I had the pleasure of meeting Mary and Denis at Forest Park for their engagement session! As they are both born and raised STLers, it only made sense that we showed off the beautiful city they love! Art Hill, Worlds Fair Pavilion, and The Muny provided the perfect backdrop for these two lovebirds. It was a pretty warm evening with high humidity, but that didn’t deter us from creating magic. Mary and Denis share a very sweet and genuine connection, which makes documenting it on camera a breeze. I had so much fun getting to know Mary and Denis, by the end of the session, they felt like friends! I’ll be eagerly counting down the days until their wedding.
How They Met
Mary and Denis had a real instant connection. The two had been talking pretty religiously for about two weeks after they matched on hinge on Dec 5th, 2021. They quickly realized they had a lot to talk about since they had a lot in common.
Mary and Denis first met at Louie’s Wine Dive in December 2021. Denis got there like 20 minutes early because he hates being late. He walked inside the restaurant, secured the reservation, and told the hostess that his date would be there in a minute or two. Mary was *not* 20 mins early; she clarifies that she’s always late, and it’s a miracle when she’s on time. However, for their first date, Mary got to the restaurant right on time, which Denis and Mary now acknowledge is a miracle.
As Mary was walking up for the first date, there was a big glass window front. She saw Denis and truly, her breath caught in her throat. Mary remembers thinking Denis was very cute on his hinge profile, but it did not do him justice. He was just so handsome! Mary came inside the restaurant and she got nervous. But Denis saw Mary and gave her a huge smile and a hug. Mary felt instantly comfortable when she realized that Denis was calm, kind and welcoming! The two quickly picked up the conversation and the first date jitters began to fade away. The conversation and date was going so well, Denis mentioned that they should get dessert. Mary was ecstatic to keep the date going!
Mary brought up the idea of going and looking at Christmas lights together. Denis eagerly agreed it was a great idea, which had Mary giddy as ever! Once they started walking outside, they noticed there were no Christmas lights or decor in sight. Luckily, they stumbled upon a pretty outdoor fire pit by a hotel. Mary and Denis decided to sit by the fire even though they were both freezing. And before they knew it, an hour full of meaningful conversations, passed quickly! Neither of them wanted the date to end. Even though Mary had work the next day, she didn’t care because she didn’t want to stop chatting and getting to know Denis. By 11:30pm they decided to walk back to their cars and began talking about plans for their second date. It was a perfect first date thad had them both on Cloud 9!
How He Asked
Mary and Denis got engaged in the winter right after her birthday! Denis and Mary went to the hill in St. Louis — he knows she loves Italian food. They went to Zia’s on
the Hill. Denis had on a dress shirt and khaki’s from a work meeting and told Mary he just wanted to keep them on, so she should try to get dressed up so Denis wasn’t the only one wearing fancy clothes. Mary was surprised because Denis is fairly chill and down to earth…. She definitely started to wonder if a proposal was happening.
They both enjoyed a super delicious dinner, and after Dinner, Denis suggested going to a fountain on the hill that’s beautiful. Mary and Denis had previously been to the fountain in May of 2022 after celebrating dating several months. It’s beautiful and romantic. It’s designed to look like an old Italian courtyard. They walked to the fountain and it ended up being closed due to construction, and Denis was like, “NOOOO!” And May said, “you good? We can go somewhere else!” Mary was again surprised because Denis will get bummed but he can roll with the punches, so she was surprised he was so upset. Later, Mary found out Denis was just acting to throw her off as much as he could… he
wanted the proposal to be as much of a surprise as possible, even though Mary knew it was coming.
Denis was very against Mary’s ideas, but just suggested they sit by the church across the street. They sat for a bit, looking at the fountain that was under construction but Mary can remember really enjoying it and thinking she didn’t care where she was as long as she was with Denis. Denis was very, very quiet. Also, another dead giveaway because he is so good at keeping conversation going. So that made Mary start to wonder as well. But then suddenly this woman took a picture of Mary. Mary looked at Denis curiously and he had a nervous smile. Denis said, “Well, I got a question for you.” It was so sweet and meaningful. Mary wanted photographs but more like from a friend. He went all out.
Getting dressed up, Italian food, photographer, and being engaged under the stars. It was just so romantic and perfect! He did great!
