I can’t wait to share this engagement session with you! I had asked Kim to write a little something to explain her ideas behind this shoot- I love what she sent me and thought who else but Kim could tell her own love story best?! Here it is!

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Past, present, future.

First, second, third.

One, two, three.

Him and me.

Grant and I met in high school; in grade 10 to be exact (yes, that’s how we say it in Canada). Well, I guess we didn’t “meet” yet, but it was during my PE class, when Grant had a spare block. He came in to shoot around on the basketball hoops along the side of the gym. We were on the “wrestling unit,” and since our PE teacher was a full-grown man, and since he didn’t think it would be appropriate to demonstrate a wrestling move on a highschool girl, he called Grant over. He told us, “this is Grant. He’s Scottish. He says skewwwt instead of scoot.” He then proceeded to pin him awkwardly to the ground, face flattened into the sticky gym mat. I then proceeded to fall in love.

The end. Kind of, not really. I would have to say that a few things happened before I get to say “the end.” First of all, after that gym encounter, I decided, in my high school mind, that in order to get his attention, I needed to join everything that had to do with basketball. So I did. I tried out for the basketball team, I joined intramural basketball, and I learned how to score-keep so that I could volunteer for his basketball games. I guess he thought I was cool enough because we started dating, and 8 years later…we’re getting married!

So, why 8 years, you ask? Well, I went down to Los Angeles for college, and he stayed up in Canada. Afterwards, we decided to pursue graduate school, and in hopes of finally being in the same place, we applied to each other’s graduate schools. Nope. Well, at least we’re in the same country now. He’s in dental school in Boston, and I’m still in Los Angeles. Our upcoming wedding means so much to us because not only will be saying “yes” to forever, but we’ll finally be living in the same city since high school!

We wanted to try to capture aspects of our journey for our engagement shoot with Eileen (who was such a joy to work with, by the way!), so we decided on the theme of “past, present future.” In order to capture our “past,” we decided to go back to that gym in grade 10 and incorporate our times playing basketball together. Since he’s currently studying in Boston, and I’m currently studying in Los Angeles, we thought it would be a fun idea to play on the long-time rivalry between the Celtics and Lakers. We were so fortunate to be able to get a whole half court to ourselves on the day of our shoot, considering the fact that we were at Venice Beach! I guess that brings us to the “present,” which we decided to capture with, yes, the Celtics and Lakers basketball jersey’s, as well as with our “pillow fight scene.” Grant and I spent hours looking for the perfect little place to rent for the night on airbnb.com, which we eventually found in Venice. We loved how this little apartment was styled and thought it would be a perfect location to use for a pillow fight because of the interesting white, cushioned walls. We’ve done a lot of flying to visit each other over these past 8 years, so incorporating feathers was our way to symbolize that. We made sure to head to Ikea the day before in order to pick up some feather pillows. During the shoot, we were all surprised at how many feathers came out of the pillows! Through choking coughs and giggles, we all commented on how not even half of the feathers in the pillow had come out, and already we knew we would be spending the entire night cleaning feathers. We also wanted to incorporate some photos with each of us on either side of a wall in the apartment to also symbolize our current separation. Since Boston is in a different time zone, oftentimes when Grant is waking up, I’m still sleeping, and when he’s getting ready for bed, I’m still wide awake. Even with only a 3 hour difference, at times we have felt world’s apart.
Finally the future. To capture the “future,” we decided to go to the beach. Grant and I both love the outdoors. We love exploring new places together and soaking up the sunshine wherever we are. We’re up for adventure and travel, and hope that our marriage is only the beginning of that exciting journey. We were initially hoping to get to the beach in order to capture some of the glowing sunset shots that Los Angeles is famous for. Unfortunately, it was a cold and gloomy day, so there wasn’t that vibrant “glow” to shoot. I’m so thankful that Eileen was so flexible and creative as a photographer because she would always just roll with punches, and I’m thrilled with how the photos came out. In fact, I think the soft, grey glow of that day matched our outfits better now that I look at the pictures! While the other 2 locations captured the playfulness that we cherish in our relationship, I feel that the photos at the beach location in a way captured the formality of the adventure that we were agreeing to step into in this marriage, and romance that would help carry us through. I’m so thankful that I got to spend that weekend with Grant by my side, and I’m even more thankful that Eileen was there to capture it all for us to cherish and be reminded of our journey together.

Past, present, future.

First, second, third.

One, two, three.

Him and me.

Finally.

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Thank you for such a wonderful session Grant and Kim! Blessings upon blessings as you finish up the wedding planning and start your lives together this year! : )

Make-up + Hair: Frankie Inattendu