Our Story

Joe and Jaimie met in Richmond, Virginia in 2010.  Jaimie was in graduate school at Virginia Commonwealth University and Joe, recently graduated from VCU, was working at FedEx Kinko's.  Introduced through friends, Jaimie and Joe quickly connected and began spending much of their free time together.  After having lunch on their first date they walked around Maymont Park where they each found a four-leaf clover.

After several weeks of dating Joe asked Jaimie if she would change her Facebook status to "in a relationship".  Jaimie agreed and their relationship continued to grow.

Richmond

For the first three years of their relationship Jaimie and Joe lived in Richmond, VA together.  During this time Joe moved from the corporate world of FedEx to an independent print shop, UpTown Color.  Jaimie graduated from VCU earning a Master's Degree in Art Education and accepted a teaching position at St. Catherine's School as a part-time Art and Ceramics teacher.  In their free time they helped each other pursue their own passions.

Saturday mornings you could frequently find them at the South of the James Farmer's Market selling Jaimie's ceramics. (Naturally much of the profits were spent on local produce, meat, bread, and of course goat cheese.)  In the afternoons and evenings Joe would pursue his passion for photography alongside Jaimie's co-worker and mutual friend Amanda Meyer, shooting weddings and events.

Of the many adventures in Richmond, one of Jaimie and Joe's fondest memories were when they adopted their two cats Dexter and Sherlock.  Both adopted as kittens from the SPCA, Dexter and Sherlock have been central points in their relationship.

Connecticut

In May of 2013, after much thought and discussion, Jaimie accepted a full-time teaching position at Greenwich High School in Connecticut.  The position was to start the following school year so Jaimie and Joe spent most of their summer moving their belongings up the east coast to Stamford, CT.

Jaimie and Joe had visited Stamford numerous times in the past as it was Jaimie's hometown and where much of her immediate family still lived.  That being said there was still a bit of  a learning curve (mostly for Joe) in this new city.

In August of 2013 Jaimie started her job teaching ceramics full-time.  Joe was offered a part-time job at a private school helping with their communications efforts and he supplemented his income working at Lorca, a local coffee shop.  After their first year, Joe left his two part-time jobs as he was offered a full-time position at The Mead School as their Marketing Coordinator.

The Proposal

Over Memorial Day weekend Jaimie and Joe traveled up to New Hampshire for her family's annual gathering at Camp Nokomis to help open it for the following summer.

Between heavy rainstorms Joe asked Jaimie to show him some of her favorite spots at the camp under the pretense that he wanted to take pictures for a book.  Jaimie took Joe to a clearing by the water she frequented in past summers.  Joe set his camera up on a tripod and told Jaimie he wanted to take a photo together using the self timer.  After much pretend fiddling with controls Joe walked over to Jaimie and got down on one knee.

After stumbling over his words and dropping the ring (luckily not in to the lake), Joe asked Jaimie to marry him.  As I'm sure you know by this point she said "of course".

Jaimie and Joe then went back to the dining hall where everyone was gathering for dinner hors d'oeuvres to announce the news and have an impromptu engagement celebration. That evening a rainbow appeared across the lake sky.