend request, which I accepted. For the next month we messaged each other telling funny stories and getting to know each other. Throughout that month of messaging we went on a few dates and had more fun with each other than we had ever had with anyone else. We couldn’t get enough of each other, talking for hours, spending more time together than we should have, and eagerly waiting for the next time to see each other. What was so surprising about our new relationship was that we both realized that we had found true love and the feeling was like nothing the two of us had ever had.

Towards the end of May, I planned a trip to Napa Valley with two other couples to explore the wine country and attend Bottlerock, a three day concert festival in the valley. On the morning of our third day in Napa I had planned to propose to Faye.  We woke as we did the two mornings before, drank coffee, had breakfast, and then I asked Faye to walk up the road to the top of Howell Mountain where the O’shaugnessy vineyard is located. As we walked up the steep road we would stop, enjoy the view, and take a few pictures. The road was so steep and the air was so thin that Faye almost couldn’t make it up. I was so worried that we wouldn’t make it to the spot where I had planned to propose. Faye ended up making it up the mountain with a couple water breaks and we started through the vineyard to a beautiful weeping willow tree where there was a picnic table and a 360 degree view of the entire valley. Before our trip to Napa I had found something called “The ring box” which has a GoPro inside of a ring box. There is a small button on top that you press which starts the GoPro recording. I asked Faye if she wanted a drink of water and reached into my backpack, pressing the button to begin the ring box recording. I gave Faye a bottle of water and as she took a drink I put the ring box into my sweatshirt. When she was done taking a drink I stepped down off the picnic table, got down on one knee, told her how much I love her, and asked her to marry me. She was floored. Tears of joy started to pour out of her eyes and she said “Yes!” We then opened a bottle of wine and celebrated together. The rest of the day we celebrated with our friends and went to Bottlerock to enjoy the concerts. It was a day we both will never forget.