by Linda L. Esterson
During Christmas dinner on a Carnival Dream cruise ship in 2012, Brian Applefeld presented a sentimental Christmas card to his love of two years, Denise Otto.
Inside, the card explained that things like love, time and kindness are essential to their relationship. It promised his love and his intention to always make her happy.
They had just set sail from Belize and were heading to Mahogany Bay on the island of Roatan, Honduras. With them were their children, Brian’s Abby, now 16, and Denise’s Abbey, now 13.
The dining room was hectic, and Brian found it difficult to get the attention of their busboy and waiter, whom he had solicited in advance for help. He and the girls waited while Denise read the card. After the printed sentiment came several paragraphs from Brian about how Denise had captured his heart. When Denise turned the card over, she saw the four fateful words: “Will you marry me?”
The girls snapped pictures as their parents shared their first kiss as an engaged couple. Champagne followed, and the guests and staff filling the dining room erupted in applause.
They had found one another via the online dating site Match.com in October 2010. Brian was divorced; Denise had been widowed in 2008 after 21 years of marriage. Their first date, on Nov. 4, 2010, was dinner at Tonino’s in Reisterstown. Brian brought Denise a bouquet of flowers.
They had much to be impressed about. Denise discovered that Brian, an electrical engineer for Northrop Grumman, was responsible, romantic and gentlemanly, holding doors and speaking politely. He was honest, even vulnerable, as he described the difficult details of his pending divorce. Brian was taken with Denise’s beauty, strength and independence. Denise, a manager of clinical documentation improvement for University of Maryland Medical Center, certainly could take care of herself.
Soon after, the girls met at Denise’s home in Glyndon and they, too, hit it off. They either spent the evenings together while their parents dated or they were included. In fact, both were along when Denise and Brian professed their love for the first time, at Toby’s Dinner Theatre in Columbia just before seeing Cinderella.
Within a few months, Denise and Brian found themselves discussing a future together with the girls.
“Wouldn’t it be nice to be together all the time?” Denise asked.
All the while, Abbey and Abby grew to be as close as sisters. So they were quite excited to be involved in planning their parents’ wedding. The quartet agreed on a destination wedding and chose Deep Creek Lake.
It was a small gathering on a beautiful 80-degree day at the Suites at Silver Tree on June 1, 2013. Brian’s mom, Joyce Applefeld, joined them, as did the Rev. R. Samuel Wachter, who officiated, and his wife.
Brian and Denise tried on their wedding bands the morning of the wedding, only to discover Brian’s didn’t fit. It had been ordered online, and there was no reason to worry about the size. So they rushed to the only store in the area — Wal-Mart — in the hopes of finding a replacement for the ceremony.
Brian purchased a $20 ring, and the salesperson offered to allow him to return it. But he didn’t.
“Denise got me the ring that fits and I won’t take it off,” he says. “This is the one I got married in.”
Brian still wears that $20 ring. For the wedding, Brian wore a dark suit with a pale blue tie, and Denise glowed in a beige, full-length silk gown with flowered embroidery on sheer sleeves and at the waist. Denise made the bouquet with white silk flowers, interspersed with blue and pink. She also wore her new mother-in-law’s pearls, thus completing the traditional “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.” Their “new,” they say, was their love.
After Brian and Denise exchanged their vows, the girls ran out in and blew bubbles all over the happy couple.
The newlyweds dealt with a summer of stress, most notably with their living arrangements. They decided to find a new home together in Carroll County, so they needed to sell both of their existing homes. That March, they had begun getting Brian’s house in Manchester cleaned up, painted, and put on the market. Once up for sale, his home sold the first day.
They found a house in Westminster off Deer Park Road. They lived at Denise’s while that new home was being made ready. They settled the first day of school that fall and moved in a few days later.
The couple hosted a celebration with about 50 friends and family members at the Emory Grove Hotel in Glyndon in late September of that year. Santoni’s catered the party, and Brian and Denise showed the guests their wedding photos.
Looking back with pride and relief, they agree overcoming challenges is part of their marriage’s foundation.
“All of the hassles getting to this point,” explains Brian. “It was all improbable but it became probable.”
Denise adds, “It wouldn’t have worked out, if it wasn’t meant to be.”
