Clear Cut Couples: David and Ana
Ana and David met on a photoshoot in Spring 2013. She was styling his band and assisting the photographer. They were both dating other people at the time, but David remembers being immediately taken with her. They kept in touch, and Ana invited him for a few photoshoots over the years. They reconnected in early 2017 and haven’t stopped talking since.
Their first date was in London. David was living in Portland, OR at the time, and Ana was (and still is) living in London, UK. They had been dating long distance for a while when David flew to London and Ana took him on a walking tour around the city. They wandered around South Bank, went to Tate Modern, crossed the Thames via Westminster Bridge, and lounged in St. James’ Park. To close the evening, they had dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Soho. The next day, they hopped on a train to Paris for their second date, and as David said, “she is the best travel companion.” Since then, they have been together ever since!
They have shared countless incredible memories over the years. David said, “Almost everything we do is a highlight because we live in different countries (at the moment) and don’t get to see each other that often. The things I remember most are our first kiss, running together in the heaviest downpour of our lives in Paris, playing with wolves in Anacortes, the Hans Zimmer & John Williams concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London, road tripping across the US, working with mustangs in the horse sanctuary in Portland, eating haggis in Edinburgh, climbing 287 steps to the top of St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, the proposal in Prague, our first Christmas together, home made meals in Portland, and all of our care packages to each other.” AWW!
David proposed on his birthday in Prague on December 14th, 2019. He wanted to change the significance of his birthday to something they could both share. He started making arrangements back at the end of September 2019 and began researching places and ways to propose in London, Edinburgh, and Prague as that was their next trip together. He picked Prague because he knew the city best (he had lived there for 6 months in 2007 while studying music at NYU) and he hired a service to set up a table with lights, champagne, cheeses, chocolate fondue, truffles, and flowers on a spot up on Petrin Hill. In October (two months prior), he planted the seed of the idea of going to Petrin Hill on the false basis of seeing the pear trees and climbing the Tower (while secretly setting up the proposal there).
He had to time everything correctly, so he suggested having lunch at "his favorite cafe in Prague". He had never actually been to this cafe; he just needed a place close to Legion Bridge so that they could walk to the proposal spot in time. He said, “I ended up walking right by the cafe when the time came, and when we walked in, I discovered (to my horror) that we had to check our coats (I had been carrying around the ring since we left our hotel in the morning). I managed to avoid the coat check and following lunch, it was time for the walk up the hill.”
After that… it was time! He had memorized the exact walk with every turn and landmark to the proposal location via Google Maps around November. After they crossed the bridge, Ana wanted coffee, but he managed to talk her out of it (for the sake of timing) by saying a warm coffee would be better once the climb was over. A small snag in the plan came when the first gate through the wall was closed and locked, so he had to use his knowledge from what he could remember from his previous hill climbs back in 2007. The climb to the tower is significant; the sun was setting, it was getting colder (it was December), and he was telling Ana that once they got to the top of the hill, they then had to climb a few hundred stairs to get to the top of Petrin Tower. Needless to say, she was not pleased. It was growing darker and colder, and she could now see that they were not even hiking towards the Tower anymore. She began insisting that they were going the wrong way (rightfully so), but he told her that they were going the right way and he knew another way around. David said, “She was visibly upset with me at this point, and she was about to pull out her phone when we approached the proposal site. When Ana saw it, she said we were definitely going the wrong way, and that this was something else entirely for someone else. I told her we could just go around, and when we finally arrived, I went down on one knee and asked her the question.” AWWW!
They designed the ring together at Olivia’s studio in New York, but David had the ring shipped to him and didn’t let Ana see the finished product. She really loves the ring, and she bought a special box and jewelry tray just for it! They plan on getting married in Italy in October 2021 and honeymoon in Kenya and Seychelles. Congrats you two!!