Hillary & Levi

When it comes to locations outside of Australia, we normally share these on Polka Dot Honeymoons. But this Iceland love shoot from photographer Nirav Patel forced me to switch it up today, the scenery is jaw droopingly gorgeous, the two tiny people in the shot up there? Our beloved couple, who, in the photograph almost remind me that one love story is just one, but there is so much more to be told.

Iceland set the scene for much of Hillary and Levi’s relationship, Hillary says it’s where great huge steps were taken. So it made sense the couple return here on their honeymoon to pay homage to it all.

“The first place Levi surprised me with when I went to see him in Europe was Iceland. I was completely shocked, Iceland was a place I had only ever dreamt of visiting. It was in Iceland that our relationship took huge steps, after being long distance we finally got to see each other and see if what we thought was working, was actually working. Long distance is hard and it takes a lot of time and effort. But while we were in Iceland we both individually realized that while we knew after this trip there would still be 3 more months of long distance, we knew we would make it and that we wanted to be together. So when we had the opportunity to go back to visit Iceland and make it into our honeymoon. We thought it would only be fitting to have pictures taken in a place that was so significant in our dating journey which lead us to marriage. And we couldn’t be happier with the images!”

On how they met, Hillary remembers, ” We met through a mutual friend playing a game of “Bags” at a barbecue during our final year of college, just a few weeks before graduation. We met with only three weeks left of college before we both started on different journeys. We talked here and there in those three weeks before graduation, but we found out the week after graduation that we were both living in the same housing complex for the summer. Shortly after graduation, since we were both living with groups of mutual friends and with a few months before we both started our new jobs, we were able to spend a lot of time together and after three weeks, I (Levi) asked her out on the city steps of St. Paul in Minnesota, where we were both living at the time. At this point, though I had already accepted a job offer in Lithuania and Hillary was studying for her nursing boards because she was offered a job in Colorado. Despite this, though, we decided that we really believed that this was something that could work out and we committed to it from the get-go. The short story is that we became friends over the summer, started dating three weeks later, and three weeks after that we moved to opposite sides of the world.”

On how he proposed, Levi recalls, “After moving back from Europe I settled in Colorado, where Hillary was living and working. Even before I moved back from Europe I had known that I would ask Hillary to marry me, but I had been waiting on the timing and finding the right ring. About four months after moving back, I had asked Hillary to go on a late-night adventure with me around Denver. One of my favorite things is late night walks through the city, so I had hoped this would be enough to convince her to join me. Despite having worked a 12-hour shift that day and feeling quite ill, she decided to take me up on my offer for a walk and some tea in downtown Denver. Our first conversation, and where our relationship first began, was at the capital steps in St. Paul, Minnesota. Now, with Denver as our new home, I took her to the park across the street from the capital steps and told her that she was my best friend, and I always had wanted to marry my best friend. I got down on one knee, asked her if she would marry me. She said yes.”

On what she loves about Levi, Hillary tells, ” I love that Levi is a hard worker, honest, a great listener, and makes me laugh like no one else can. He loves people more than anyone I know, he really cares about getting to know people and looks deeper than first impressions. Levi, serves me with everything he has and goes the extra mile. He is passionate and energetic about life. He challenges me in a gentle loving manner, he is truly me hero.”

On what Levi loves about Hillary, he says, “Hillary is the most dedicated and hard working person that I know. She is completely committed to our relationship and she constantly shows her love by her sacrificial giving and her humility. I love hearing stories about her childhood because she grew up in Papua New Guinea and she’s constantly thinking about others and she really lives her life as if every person she encounters matters. That’s incredibly inspiring to me and I love Hillary because she is someone that inspires me, helps me keep my priorities right, and she loves adventure and to have fun. Being married to her is the greatest and best adventure I’ve been on.”

” We love to have fun together. And there is no one else in the world that I would rather go on an adventure or laugh with. My favorite story is that while Levi was in Europe I took a trip to go see him. During that time he had planned an additional surprise trip for us, where I didn’t know where the next leg of our journey was until we got to each airport. I was gone for a total of 3 weeks and during that time, my suitcase was lost for 2 weeks. I had one extra pair of pants, socks, etc. But no make-up, hair brush, extra clothes. But even with that, Levi made me feel like the most beautiful person on the planet. I hadn’t seen him for 6 months, and had lots of cute outfits packed but to my surprise, all of those were gone. And it was totally fine. Some of my favorite memories with Levi are with my hair not done, having re-worn the same clothes, tromping all over Europe.”