Some people say they don’t believe in love at first sight. However, the night Helene and Dan first met, Helene knew she was in trouble. Up until that point, Helen had made a lot of rules about dating to protect herself from getting hurt. That all changed when she broke every single one of them to get to know Dan better. He had the sweetest smile and was focused not only on his engineering classes but also on his career goals. As time progressed, Helene realized that Dan was the kindest and sweet person she had ever met. Even her girlfriends asked, “Is he really this nice all the time?” to which she would reply “Yes, sometimes even more.” She knew she would be the  luckiest girl in the world to marry him someday.

The summer after college, Dan came up with a crazy idea to drive 8,000+ miles around the U.S. for 30 days before they both started their jobs. Not only did Helene say yes to joining him, but after driving through 36 states, going through some hilarious situations, and ultimately pulling back into their driveway in New York, their relationship grew ever stronger from the experience. He remembers looking at Helene on the last day of their road trip while driving and thinking, “wow, how did I get so lucky to meet the most amazing and beautiful girl in the world. In 2017, Dan had planned a vacation in Colombia at the end of the year and had given hints to Helene that he was likely to propose during that vacation. Little did she know, he was actually aiming for a weekend getaway in the Dominican Republic in the Fall. As the Fall vacation grew closer, it happened to be during a bad hurricane season and Helene asked Dan if they could reschedule their vacation. He had to think quickly, so he said that he was stressed at work, and for his sanity, the vacation needed to happen. Helene, concerned for his health, agreed.

Dan had been coordinating for some time with a local helicopter company and other locals to set up letters on a private beach. When they got to the hotel, he had coordinated to have the hotel staff “recommend” a great helicopter ride. Dan played dumb and casually said it could be interesting to try for the first time. The day of the helicopter ride, they arrived at the launch pad and Dan told Helene that the reason there was a photographer was that they were going to try to sell photos at the end, as a way to make extra money. They went up and after about 5 minutes, the pilot brought the helicopter lower to the beach and Helene saw letters on the beach spelling, “Helene will you marry me?” She turned around and a nervous Dan was holding a ring asking her to marry him. After she said yes, they had a beautiful champagne picnic on the beach next to their letters.

Their wedding is in a few weeks at the stunning Wadsworth mansion, so we met up with them at Yale University last week to document them together. What a sweet, sweet couple they are! We can’t wait for their wedding day!!

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To learn more about booking your Connecticut or European Wedding, Engagement, or Anniversary session contact Alicia via the Contact link in the menu, or email directly at info@aliciaannphotographers.com

Alicia and her wedding photography team is local to Connecticut, in New England, and is currently booking 2018 and 2019 wedding photography sessions in New England and Europe. We shoot on both medium format film and digital.

Alicia and her team frequently travel for weddings, events, and non-profit portrait sessions and has clients from California to Europe to Dubai. To find out details regarding their upcoming travel dates to a city near you or to book a custom travel session, please contact them for more information.