FAMILY & HOME
BRIDAL BLISS
Engaged
Bride : Sierra Moses , 30 , Mortgage Loss Mitigation , Citi Mortgage Groom : David Blanton , 33 , Vice President , Xtreme Exhibits Wedding date : July 14 Venue : Chandler Hill Vineyards
HOW LONG WE ’ VE DATED We have been together 11 years .
WHY OUR RELATIONSHIP WORKS Balance . Dave is very strategic and calculated , and I ’ m more of a unicorn that flies by the seat of my pants . I say , “ Let ’ s plan a trip to Italy ,” and Dave says , “ Let ’ s plan out our 401ks .” We kind of need each other so one of us doesn ’ t die of boredom , or the other one doesn ’ t die from a tapeworm from some exotic fish that I just had to try in Morocco ( he always tells me that when we eat sushi there ’ s a chance we ’ ll get brain worms ). Don ’ t get me wrong , I can be quite calculated , and Dave can be known for his far-fetched ideas , but we definitely balance each other out . We are the same person and yet , we are nothing alike .
INTERRACIAL DATING CHALLENGES Honestly , we really don ’ t have any . At the end of the day , we are two separate people who love each other . We grew up with different perspectives of the world , and we recognize that there are flaws in both sides of these stories . Neither one of us claims to be an authority or the spokesperson for our race , and we use every opportunity we can to grow as better people .
HOW HE PROPOSED On a Saturday afternoon after work , I was supposed to meet Dave outside my job because we had “ somewhere to be .” But I knew what he was up to , of course , when I got off work , and he was late ( in true Dave fashion ) and asked me to meet him at home . We jumped in the car , and I asked him where we were going , and he kept saying , “ Don ’ t worry about it .” I realized he had a nice coat and tie and a camera in the back seat , and I just smiled and went along . After driving for about 45 minutes , it was very clear that we were headed to Cape Girardeau ( where we met in college ). We arrived in Cape and parked the car near the riverfront , where we laughed , looked at the bridge , and he told me he wanted me to take a walk with him . We walked down the riverfront , and he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him . He then said he wanted to take a picture together and pulled out a picture of us from our first date 11 years ago on that exact same riverfront .
Photos by Laura Ann Miller Photography
32 GAZELLE STL