Couple takes over Target for wacky engagement photo shoot
This couple hit the bull’s-eye.
“We’re not outdoorsy people, at all,” Tony DiPasqua tells The Post.
He and his fiancé Aaron Damron, a 29-year old hospice nurse, have been engaged for a few years and wanted engagement photos “that really just spoke to us,” he says. For them, that meant eschewing idyllic snaps walking through the park or lounging under a tree.
“We love to shop, we love to just go around and look for deals and coupons,” says DiPasqua, 31, who works in student affairs at a local university.
But the idea to take a series of photos in Target — smooching over a shopping cart in the frozen foods section, loading up on cat supplies, and enjoying drinks from a Starbucks inside the box store — was all Damron’s.
“I was a little hesitant at first with it,” DiPasqua says. “But he convinced me to do it.”
The Erie, Pa.-based couple, whose Saturday routine usually involves going to lunch and then Target, met online five years ago in December.
“I kept messaging Aaron, we went on our first date Dec. 21 — and have seen each other every day since then,” DiPasqua says. Damron proposed to his fella in front of a giant Christmas tree three years ago on a Carnival cruise ship, and the two will be married this coming New Year’s Eve in a rehabbed schoolhouse. Sense a winter theme?
“We don’t like to sweat,” says DiPasqua.
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What they do like is their three cats — Jonesy, Jordi and Rory — for whom they went shopping during their engagement shoot.
“When we got our second cat, Jordi, there was a special, so when you got one cat you got another half off. We both love cats, and deals, so we had to take another look around,” says Damron.
As for purchases during their prenuptial shoot, “We needed Arm & Hammer powder that you sprinkle on the litter to make sure it doesn’t smell.” In addition to deodorizer, the couple also garnered support from their fellow shoppers.
Says Damron, “Being a same-sex couple, you have to be weary about public displays of affection . . . we were nervous in the beginning. I was shaking.”
They credit the carefree pics to their wedding photographer, Erica Whiting, whom they say helped loosen them up.
“My goal was to get them to forget I was there and just be themselves,” says Whiting, who has also taken portraits in Wegman’s grocery store. “We talked and laughed and walked around the store and took some photographs that highlighted their personalities.”
Fun snaps of the couple pushing each other around the aisles, and peeking out from behind fake fronds ensued.
“She made us feel so comfortable,” says Damron. “It was like it was just the three of us,” he says, despite the one-and-a half-hour shoot taking place during Target’s business hours.
“One of the managers came up to us and just said go back and take more if you want. They were super supportive of it and offered us more time,” says DiPasqua. “It was all positive reactions from the customers who were there.”
Both Damron and DiPasqua have been tickled by the online reaction to the photos — the album is currently liked on Facebook 9,700 times, with nearly 3,000 shares.
“The love and support and kind words have been absolutely wonderful,” says Damron. He adds, “Friends and their significant others are seeing it and saying ‘We need to redo our pictures.’”
Still, it turns out Target isn’t the men’s only preferred home goods locale. “We actually had a conversation about whether we do it at Sam’s Club or Target, because I love both equally” says DiPasqua.
Ultimately though, “Target’s color scheme is better inside the store.”
