JLM Couture Love Story #3
Whitney and Micah traveled around the world to meet each other! In February 2007 Whitney Hassett and Micah Norton met in the same study abroad program, American Institute for Foreign Studies, on their way to Sydney, Australia for a semester. Whitney was a junior studying at Providence College in Rhode Island where she is from. Micah was a junior at St. John Fisher in Rochester, NY (about 2 hours North of his hometown, Elmira, NY). While members in the same study abroad group, they also happened to be neighbors in their town house complex, Macquarie Village at Maquarie University.
After a few weeks of dodging feelings for one another (let's be honest you go to Australia to meet an Australian!) Micah and Whitney finally admitted to having feelings for each other! Ask any friends of theirs from Macquarie and you'll get the typical response from Whitney "I do not like him, we're just friends!" That game could only be played for so long....
After leaving Fiji (a quick stop over from Sydney on the way back to the States)... they started their long distance relationship. Whitney back to Providence College and Micah off to St. John Fisher for the final year as college students! Micah was playing his final season of football, Whitney busy student teaching. Directly after graduating in 2008, Whitney took a job teaching 1st grade in NYC while Micah accepted a management position at Wells Fargo.... the distance continues. After about 2.5 years of 6 hours of distance, Whitney (amidst a tearful ride home from Toronto - the most perfect birthday weekend ever - Micah surprised her with a weekend in Toronto to see her favorite band, U2)... a light bulb switched on. "I'm moving to Rochester, NY" - Whitney told her family and friends. Sure enough.... January 2, 2010 Micah and Whitney packed up a big UHaul, towed her car up to snowy Rochester, NY.
About two months after Whitney moved to Rochester... Micah got transferred to Buffalo! Back to distance! Fortunately this time it was only an hour, and even more fortunately, it didn't last. Micah quickly returned to Rochester and accepted a job as a Commercial Real Estate Leasing Manager. After finishing her Master's in Literacy at SUNY Geneseo, Whitney accepted a 1st grade teaching position at Discovery Charter School.
Dating was fun in Rochester and not having to worry about traveling each weekend to see one another was even better! In February 2012 Micah told Whitney he had a "bowling tournament on Friday the 3rd with Steve" Whitney (thinking how lame that sounded) quickly texted Steve's wife, Kelly to see what the girl's had plans while their men bowled the Friday night away. Kelly had been dying to see The Artist and they made plans to grab a drink Friday after school and go to The Little Theatre downtown for the 8:00 show.
A goblet of red wine later, Kelly and Whitney headed to The Little for the movie. The first preview started with a shot of the Sydney Opera House! "Look!" Whitney excitedly poked at Kelly who was frozen in her seat. As the preview continued, Micah is all of a sudden on the screen... telling their story, starting in Australia. He's telling his best friends about how he wants to marry her but doesn't know how to propose! The preview continues with Micah catching a ride to The Little, buying a ticket for The Artist (grabbing popcorn behind the concession stand) and opening the doors to the movie theatre. The screen goes black....
Kelly at this point had left Whitney alone in her seat (obviously freaking out!). The doors behind Whitney open and Micah runs down the aisle, gets down on one knee and proposes!.... even had a light put in the ring box so Whitney could see the gorgeous thing! Yes Yes Yes! (of course!).... soon the lights turn back on in the cinema and its revealed that their closest friends and family were hiding in the theater (among real strangers!)
Whitney wore Jim Hjelm's Blush 1601. She found it at The Bridal Garden in East Greenwich, RI
Whitney and Micah got married September 7, 2012 at Warwick Country Club in Rhode Island. Whitney's family has been members there her whole life and she has dreamed of one day getting married there! Their wedding day was a sunny day, packed with family and friends, and was the ideal celebration of their friendship and love!
