“My favorite thing about Dan is I’ve really learned so much more about what love is and about what a relationship is,” Blake says. “I often struggled with just being truthful and honest. Just saying what was on my shirt sleeve — I’ve always been guarded. But my love for Dan and his love for me, I’ve learned that being honest and communicating with each other is really the strength and the backbone of our relationship.”
Daniel Giaquinto, 51, who is a chiropractor, and Blake McEntyre, 49, who is a personal trainer, met through a mutual friend who always said they needed to meet. They finally crossed paths at a softball league party. The couple had their first date on St. Patrick’s Day of 1998 and have been seeing each other ever since.
“We liked each other, but there were some differences,” Daniel says. “I remember the first date I went back to work and told myself ‘I’m not him,’ because we actually almost had a little argument on our first date, so it wasn’t head-over-heels in love at first.”
Blake says that their relationship has been a work in progress and being together for almost 18 years—that diligence—is what keeps them loving each other more and more each day.
“We have a dog. He’s a cockapoo and his name is Baxter,” Blake says. “Baxter is 17-and-half years old, so Baxter has also been a part of our lives and luckily still is with us.”
A year and half into dating each other, Blake started working with Daniel. After working together for a while, they moved their business downtown and renamed it House of Health.
“That is where our relationship continued to grow, not only in relationship with each other but also as business partners and associates,” Blake says.
The couple took a trip to Costa Rica four years into their relationship, and Blake proposed to Daniel on Fourth of July. He presented Daniel a matching ring that they have always worn on their right hand. Both agreed they would switch it to their left hand and get married when it was finally legal everywhere in the U.S. That day has finally arrived, and they started planning the wedding in early June 2015.
“We haven’t really agonized over the wedding things,” Daniel says. “We’ve more looked forward to the celebration part of it, not the logistics of the wedding, even though we have put time into it. We’re not concentrating on that area; we’re concentrating on stuff like our family and friends—worlds colliding basically.”
Daniel says he didn’t want it to be traditional. They’re taking a bus from Orlando to Tampa—that’s the first mode of transportation everyone will be on together. Next, they’ll be on the trolley car and then their reception will be on a cruise. And when it has come to planning, Daniel has been in charge of a lot, if not most, of the planning as Blake explains.
“He is always positive and uplifting,” Daniel says about Blake. “We have this joke between us that his whole life is rainbows, unicorns and leprechauns. I’m more type-A, a little more serious and things need to be planned; he’s kind of like ‘everything is going to be fine.’”
YEARS TOGETHER: 18 years on the day of their wedding
ENGAGEMENT DATE: July 4, 2012
WEDDING DATE: March 17, 2016 (St. Patrick’s Day)
WEDDING VENUE: They will be married on the TECO line trolley car in Tampa, Fla. They will have a reception at Giovanni’s, a specialty restaurant onboard the Brilliance of the Seas by Royal Caribbean, which they bought out for the night.
WEDDING COLORS: The wedding colors are white, light blue and green (for St. Patrick’s Day).
FIRST SONG: “The Colour of my Love” by Celine Dion
INTERESTING FACT: Daniel was a Watermark “catch” in their first Valentine’s catch issue back in 1998, and Blake “caught” him very soon after on March 17, 1998.
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