Simon McConico | Valo Photography

This was written by Nicole on our wedding blog. I figure that instead of re hasing this, I would take her story and add some touches to it:

ok…so i know you have all been waiting for this story…so here it goes.

well apparently simon had been planning this for months and nicole did not know… here are a few things you need to know about simon’s planning.

1. the first big gesture in the relationship was sent to nicole while she was in north carolina when they first started dating. (Sent flowers to Nicole when she was visiting North Carolina and tracked down her address using Facebook and the white pages. This was either gonna be a stalker move or super sweet. It turned out to be super sweet.)

2. simon had since had lots of contact with nicole’s friend robin who they were going to “visit” in north carolina. (I thought it would be awesome to get engaged where I first sent her flowers.)

3. simon had big talks with moms and dads and just about “the plan” with everybody else except nicole. (Nosy Nancy ended up trying to guess and find out if I had talked to parents yet… It was always super hard to keep a straight face when she asked.)

nicole had a feeling “it” was going to happen soon they had talked about it now and then and she was getting very excited. she had inquired with a few people who tried to steer her away from any such ideas. her mom did such a good job she even made her cry.

nicole had a similar experience with robin THAT very day.

due to frequent flyer miles and job schedules, etc. nicole was able to fly down to north carolina first at about 5pm. upon arrival robin was questioning nicole about simon and this relationship and her feelings etc. nicole expressed to robin that everything was great, how perfect simon was (yeah… I am. I even got her Starbucks twice this week and brought it to school for her.), and that she had a feeling it was going to happen in north carolina. nicole told robin that she couldn’t sleep the night before and that she just had “this feeling”. robin did such a good job convincing her that she was going to be disapointed and ruin a good weekend when it didn’t happen that she should just forget about it. this left nicole very distraught, and wondering if simon had told people that he DIDN’T want to marry her….

so the night goes on and nicole goes ALONE to pick up simon from the airport at about 11pm while robin suggests that she show him around outside when they get back…that it will be “romantic”…[little did she know, she had been sent out of the house so robin and her husband bob could set the stage.] everything is fine but nicole is still wondering about that feeling…especially when simon tells her he wants to empty his pockets before she shows him around (Man! I… I was sitting on a plane for a few hours with a ring box in my pocket. An nervous as all get out.) …nicole still upset from the conversation with robin asks simon “do you really want to marry me someday? everybody keeps telling me that you might not…” on the verge of tears at that, simon looks at her and responded with only “i love you”. (What was I suppose to say? “Sure, here’s your ring” “Sure I do, lets get this done with here”, plus, I thought it would be a little funny.)

well at this point nicole was tired and ready for the day to be over so she suggested that they go outside and blow out the tiki torches so they could go to sleep and that she would show simon around in the morning.

upon going outside and following the light to the tiki torches, nicole discovered simon and robins little set up. there…down by the lake was a blanket, candles, white roses [nicoles favorite] champagne and a guitar! nicole started to question what this was and simon just directed her to sit down and asked her if she would like a drink. while nicole was starting to open the bottle of champagne, simon began to play a song. this song was about spending the rest of his life with her and asking her to do the same. while this made nicole cry…simon finished only to get down on one knee and pull out a ring [which nicole did not even look at] and ask the BIG question…as you all know by now, nicole said yes and there were hugs and tears and lots of late night/early morning phone calls. after a bit of this, the champagne was finally opened and the two enjoyed some time under the stars together.
so there you have it…the story of how it all went down.

p.s. 9 days left. I am stoked!

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14 Comments | In: Personal | tags: engagement story, love, north carolina. | #

Mawiage. Mawiage bwings us toogetha…

My mom and pops are celebrating their 31^st wedding anniversary today.  I am so thankful for them and everything they have done for us kids.  Shooting weddings, I have heard lots of advice and one of those nuggets that sticks out in my mind, and I find to be true of my mom and dad, is that every morning when you wake up, you choose to be married.  Every day you choose love and to love a person that sometimes gets on your nerves, doesn’t make the bed, is messy, is clean, invites people over without telling you, kills squirrels because they eat the garden… you gotta choose love and choose to be married every day and every second of that day.  My parents have made that choice for 11,323 days, or  271,752 hours, or 16,305,120 minutes.  That’s a lot of choosing. That’s a lot of love.  I hope that I can follow their example and choose to love my wife every day. (Gotta get married first, but you get the point)

Here are a few photos that they dug out the archive of their wedding day.

Here are a few interesting facts:
Mom made her own wedding dress.
Dad had to wear tights to the wedding, turns out dark legs show right through white pants…
First time my mom met my grandma they were engaged.
My dad proposed with a bottle cap. (Or something like that)
The first time they kissed, my mom asked, “So, does that mean your gonna marry me?”

3 Comments | In: General Information, Weddings | tags: anniversary, dad, love, marriage, minneapolis, mom, parents. | #

Photos are interesting things.  They can make you laugh, they can make you cry, they can make you reminisce and they can inspire you.  As I venture into the world of dating and love with my lady, I have become more aware of the power in a photo.

Nicole and I went on a “photo” date a while ago where we drove around the countryside with a tripod and no timeline and took photos.  A few years ago I did a 365 Project where I took a self portrait a day for a year, so taking our own photos would be cake.  We took quite a few photos and I still haven’t edited them all but have been working on them here and there. The ones that I have edited I got printed and they now hang in my office and by my computer at home.

It is crazy to me how the essence of someone can be captured on a piece of paper with ink and how that photo can trigger so many thoughts and emotions.  I love having a photo of her where I can see it to remind me of how beautiful she is and how blessed I am to have snagged such a wonderful girl.  It’s a good reminder to me to smile and to tell her that she is beautiful and loved every day. 

A digital file is nice and a photo on a computer is great, but there is something that changes when it is printed on paper and becomes tangible.  I really need to get more photos printed, and so do you.

1 Comment | In: General Information, Random Shoots | tags: @nicolehenzel, canon 5d mark 2, love, milwaukee, Photography, self portrait, simonmcconico, Valo. | #