A Rustic Fall Wedding at Harvest on Hudson in Hastings, New York

When Aimee Ritell (36, a marketing professional) and Dennis Ritell (30, an operations professional) met, they were co-workers at The Knot, and wanted to keep their relationship under wraps from their colleagues.“After I departed from The Knot in early 2013 we were excited to finally take a long vacation together,” Aimee says. “Early in the relationship I mentioned to Dennis an important milestone for a successful relationship, and a real vacation was the last one we hadn't done. Ready to take the relationship to the next level, Dennis thought no time was better to get engaged than when finishing the last milestone.On November 30th, 2013, we left for Riviera Maya, Mexico, to spend a week together. Dennis originally kept the ring in his carry-on bag that he almost forgot in the car at the airport. As Dennis made it to airport security, his number one fear was having his bag checked in front of me. Luckily, he got through it without a hitch. Once arriving at the hotel room, Dennis was faced with his next challenge of not knowing where to store the ring since he couldn't keep it with their other personal belongings. On the first day there he decided to hide it deep in his luggage, but that proved to be too nerve-wracking since they put safes in rooms for a reason! The next day he decided to carry the ring in his beach bag, but unfortunately I was storing some of my stuff in his bag so the risk was too high to keep it there. Finally Dennis smartened up, and took the ring out of its box and kept it in a pocket inside of his wallet.Dennis' ultimate goal was to get engaged half way through the vacation so that we could enjoy it from both a pre and post engagement point of view. On December 4th, 2013, it was the big day. We decided to spend it at the beach together; it was a beautiful sunny day. After lunchtime Dennis suggested that we take a walk along by the water; we always enjoy walking together even around NYC. Dennis had always envisioned proposing to me on a beach and he knew now was his time. Dennis then snuck the ring out of his wallet and into his bathing suit pocket. We held hands as we walked a quarter mile beyond the resort's outer limits before deciding to turn around; there was no one except Dennis and me at this portion of the beach which was a perfect spot for a memory. As they began walking back we took a picture together, then Dennis stated how much he enjoyed spending time with me. He kissed me, and said ‘I want to spend even more time with you.’Dennis then put his knee in the sand and asked me to marry him. I was SHOCKED and I could only say ‘But when?’ repeatedly, for which Dennis replied ‘You don't need to figure that out now.’ Clearly overwhelmed, I was trying to ask him, ‘But when and how did you buy this ring?’ not ‘When do you want to get married?’, which was a good thing because Dennis was definitely not prepared for that other question. Finally Dennis said ‘So that was a yes, right?’I said ‘Yes!’”