The Meeting

Every year at the end of each summer, there is an event called the Town Point Virginia Wine Festival held in Norfolk. This is a huge event where more than 30 Virginia wineries set up tasting booths along the beautiful downtown Norfolk waterfront. In October 2005, this is where Kelly and Ian first met.

Kelly was at the festival with several friends and had been sampling just about every type of wine Virginia had to offer. On the other hand, Ian was sampling plenty of water due to the previous night's festivities.

Kelly was laughing and chatting with her friends Beth and Kendra when Ian and his friend Chip walked by. Kelly, Beth, and Chip all went to the same high school, so when the guys walked by, the 3 girls said hello. Ian was introduced to Kelly. They talked for about 30 minutes and Ian had asked Kelly for her number. Later that night Ian called and said he was glad he got to meet Kelly and hoped they would talk soon.

The next morning, Ian headed down to the oceanfront to play flag football, as he does each spring and fall. Ironically, as his football game ended, he saw Kelly at the beach. As luck would have it, Kelly was asked to play for another team and came out to see what this football thing was all about. It turns out waking up early on the weekends is not for Kelly so she never joined a team.

Ian didn't see Kelly for about a month until the day before Thanksgiving at a local bar. When they saw each other, they immediately began a conversation and made a deal to go to lunch the next week. They met for sushi, both one of their favorite foods, and had a great first date. They have been together ever since.

The Engagement

January 18, 2006 was a cold day in Virginia Beach. Well, relatively cold for the area - about 40°. Ian and Kelly had invited her parents Ron and Donna over to Ian's new house for a quiet dinner. Everything was going to plan when Kelly arrived to Ian's house 20 minutes prior to her parent's coming over. Ian was supposed to pick up the wine and he told Kelly he "forgot" to get it. He said he would head to the store, which was 5 minutes away, and be back before her parents even arrived.

After Ian left, Kelly got the call. Ian had stopped his car along the Bay right near his house and told Kelly that his car would not run and that she needed to pick him up. (Ian had been saying his car was “acting up” weeks prior to this night, so it did not seem out of the ordinary that this would happen) Kelly was flustered since she was setting the table, not to mention her parents would be over very soon. Ian's plan was working perfectly.

Kelly somehow got lost, in the very same neighborhood where she lives, and was getting even more frazzled as each minute passed. When she pulled up to the Bay where Ian was she didn't even stop the car and yelled “Get in!” as she slowly drove by. Ian told her that he didn't want to leave the car in its present spot because it may get towed. Kelly, who didn't bring a jacket and gets cold when the temperature dips below 70º, refused to get out of her car. This is where a little improvisation was going to take place on Ian's part.

Ian had planned to lure Kelly to the top of the hill while overlooking the water. Instead, he had to wrestle her out of her car, where she immediately ran into his. This was becoming quite the predicament. Ian then persuaded her to get out of his car and help him push it into an appropriate parking spot. After much resistance, she opened the car door. Ian, knowing Kelly would only push the car for 3-4 seconds before running back into her warm car, grabbed Kelly in the middle of the road and got down on one knee and asked if she would marry him. Kelly said yes, obviously. And for the record, Ian did ask Kelly's parents a few weeks back if he could have the privilege of marrying their daughter, they also said yes, thankfully.