Back in 2014, Brandon went to his best friend’s wedding tailgate so that the entire wedding party could meet for the first time which was at a baseball game. Kaleya was a guest of the bride’s cousin. Before the game started it began to rain, and I was wearing a bucket hat, so being the gentleman that I am, Brandon offered her his hat. They then exchanged numbers, and the running joke was that would he get his hat back. A couple of years later he slid into her direct messages and from that point, they have been dating ever since.
One of Brandon and Kaleya's favorite thing to do together is travel. They have already traveled to many international locations, including the Dominican Republic, Japan, Bahamas, Spain, Paris, and Greece.
Background Story: Well, our family was planning a vacation to Greece this summer. We were planning to travel to Athens, Mykonos, and Santorini. Brandon had known for quite some time that he was planning to propose to Kaleya, but wasn’t sure when, where and how. So, it was after his brother, Jordan mentioned the idea of the grand gesture of proposing in Greece. After searching through social media and internet posts, I was set to propose in Santorini, Greece.
So, as for the setting of the actual proposal. Sunday, June 30th the plan was for the entire family to wake up at 5:00 AM and be driven to Imerovigli, Santorini for a sunrise family photo shoot coordinated my brother, Jordan. The plan was for the entire family to wear coordinating outfits (All white, with touches of blue and red).
Our photographer staged himself as a tourist that was traveling alone and was trying to take an amazing “selfie” with the breathtaking Santorini views. As we walked down the long winding path, Kaleya, her mom and my brother were the first to arrive at the platform.
As Kaleya walked towards the photographer (who is pretending to be a tourist), she joked around and said: “Oh are you our photographer today?” Kimon played it off smoothly as well and said: “Oh I’m just trying to take a selfie and can’t get my lighting right, do you mind taking my picture?” Obviously, Kaleya obliged and took a great picture. As the entire family gathered with coordinating outfits, Kimon asked if we wanted him to take pictures with one of our cell phones, which we did.
After a few pictures on the cellphone, Kimon then brought up that he is a local photographer on the island that is needed to add to his portfolio. He offered to take some professional shots and email them to us later.
So, as we are killing this shoot. When Kimon asked us, “Do we have any couples within the couple?” Our family looks around and points to us. Kimon begins to take photos of us. Once Kimon says that magical phrase, “Now, Let’s get romantic!”, which was discussed between him and Brandon on their telephone conversation. That is the queue for Brandon to propose. Kaleya was completely surprised and blown away (and not because it was super windy that day). The day was completely perfect and went off without a hitch. Now, I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with the girl of my dreams.