Giana Solitro of Warwick , Rhode Island, and Blaise Kearns of Troy, New York, are set to wed March 19, 2022 at Lake of Isles in North Stonington, Connecticut.
How We Met
Blaise and I were introduced in December 2012 during our sophomore year of college at Endicott in Beverly, Massachusetts At first meeting, Blaise didn’t say anything more than, “Hi,” so I moved along and got on with my day. About a week later, Blaise’s roommate (who would someday be hiding and taking our engagement photos) was locked out of our building so I let him in and we started talking. He told me to come hang out again with him and his roommates to watch a movie. After hanging out with Blaise and his roommates one more time, we quickly became great friends but behind the friendship there was an electric, indescribable connection and tension. As we got to know each other and all of our friends became one big group, Blaise and I tried to hide this connection that we knew was between us. We were best friends and did not want to ruin that. Fast forward to Junior year of college, we studied together in Florence, Italy for four months. We had the best time of our lives traveling all over Italy and even visiting Switzerland together, where Blaise watched me paraglide off the Swiss Alps. Still, we knew our friendship was too special and we didn’t want to lose it. Senior year flew by; we traveled to the Dominican Republic for spring break and we graduated college in 2015. That summer, I called Blaise and told him I had been given Darius Rucker tickets and I had no one to go with, therefore, he had to drive three hours to Rhode Island and come with me to the concert. In reality, I bought the tickets in hope that we could have some time alone to see if a relationship was in the cards for us. We had the time of our lives dancing and laughing. We knew we should be together to be happy, however, the three-hour-long distance would be too hard for us to handle. A few hard months passed without each other and we knew there was something missing and we just needed to see if a relationship could work. Finally, in November 2015, Blaise and I went on our first official date in Providence. We went to Waterfire and then to the Comedy Connection, only to be seated in the front row and roasted the whole time. From that day on, our love grew into one that we could have only dreamed of. My best friend became my everything. From there, we did four years of long distance dating that included sightseeing and exploring restaurants and wineries all over Rhode Island and New York with a few big trips to London, Ireland and Costa Rica. Finally, in August of 2019 we moved to Mansfield, Massachusetts together.
Our Proposal Story
We were long distance for four years, so the summer of 2020 was going to be a great time when I could show Blaise the excitement and wonders of a Rhode Island summer. However, COVID-19 instead placed us all under lock down. We made the most of what we could do outside, but it was not the summer we planned for. On August 30th, Blaise convinced me that after months of being stuck in the house, we should get all dressed up go to Newport and have a date night. When we were dating long distance, we always would spend the day in Newport walking, going to the mansions, eating, drinking and sightseeing, so it holds a special place in our hearts filled with great views and even better memories. He picked out my dress and I picked out his outfit and we went to the Landing in Newport for dinner. After dinner, Blaise suggested that we take a walk to, “this cool spot a guy from work told me about.” This spot was the Van Zandt Pier and it has the perfect view of the Newport Bridge. We walked to the end of the pier right at sunset and Blaise dropped to one knee.
I originally thought he was tying his shoe and pretending to propose, but then I saw the ring box. He started with, “Giana, I know you have waited for this for a long time…” After five years of being together, this day had actually arrived and all I could do was cry and say “YES!” Then he slipped the ring onto my finger and said, “Turn around, look who is here!” Standing behind me were my parents and our good friend, Mitch, who drove two hours just to hide and take our photos. We took photos and celebrated by toasting with champagne and eating delicious desserts they brought from Pastiche Fine Desserts. I couldn’t have been anymore surprised or thrilled to finally be engaged to my best friend and the man of my dreams. It was truly the perfect day in our favorite place.
