Brides & Weddings Magazine
Photos and story by Ariel Moriah Photography
Shai and Jacob’s romantic waterfront garden wedding was an absolute dream! Located in the heart of Virginia, these college sweethearts tackled all obstacles of the pandemic and celebrated their love with their closest family and friends!
Shai and Jacob Q&A:
Q: Let’s start at the beginning. How did you two first meet?
A: Jacob and I met at the beginning of our first year at the University of Virginia. We were both attending an event for a Christian fellowship called Cru. Even though we met during the first week of classes, our friendship truly began later that year, and we didn’t start dating until the Spring of our third year.
Q: What makes your relationship special? Tell us some things that you both value in your time together. What makes your relationship unique?
A: We love watching movies (both going out and staying in), taking walks, hammocking, and (as cliche as it sounds), just spending time together. We are both foodies and love going out to dinner together. I also have a tendency to create elaborate meals at home, so we spend a lot of time in the grocery store and in the kitchen! Our love for good food is why it’s essential that we have a delicious dinner at our wedding!
Q: How did you know your partner was the one? When did you first know this in your relationship?
A: When we first started dating, we both knew we were in it for the long haul. We’d been friends for a while, and when Jacob first asked me to be his girlfriend, we were initially concerned about jeopardizing the relationship we already had. However, we soon realized that our deep friendship had formed the foundation for a lifelong commitment to and pursuit of one another.
Q: Give us all the details about the proposal. How and where did it happen? Was it a surprise? What was the planning process?
A: Jacob proposed on December 15, 2019, while taking a walk on the Monticello Trail in Charlottesville, Virginia. Because we’d talked about rings, and potentially getting married in 2020, I knew it was coming up soon. Unfortunately for Jacob, I pay a lot of attention to detail and can’t help but notice clues. There were quite a few things that I picked up on in the weeks leading up to it and on the day of, so I can’t say that I was very surprised. Nevertheless, I was overjoyed!
Q: We’re all about the bling… Tell us all about that ring!
A: We sat down one day to look at ring options online, and were drawn to a lot of similar styles. After that, Jacob picked the band and diamond that he liked best so that it would be a surprise to me! It is a petite rose gold band with a cushion cut diamond in a cathedral setting. It’s beautiful!
Q: Are you excited to start planning your wedding day? Do you have any ideas in mind yet?
A: I’ve been excited to plan my wedding since I was about twelve years old. Because Jacob and I knew from early on that we wanted to get married, I’d even started some preliminary planning before he proposed! We also decided to have a fairly short engagement (about 6 months), so we were excited to jump right in! We figured out a lot of the details for our waterfront wedding celebration pretty early on, but we were thrown quite the curveball due to the coronavirus pandemic.
