Look What I Found!

What we’ll remember…
Russ Ryan and Melinda Pelham got engaged on July 15, 2013 on The Cove Beach in Cape May. The wedding date is set for Sep. 26, 2014 with the ceremony at Cape May United Methodist Church. Melinda has already selected her dress of choice from Dress 2 Impress and Great American Trolley Co. will provide transportation for the wedding party.
Melinda recalls…
Since I was born, my family had a summer house in Cape May, and I would spend my entire summer here. I love the sand, sun, and overall feel of Cape May. Since I was little, I wanted my dream Cape May wedding. I just needed to find a groom.
On April 9, 2010, I met a cute, blonde, Cape May native, Russ Ryan, at the Ugly Mug. We were pretty inseparable from that point on.
On the day of the proposal, we were both off from work. He said he wanted to get up early, grab coffee, and go metal detecting (his gift for Christmas). We did it every once and a while, so it wasn’t anything too out of the ordinary.
He never told any of his family until the night before because he didn’t want anyone to still the beans. The only one who knew a little before that was his brother, Rich, who was in charge of the photos. Pravada Photography was there to capture some awesome photo opps!
What was a total surprise was that both of our families were there to watch. They were at the end of the promenade watching the whole time, and I never saw them.
Russ recalls…
As we started walking north up the beach back towards our families, I spotted Rich in disguise and attempted to find a good spot for him to capture the moment. As we got closer, I was counting on the metal detector to find something so that I could have Melinda dig while I snuck the ring out of my pocket. Not a hook, a bottle cap or a beer can! I had to turn the sensitivity up on the metal detector and start banging it against the sand in order for it to beep. It beeped!
Melinda started digging. I sifted through two buckets until I felt just right. I acted completely surprised as I pretended to pull the ring from the bucket. Knowing there was no turning back, I asked, “Melinda, will you marry me?” I still don’t remember if she actually said “yes” but every other emotion said “yes!” Everything went perfect that day, but Melinda still gets on my case for being on both knees during the proposal.