About the groom

Although he has lived in Alaska, Washington, and Massachusetts, home to Derek is Woodbridge, VA. He graduated from Woodbridge Senior High School in 1997 and went to, then, Elon College to study Human Services and Business Administration.Following graduation, he stayed at Elon working in Admissions and New Student Orientation until the fall of 2004.While completing graduate school at The University of North Carolina - Greensboro, he worked at Edenton Street United Methodist Church in Raleigh, NC. Upon completing his Masters, he headed to Philadelphia to join Brittany.Currently, Derek is an Admission Counselor at Immaculata University in Suburban Philadelphia.

About the bride

Brittany was born in Naples, FL, but grew up in Charlotte, NC where she attended and graduated from Charlotte Country Day School in 2001. She went to Elon University completing a bachelors in psychology in 2005.She was a very involved student at Elon and that led to her meeting Derek. Although their first meeting was a kind fellow helping a young lady open her campus box, they got to know each other working together in Leadership and New Student Orientation.Following Elon, she attended Vanderbilt University. She graduated from Vandy in 2007 with a Master's of Education. She left Nashville, and many wonderful new friends, in early 2007 to move to Philadelphia.Brittany currently works as a Child Life Specialist at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

The Proposal

It started as a typical Saturday on vacation in Naples. Brittany and Derek were in Naples for Labor Day Weekend 2007.That special Saturday morning, they headed out on a beach walk from the Port Royal Club to the Naples Pier and back. It was a great walk, getting away from the activity and busy lifestyle they had left behind in Philadelphia.While driving home, Derek turned to do a quick visit by Trinity by the Cove... another pretty typical activity.They walked around the church for a little while admiring the beautiful weather and church grounds. They stopped on a bench outside the western doors. The bench was in a very pretty space where they got to sit together.It was when Derek started mentioning what a special place they were in that Brittany's wheels started turning. "Wouldn't it be special to get engaged and married in the same place?" With that, he got down on one knee next to her, presented the ring and proposed. Through tears and only saying "oh my gosh" and "it's perfect" (referring to the ring), she said "yes!"

We're Engaged!

Although it's not "new" news... it sure hasn't gotten old.

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Get ready for Naples!