Their Session: Fort Lee Historic Park Engagement
Jamila & Jason’s Fort Lee Historic Park engagement session was the most perfect fall day! With soft overcast light and some pretty foliage colors, Fort Lee Historic Park provided the best backdrop for engagement photos. Jamila is one of my besties from college, so it meant the world to me to get to photograph her and Jason’s engagement photos! These two are so stylish and their fall outfits were perfection! (By the way, if you love their outfits as much as I did you’re def gonna want to get some more style inspo from Jamila! She has an awesome fashion blog that you should check out here!) I can’t wait to share all my favorite pics! But first, a little bit of their love story! 🙂
The Proposal
I had the honor of getting to be a part of Jamila & Jason’s proposal! Ryan and I photographed Jason proposing, and it was so special to be a part of it! Check out the blog post of their proposal here!
Since I got the advanced inside scoop while this surprise winter proposal was being planned, I especially loved getting to hear about it from Jamila’s perspective as the one getting surprised. She told me the story, “So this is a really funny one. I’ll try to keep it short. About a week prior to the proposal I was having one of my quarantine breakdowns where I throw a tantrum about being sick of doing the same thing every day, so Jason suggested we get all dolled up and have a fun romantic weekend since it was Valentine’s Day and also our 2 year and 5 month anniversary.”
“On the day of our anniversary (the day before Valentine’s Day) I straightened my hair, painted my nails, and put on a cute outfit. The plan was to take blog pictures in my outfit and then just come back home and have ourselves a cute date night (or so I thought).”
“Jason was being all weird about me bringing a warmer coat which I never do when I take blog pictures because I figure I’ll just brave the cold for 20 minutes and then warm up when I get back in the car. I started getting annoyed about having to bring a heavier coat so I kept asking him if we’re going to be walking around or something but he wasn’t being straight forward and I wouldn’t let it go so eventually he told me we were going to see my mom at the courtyard by her job as a surprise.”
“Of course I felt bad for being dramatic and ruining the surprise. So basically I thought we were going to take blog pictures and then see my mom. I had no clue he was going to propose. It was so amazing to see some of my favorite people in the world there to celebrate with us. And the band…omg so cute!! I did notice he was acting really antsy and anxious all week but I thought he was just stressed about work. I never would have guessed! I’m still on cloud 9!”
Their Love Story
When I asked Jamila and Jason to each share one thing they love about each other, Jamila said, “Yikes! It’s really tough to pick just one thing but I love how genuinely kind and loyal he is to the people he loves. He will always go above and beyond when it comes to his family and friends. I make fun of him and tell him he does entirely too much sometimes but honestly I think it’s an amazing quality and he’s just the best human ever!”
Jason said, “So many things I love about her. How can I pick just one? I love how she’s truly the best partner that I could have ever imagined. She is so understanding and cares so deeply about me and the people she loves. I always feel like we are on the same page all the way down to the things we laugh at. I love her laugh and sense of humor and we laugh so hard together. Our families also mesh so well that it feels like we’ve always been one big family.” How cute are they? I can’t even take it! Reading through their answers to these questions just gives me goosebumps. It makes my heart so happy to see one of my best friends so in love and engaged to marry the love of her life!
Their typical date night is all about enjoying dinner and red wine at a fancy restaurant! Jamila said, “I know it sounds cliche but that’s my idea of a good time. Sometimes we’ll switch it up and go to a dine-in theater and eat and drink there instead haha! In the summer we love finding cute restaurants on the water. There’s nothing better than eating outside by the water on a beautiful summer evening.”
How They Met
Want to hear how Jamila & Jason met?! As Jamila tells it, “We met at a mutual friend’s birthday party. It was an indoor soccer party. I wanted nothing to do with playing soccer so I met up with everyone towards the end of the game because they were all going out for drinks afterwards which sounded like a much better time to me. When I got there my friend, Vikkie greeted me and introduced me to everyone. One of those people was Jason.”
“He says when he first saw me he was like “Woah, who is this now? I gotta talk to her.” It was love at first sight. Anyway, long story short, we all met for drinks later on that evening. I didn’t stay very long so he asked if I wanted to go out for a drink another time. I gave him my number and he texted me a couple days later. We met up for dinner and drinks that Friday and we’ve been inseparable ever since!”
Jamila & Jason
Congratulations on your engagement you two!!!! I’m over the moon happy for you and excited for this next chapter! I can’t wait to witness the world’s cutest couple get married next year! I love you so much and am beyond thankful for you guys and your friendship! Enjoy every minute of being fiances!! xoxoxo
