Vilma & Patrick’s Engagement

We loved Vilma and Patrick from our first meeting with them and we are so excited to be able to photograph them, and their fabulous up-coming wedding! Grant had a lot of fun with them shooting downtown and even in the very spot where Patrick proposed. I loved reading their story so much. They have a unique romance, a strong connection, with a mix of Lithuanian heritage and a love of Halloween…a recipe for pure fun! They are the type of couple that we feel privileged to know and honored to photograph.

We know you will enjoy their story and hope you enjoy their pictures. Stay tuned for the wedding—I promise it’ll be one unlike any other we’ve done before. :)

Enjoy Vilma & Patrick.

How did you meet?
We met in high school in Tennessee, but didn’t really start dating until we were in college. When I (Vilma) was in my sophomore year of college, Patrick and I reconnected online and realized that we live 45 minutes from each other: Patrick was at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland and I was at the University of Maryland in College Park. We met during the Christmas break in 2002 at a friend’s house back in Tennessee and have been together ever since.

Anything special you’d like to share about dating?
Having been together for so long, we have already been through so much, that we know we can make it no matter what life throws our way. We ‘survived’ the Naval Academy, law school, long-distance dating, tough times, sad times and through it all realized that we couldn’t go through life without each other. We have embraced each other’s families and cultures: Patrick’s acceptance and love of my country, family, customs, and food earned him an honorary Lithuanian status. Throughout the years we learned that all we need to have fun is each other and that Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights has a strange power over us, because no matter what is going on around us, when we go there we feel like life could not be more perfect.

Describe your proposal.
Because we had been dating for almost 8 years and had already decided on wedding dates, I had told Patrick that I would not be surprised when it happened and would certainly not cry like most other girls do. Also, when talking about proposals, I had at one time commented on how I know the proposal will not be public, because that would not be like him. I think Patrick took that as a personal challenge. In Lithuania, Christmas Eve is very special, because we do a special dinner that is rich in customs and special foods. Every year we spend Christmas Eve with my family and then go to midnight mass. This past winter we repeated our ritual: Christmas Eve dinner with my parents and then off to the midnight mass at the beautiful Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Chattanooga. After mass was over we were walking out of the church wishing everyone a Merry Christmas when Patrick stopped me on the church steps and started telling me how he feels about me. At first I thought he was just being sweet, but by the second sentence it finally hit me what was happening. He got down on one knee, on the church steps, in front of my parents, the priest, and other people, and asked me to marry him… in LITHUANIAN! Apparently my brother and my dad were in on it, because my brother helped with the Lithuanian translation and my dad was tasked to be the official photographer. When we got home it started snowing, which does not happen often in TN, so the whole night felt really magical.

What is your ring like?
It is simply perfect! It’s a bit unique–although the center stone is a diamond, the sidestones are sapphires. I love the sapphires in it, because that is something Patrick really wanted in a ring.

How would you describe the way you feel about each other?
Vilma: It sounds cliche, but I am marrying my best friend. I truly cannot imagine my life without Patrick.

Patrick: I knew that Vilma was the girl for me before we had even started “officially” dating. I knew in high school that she was a very special person and wanted to get to know her better then, but the time was not right. Everything worked out for the best though. We reconnected at a good time in our lives and have grown together through the years and enjoyed the happy times while working through the sad times. I have to agree with Vilma. I sincerely feel that I have the rare opportunity to marry my best friend and can not fully describe how happy that makes me.

Do you have any special plans for your wedding that you’d like to share?
We are actually doing two wedding celebrations–in Lithuania and also here in the United States. We wanted to celebrate our commitment and love for each other with our family and friends from both places and that would not have been possible if we chose to do it in one place only.