Long before I met Doug in person, I'm talking about at least 4 to 5 years before I met him, I knew of him and knew random facts about him.  I knew he was a white man, I knew he lived and worked in the Bronx, I knew he was a social worker, and I also knew he spoke Spanish.  You're probably thinking "How did you know all this?" -- Well, it turns out Doug and I had a couple of people in common in our lives.

His co-worker and friend, Ruben, was good friends with my best friend Cielo.  Cielo had met and mentioned Doug in passing as she recounted stories to me about her times with Ruben, that also involved Doug.  I never thought much about it, but the more I heard about him, the more I was curious to meet the guy -- afterall, I had never met a white man who lived and worked in the Bronx, so I was somewhat curious.  

When I moved back to NYC from Tucson, AZ, I began to work with Ruben, who was at the time Doug's roommate.  Now, more than ever, Doug was constantly in conversations around me. "Doug this..." and "Doug that..."  Especially because we were, at that point, working together on the same training -- Ruben had contracted him to develop a whole bunch of documentation.  Doug was beginning to be a mysterty to me.  Was he even real? I thought...

Finally, this training we were working on brought us to the same building one Friday night... actually, more like one Saturday morning because it was past midnight.  If you know me, then you know I'm a morning person, needless to say, I was not too happy to be in the office so late.  All I kept thinking about was how tired I was, how late it was, and how early I had to be up again the next morning for this training.  

I was trying to keep things moving as Ruben and Doug both worked on different pieces of the training.  At this point, I still hadn't met Doug... he was off in another room with Ruben while Doug worked alone in another room.  As I hurried Ruben along, he, to get rid of me, asked me to go check on Doug's progress.  I, totally irritated, marched over to where Doug was sitting and asked him "How much longer till you're done?"  -- no, Hi's, Hello's, or any kind of introduction.  At that point I just wanted us to finish and go home.  Doug will tell you that prior to that exchange, we were quickly introduced by Ruben, but I don't really recall that.  This is my memory of our first exchange. I was irritated, and I sensed Doug was probably annoyed at me.

So, I don't think Doug was very fond of me... I came off very pushy, and unfriendly.  I don't exactly remember how or when it happened, but I was somehow redeemed in his eyes -- maybe it was my good looks, ha ha -- but a couple of months after we found ourselves spending a lot of time together.  We were, afterall, hanging around in the same circles, so we had a lot common friends.

I never thought I'd fall for Doug... But as I got to know him more and more, I found that we had a lot in common... we enjoyed a lot of the same things (minus sports and music) and we shared similar values.  We had a lot of great talks and I found it very easy to spend time with him.  Another plus is that I really enjoy cooking, and Doug really enjoys eating... We're like we're a match made in heaven :-)

FAST FORWARD... Today, Doug and I are planning our wedding.  I didn't think I would ever, in a million years say this... but "this is it" -- Doug is the one. I know it, I feel it, Doug's definitely the one.

We love the outdoors and wanted to have a wedding that was inclusive of nature and all the beauty it has to offer.  We hated the idea of having an indoor wedding at a beige-walled catering hall, with a stiff enviroment, and musky dark patterned carpet. When we were first started talking wedding, we both loved the idea of a country / barn wedding.  The place we liked, Apple Barn Farms, was not only waaaaay above our budget, but it was also sold out for 2012.  Although sad, this made it very easy to keep looking...

At one point, we considered a backyard wedding, but the backyard we were considering, my cousin's backyard, didn't look like it could accommodate a lot of people...

Long story short, after a lot of google searches for "country weddings in NY" and "NY barn weddings" we stumbled upon "Full Moon Resort" in Big Indian, NY.  We scheduled a visit with them immidiately since we liked what we saw online.  After a two hour drive, as soon as we stepped foot on their grounds, we knew this was our place.  They had open space, 3 barns, a wedding tent, bon fires and a fountain... they even had this "party barn" where you can have an after party and play live music.  We didn't even go through the whole tour -- didn't sample their food -- before we decided this was sooooo the place where we wanted to have our wedding.  Oh yeah, the food was great, by the way!

Our wedding is scheduled for Columbus day weekend, Oct 7th and 8th of this year.  It will be a Sunday-Monday wedding.  We wanted our friends and family to spend the long weekend with us and stay the night in this amazing retreat site by the Castkill mountains.  The next morning, everyone is invited to stay for a large country breakfast, buffet style.  

Some of the things that were REALLY important to both of us, that Full Moon is offering us are: 1) outdoor space, 2) country / barn venue, 3) a friendly, non-stiff, warm, family friendly environment, 4) a bon-fire, 5) the ability to have live music so we can have a jam session with our friends (we know a lot of musicians), 6) an after-party, and an after-after-party, 7) in-house accommodations, and the bonus includes 8) a country breakfast the next morning and 9) Guaranteed fun! :-)

Check out full moon resort here (note: the website is cool, but it is sooooo much cooler when you go in person): http://www.fullmoonresort.com/

We simply can't wait to have you there to celebrate our BIG day with us!

Doug and I come from two totally different worlds... he's white, born in the US and raised in the suburbs of Upstate NY.  I'm Dominican, although born in the US, I was born to immigrant parents in the South Bronx, in the early 80's.  I spent a good part of my childhood growing up in the Dominican Republic.  I didn't move to the US until I was about 10, and I didn't learn to speak good English until I was about 12 or 13 years old.

The theme for our save the dates is really the theme of the rest of our lives together: "The merging of our worlds".  Bringing together (hopefully smoothly) our backgrounds and traditions to create one home, and one family.  I know this is a big task, it is for people with similar backgrounds, let alone for people with different cultural backgrounds like ourselves.  Nevertheless, I'm motivated by this challange. What I find interesting and motivating is that eventhough Doug and I have different backgrounds, we share the same values - I feel this is extremely important.  I belive this will help us lay down a strong foundation and build from there.

Our save the dates (last picture in our photo album) is supposed to represent both of our worlds.  Doug, whose face has been pasted on the american farmer from a very popular American painting by Grant Wood, wears traditional farmer attire and poses with a pitchfork; while my face has been pasted on a traditional Dominican faceless doll.  The Dominican faceless doll is very common in the Dominican Republic, it is said they have no face because we Dominicans are very diverse and mixed people (if you wanna know more, google "Dominican faceless dolls").  Behind us is a very colorful the country side... representative of both of our backgrounds, as well as of our country wedding theme.  As serious as our save the dates sound, we also intended it to be funny and wanted people to get at least a chuckle out of it -- so, did it work?  

Through this website you can contribute to help us out with either our honeymoon, our wedding, or both!!  By clicking on "Our Registry" up on the top left of the second navigation bar, you can select any which one you would like to gift us with!

This website is very safe, it's just like making any kind of online purchase.  However, if you are not comfortable with this kind of registry or making online purchases, we are also registered at Bed Bath & Beyond, at http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/ -- under "Rosanne Placencia" or "Douglas Knepper".  You can purchase online or you can walk into any Bed Bath and Beyond, as for our registry, and do some good old fashion shopping!!

Thank you so much for your gift!