And the rest is HISTORY

Our first date in Bridgehampton led to many more. Dinners, beach BBQ's, and movies are just to name a few. While working in the Restaurant biz and Matt in the Marina biz, we rarely saw each other that first summer. He would meet me at Citta after closing on a Saturday night for a cocktail and then we would spend all day together on Sunday. Other than that, our lives revolved around work. After a long summer of late nights and early mornings I had finally taken Matt up on his offer to move in.

It was the end of September and I was packing my things and making airline reservations for Matt and I to head to South Carolina to retrieve my belongings from storage. Matt's parents had been by the house numerous times to help rummage through some of Matt's "pre-Ryann" belongings. About 10 dump trips later we were ready for paint and off to the airport. (I might add that when making the airline reservations, I had mistakenly made the flight for the evening!! So when we showed up at the airport (LaGuardia no less) at 6:00 in the morning, we were a BIT early! Luckily Matt told a little white lie about a relative and we were able to get on the flight!).

After a long ride back to East Hampton in an 18 wheeler (another one of my mistakes!) and only one traffic ticket, I was ready to move my stuff in. Matt was exhausted from all the driving, so I started unpacking. It took a few days, but all in all it was a successful move... with just a FEW "bumps" in the road.

After living together for 6 months and dating for about a year, we got engaged in April. We had actually picked out the ring together, but I wasn't able to see it after we left the store and until the proposal. It was Carole's 50th Birthday party and before going to Fiddlers Cove, Matt told me that there were more whale sightings off Main Beach. So we headed off to town to check it out. To my surprise, there were no whales, BUT my best friend got down on one knee and proposed on the beach. It was beautiful and totally UNEXPECTED.

We started planning a wedding for that September! Only 6 months away. We found a spot in Montauk, off Camp Hero State Park, that was perfect. On the Bluffs, overlooking the Atlantic is where we exchanged our vows. It was the HOTTEST day of the year, but that was okay for me seeing that we came hours away from getting hit by a Tropical Storm (I believe it was Ophelia)! All of our Friends and Family gathered at East Hampton Marina for an afternoon of eating, drinking and dancing; The perfect way to begin the rest of our lives together...