Certified Coordinated Bride Satorie
Journal Entry #1
We Go Together Like Fries and Ketchup
Hi guys!! I’m Satorie and my fiancé is Damien. We are getting married on the beautiful island of Bermuda in November!
How We Met
In 2004, in the days of MSN Messenger, a friend and I had exchanged one contact each from our contact list and by luck – Damien was the lucky guy!!! He accepted my invite in July (he may say June) and from that moment on, we spent many months communicating through email and instant messenger with the aid of webcams (it was definitely not a “Catfish” situation). At the time, Damien was attending New England Institute of Technology, which has quarters as opposed to terms for semesters. During his October break, he had mentioned to me that he will be sitting an exam in the morning, all the while he was travelling back to Bermuda to surprise me. It was around lunch time on a Friday afternoon, my phone had rang (with a 441 area code) and it was his voice on the other end “Hey, where are you, I’m outside of Sports Locker?” While meeting each other in person for the very first time, he also met his “future mother-in-law” at the same time. At that time, my mom only knew Damien as “webcam boy”, a name she often refers to him still to this day!
First Impressions to Last a Lifetime
I leave my job to meet Damien at Sports Locker, I open the door and I see this tall dude whose face looked very familiar! Damien, who is 6’2 in stature, towered over my 4’8 frame! To this day, Damien often says that I lied about my height (why would I, I don’t know!!!) My shyness got the best of me, as I did not know what to say to him. Damien on the other hand was very vocal – WOW!!!! How short are you girl?!?!?!! My height is often a good conversation starter and I soon relaxed and was able to talk to him.
Our First Date
Believe it or not, our first date was actually grabbing a quick meal at Ice Queen – our local version of McDonald’s; (ha I know – cheap date), and then going to what was soon to be our favorite spot – The Old Battery Fort at Whale Bay Beach! I had a small order of fries (trying to be cute about it), but I had DRENCHED it with Ketchup and Mayonnaise, I cannot remember what Damien ordered, but what I can remember is he asked me for a few fries. My plan had totally backfired on me! I added the mayo to my fries because I was actually being greedy and I didn’t want to share – not expecting for Damien to also enjoy mayo on his fries as well! This confirmed that him and I were destined to be together.
When I Realized He Was the One
We met in 2004 at the start of Damien’s final year in College, we spent 1 year together in Bermuda before I left to attend Unversity in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2006. I knew that if we could survive back-to-back long distance due to educational studies, the ups and downs of a relationship, we could survive anything!
The Day I Said YES!
On the morning of my 30th birthday, which conveniently (smile) falls the day after Valentine’s Day, I went from being a girlfriend, to becoming a happy fiancé!
I didn’t have any big special plans to celebrate my 30th birthday, other than a family photo shoot in the morning and brunch to follow at a hotel restaurant. We contacted Donavin Seymour as our photographer to shoot our family portraits at the Old Battery Fort, where our first date took place, and because of this – we thought it would be fitting to have our first official family pictures taken there.
However, Damien had an alternative motive for this location….unbeknownst to me…
The photo shoot begins, and silly me, I’m not suspecting a thing! Damien had always mentioned that if he was to ever propose, it would NEVER be on a Hallmark holiday (ie: Birthday, Christmas, New Year’s Eve etc.) because of the predictability associated with the occasion.
Maybe 10 minutes into the shoot, I was leaning up against a wall believing the camera was focused on me. Boy was I wrong! Damien and our two boys were standing a few feet behind me holding up custom made cards which read “Will” “You” “Marry Me?”! Just then, my sons ran up to me with their cards, I read them and immediately starting shaking knowing what was coming next…..Damien walked up to me, got down on one knee with the last card AND ring in hand and began his speech “I know you are not 5ft, but will you marry me?” (he ALWAYS joked and said he will marry me once I reached 5ft which I am not as of yet– He is so silly!).
He made my birthday, the best birthday (and day) of my life!!
We had our first son in 2009, and our youngest son in 2012 and come November, we will all finally have the same last name!
Images by Donovin Seymour
