When your love story begins with “we met on a cruise ship”, it sets a precedence for the rest of your relationship. You’re both fun, you’re both adventurous, and you’re both meandering where the wind is going to take you on the next escapade. Elliott Pollaro captured yet another beautiful round of photos that we’re in awe of. Payton and Aaron’s golden hour Hanalei Bay engagement session is not short of any mind-blowing chemistry, lush Hawaiian views, and the warmth and love is palpable.
How did you meet?
Aaron and I (Payton) met on a cruise! Aaron was on his senior year spring break trip with his best friends. My best friend and I decided to take a girls’ trip and get away. Our cruise left out of Charleston, SC and went to the Bahamas! We both noticed each other early on. Aaron finally approached me on our first day at port. We were on the beach in Half Moon Cay. The rest from there is history.
We spent a lot of time together on the cruise getting to know each other, dancing, and having a great time. On our last day Aaron asked for my number and we continued our relationship. We were long distance for a year before Aaron asked me to move to Hawaii to be with him! We are currently living in Hawaii. Aaron is an officer in the Army and we got blessed with this being his first duty station.
What is your proposal story?
We live so far from our families. We decided to take a two week break and go back to the east coast to visit both sides of our family around Christmas in 2018. Aaron and I had talked about marriage and we knew eventually we wanted to make that commitment. Looking back on it now, it all makes sense as to why Aaron chose the time that he did.
We first visited my family in Virginia. Little did I know that he took the opportunity to ask my mother, father, and brother for their blessing in asking me to marry him. We then left Virginia to visit his family in Charleston. Charleston has always been a place that I love and a special place to my family. Now that I know the full story, the actual proposal story is pretty funny!
We were so busy visiting family for Christmas the entire trip. Aaron played it all off really well. Little did I know that the ring he had made was on a truck that got in a car accident because of snow. He wasn’t sure if the ring would make it while we were on the east coast! The ring made it on Christmas Eve! We drove two hours from Aaron’s grandparents house to his parents. We were both exhausted, but he kept insisting that we go to “the dock”. He had taken me there before. It’s a special place he loves on the Ashley River. It has gorgeous views of Charleston. But we had just gotten back and I was exhausted! I told him to take his brother instead of me. We had dinner plans that night and I just wanted to relax and take my time getting ready.
He finally convinced me to go saying that we’d just stop on the way to dinner. So we walk the long walk to get to the dock. The sun is about to set and it’s a beautiful night. I really couldn’t have imagined anything more beautiful. The sun was setting by the time we were on the dock and we even watched dolphins jumping in the river. It was gorgeous. Aaron started acting fidgety and next thing I know he is tearing up, pouring out his heart, and getting down on one knee. It was perfect! About 5 minutes later his family shows up to congratulate us and take photos. Everyone was in on it all except for me! My family came to visit us the next day and celebrate with us. It was all a dream come true.
Tell us about the ring/band.
My engagement ring is a 1.5 carat round solitaire on a double pave band. It is beautiful and classic. It is everything I could want in an engagement ring!