Megan's Story

The day I met Joe was magical…

Just kidding.

On Saturday, September 3rd, 2011, I was scheduled to help coordinate a wedding with my long-time friend and rockstar wedding planner, Sharokina Pazand (Shar). I, however, was seriously thinking about bailing. I was running on about three hours of sleep after completing all the rhinestone adorned stationery for the event. We had a new assistant working that day, and I felt my grumpy, sleep deprived presence would be both unnecessary and unpleasant.

But – I couldn’t let my friend down! I pulled myself together in my sweltering apartment (it was one of those unseasonably hot, stormy September days), mashed my hair into a sorry attempt at an updo, gathered my glittery collection of stationery, and dragged myself to WORK.

It started like any other event day (except for the “I’m boycotting mirrors” look I was sporting). Lots of sorting, unpacking, and running around, until…

In walks a nice looking photographer (you see where this is going already …)

First, I saw my friend greet the photographer, and could tell there was a good rapport between them. Then he did something different from most wedding professionals we’ve worked with – he walked across the room to greet and shake hands with myself and my colleague - Shar’s lowly assistants. I was impressed!

However, I was still in go-mode. I had freakishly found a second wind, and could not easily be distracted from my event décor duties. At this point, I had noticed this nice photographer was cute and polite, but it was still business as usual.

Before he headed to the bridal suite, I handed him a few samples of my masterful stationery, and with an intensity that should have scared any normal person, asked him to photograph these pieces, and then BRING THEM BACK TO MEEEEEEEEeeeee aHHHahahahaha - OR ELSE. (I didn’t actually say that, but that’s what I was thinking.) And proving that we were already psychically connected, Joe took the stationery, and as he began to round the corner, turned back, shot me a sly grin and retorted to my silent command, “Or else I’m in trouble?”

(Joe, you were definitely in trouble already)

Again, we dove into event duties. The regular racing around ensued from the ceremony to the reception, and we largely lost track of one another.

There was one person who hadn’t lost track of us though – SHAR. She had noticed Joe and I talking earlier and thought she saw a spark! She was on a mission to make sure this love connection didn’t fail on her watch! As we all sat down together for our vendor meal, she maneuvered to get Joe and I to sit next to one another. However, the videographer Joe was working with ended up snatching the seat next to me. I was playing it cool though, first because I was starting to feel the effects of my sleep deprivation, and second, because I was afraid my friend’s eagerness was enough to scare him away, without me adding any of my own. However, I wasn’t too aloof to notice that Joe was chatty and pleasant at dinner, and even got up to get his videographer colleague a beverage. What a guy ☺

After dinner, with no more obligatory connection points, I wasn’t sure we’d have any more chances to talk, but Joe, as I would learn, is never one to disappoint, and found me standing guard at the gift table during the reception. We had a nice long chat (don’t tell the bride and groom). I appreciated how open he was about his life and his family. I’ve learned this is very important to me, and I recognized it in Joe right away.

By the time us vendors were saying “goodnight,” I was officially interested. I was racking my brain for ways to connect with Joe after this event. Shar was going through the same mental exercise. As we were exchanging information, she brilliantly (and with no sense of subtlety) pretended to be without business cards, and asked me to bring Joe one of mine.

;D

I dutifully brought him a card.

We left Joe to pack up his gear, and returned to the banquet hall to begin the treasured task of end-of-event-clean-up. But as the other girls kicked it into high gear, I froze (and not because I was hitting the wall of rhinestone sleep deprivation). I realized that our business card rouse would probably not work. I thought about times when I had given a gentleman a business card for professional purposes, and had been so put off when they contacted me for a date. Even though I had just met Joe, I could tell he was too polite and considerate to do something like that. I needed to give him a clear green light to contact me personally.

So, I did what any mature adult would do: I demanded a do-over. Hoping he was still outside, I got over the awkwardness of going back to say goodnight a second time, mustered up my most confident stance, burst through the banquet doors to find Joe still busily packing his gear. (I like to imagine it like something out of a Beyonce video - dramatically backlit, wind in my hair, everything in slow motion…)

I’m not exactly sure what I said to him; I believe I referenced our card exchange and told him it was OK to contact me outside of a professional capacity ☺ At the very most, he said “OK” (he was probably just so stunned by my pop-star-esque entrance that he was nearly speechless), but as I walked back through the banquet hall doors, I turned around to throw him one more, over the shoulder, forget-me-not look, and saw his enormous smile shining back at me. (I will never forget that smile.) I wasn’t sure I was getting a call after that, but I was sure that the green light was beaming strong and he had seen it.

He called me two days later.

We went on our first date the following weekend.

And here we are, full circle! Planning our own wedding, and thinking back fondly on the people we’ve helped do the same thing in the past.

A lot has happened in between, most of which has been neither romantic nor exciting. However, I have from that hot mess of a September day until now, known Joe to be someone who always comes through for me when it counts. He is the person I am most comfortable being myself with, and someone with whom, life seems to only get better. I am grateful for him, and excited to be his wife. And we are both excited to share that moment with all of you. See you there!

XOXO

-Megan