Their Session: Bradley Beach, NJ
Okay, you guys, this session is one that makes my heart so happy. Thiana is one of my besties, and I was thrilled to be able to photograph her and Brendan’s story! We started the day with photos in their gorgeous, cozy home, then we went to the beach for more! These two love the beach and Brendan is big on surfing, so they brought one of Brendan’s boards, and their swimsuits, and were totally up for the adventure of hitting the water, and swimming out into the ocean. It was totally worth it, because we had a BLAST, and these photos are so. much. fun.
Bradley Beach is a particularly special part of their story, some of which I’ll tell you all about in just a second, so it was the perfect spot for their engagement session! I love it when couples pick a meaningful location for their photos! 🙂 It just makes the session that much more special. Let me tell you a little more about their story.
Their Love Story
Brendan knocked it out of the park with the proposal. Thiana told me all the details, “This past 1/27 was our 12 year anniversary – in celebration Brendan and I decided to take off of work and spend the day together. The night leading up to the day Brendan said he had something special planned. Being the nosey self I am I drilled him for clues on what we would be up to on our big day! He eventually caved and explained how he finally made an appointment to get our tintypes taken (we had attempted to do it for the past two anniversaries but the photographer was never free). I was deliriously happy at this revelation that later I realized this happy daze blinded me to the true events that were about to unfold!Â
Finally the morning of our anniversary came and Brendan was so cool and casual that the day just fell into place without me noticing it was very strategically planned. Somehow he made everything sound as if it was my idea. First stop was brunch which led to a matinee down the road. It was all very reminiscent of when we were teenagers and how we would spend our dates.
We got tickets to see Aquaman grabbed some popcorn and settled in. As the credits were rolling we stayed in our seats which is a tradition of ours because I love to dissect the movies or wait for the additional secret clips – especially after a superhero movie. Laying there we sat watching and discussing the movie the additional “last scene” came and went and I began to lean down grabbing my things to finally leave. The theater was very dark at this point because the credits were finished and weren’t lighting up the theater. As I was bent collecting my things I first felt a light come back onto the screen. I than heard a very familiar song – our song (Hey There Delilah).Â
Making sure I was hearing correctly I looked up to find my face plastered on the big screen. To say I was shocked and confused was an understatement. But than the picture changed – and kept changing. A slide show of the past twelve years began playing on a movie screen right in front of my very own eye as if it was movie of our own. I knew then what it was all leading up too. I looked over at him speechless and just started crying. He gave me a big smile and we sat back just watching our past selves go by. His slide show felt like it lasted longer than the movie before it. I cried and laughed and remembered moments that I hadn’t thought of in forever. As our song came to an end so did our slide show. The very last picture was of a special note we once wrote each other and beside it was text asking if I would marry him. He climbed down from the theater seat got on one knee and asked those very special words that everyone waits for. With even more tears and a huge smile I said yes! He put the most gorgeous ring on my finger and it was cloud nine from there! I left the theater telling anyone I came a cross that I just got engaged! We asked the theater attendant to take a photograph of us. I was all smiles and all excitement!
We spent the next few hours facetiming all our loved ones to tell them the good news! We made our way to our photoshoot at the tintype studio which was still a part of the entire surprise! Because he knew we would be taking those picture to always remember it was the day we got engaged”.
I don’t know about you, but this story is so sweet and gives me CHILLS. The amount of time, thought and planning that Brendan put into making this day amazing just blows my mind. I love the thought, creativity and sentimental sweetness behind every part of this.
Thiana & Brendan
Thank you guys from the bottom of my heart for having me capture your story! I love you both so much and am so over the moon excited to also capture your wedding day in Costa Rica!! Your engagement session was a blast, and I know your wedding will be out of this world! Until then, enjoy being fiances, and have a blast planning every detail of your wedding! xoxo
[…] in their home again, recreating some of their engagement photos! If some of these feel familiar, THIS is probably why. 😉 Seeing the changes over time while keeping this environment constant was such […]