Danny and Christina Wysong met during freshman orientation at William and Mary. But they’d have to travel through other relationships—and continents—before arriving at their destination: each other.
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During that first year of college, they were both dating other people. And sophomore year, Danny studied abroad in Russia. When summer came, he was working as a camp counselor and Christina (a Charlottesville native) was getting ready for her own international adventure—a semester in Spain. “She was freaking out about it,” says Danny. “I sent her a letter full of advice and helpful hints on dealing with the language barrier.”
From that kind gesture a correspondence was born, and a nice old-fashioned one at that, since Danny had no email or phone access at camp. In their letters, “We were clearly really getting along,” Danny says. They went electronic once Christina was in Spain. Finally, Danny says, “I just really snapped and sent her an email: ‘Hey, I like you!’ But a lot better framed than that.”
Then Danny started talking about a visit. “He kind of joked about it, and I encouraged it, but figured it would never actually happen,” Christina says. He was serious, though. “I sold all my textbooks and flew to Spain,” he says. “My parents were ready to murder me. My mom said ‘Well, you better marry her.’”
When he finally got off the bus in the town where Christina was living, he was “jetlagged out of my mind.” He’d told Christina he was coming (“I didn’t want to do the stalker-esque thing, creepy thing, and pop up behind her at a café”) so she was waiting on a bench in the central plaza. “We kind of hugged,” she remembers, “we kissed real quick, and he said ‘Will you go out with me?’ I said yes and we went and got ice cream.”
That was fall 2005. They both say their relationship worked, even long-distance, because of how comfortable they are together. “We kind of look at the world in the same way,” she says. And he adds, “I don’t have to curb myself or censor myself.” They stayed together through school and then a move to Arlington.
Danny proposed last April on a trip to Williamsburg (“directly after eating a chicken sandwich,” he says) and on October 5, 2008, exactly three years after Danny arrived in Spain, they got married at King Family Vineyards.
These two never neglect the lighter side. “Christina can raise one eyebrow very well,” says Danny. “She knows I find this very amusing, so she did this continuously throughout the ceremony, when I’m saying these super-serious things, like ‘I will be with you forever.’”