So.
When Jason and I were visiting his hometown in up state New York a few Augusts back, I remember thinking everything just seemed so perfect. His parents greeted us at the airport with open arms and open hearts and I fell in love with them instantly. We spent the first day thoroughly enjoying this little town of Webster and the night hanging out on the back porch, drinking scotch & waters, telling stories and laughing. I've never been welcomed home to a place like that when it wasn't even my home.
The next day we were planning on a walk down Charlotte Beach of Lake Ontario (which was gorgeous and hotter than hell) before heading over to Crescent Beach Inn. I wish I would have taken more pictures of this place. It was an old restored building from the 1900's set on a few acres right off the water with an outside restaurant, its own tiny pier, private gardens (which made the entire grounds smell delicious) and a white gazebo which happened to be wearing its best for a wedding the next day. The place was bustling with workers setting up tables, carrying stacks of white china plates and hanging lanterns in the trees. There was even the bride-to-be sitting on the bench with her mom watching and taking it all in. I made a beeline for the gazebo which stuck out just a little on its own alcove over the water, Jason walked in after me and asked if we could take a picture. So his mom grabbed the camera and we turned around and smiled, and then I started to walk away and I could feel him pulling my arm to stay for just a minute longer.
There was this perfect man, who loved me, who I loved back, who had come in and made everything wrong, right. And he was down on one knee, with a box, and he was saying some sort of words that were totally blurry at the time, and I was just standing there shocked with my jaw dropped. And then it happened. "Krista, will you marry me?"
And I stood there for a second with my hands over my mouth until I finally got 2 words to squeak out. They weren't "I will" or "oh yes!" What actually came out of my mouth was an Elaine Benes-esque "Shut up!" And his parents were snapping pictures and everyone who was working had stopped to watch and the next-day bride was smiling with tears in her eyes. "Of course I will!!" And just like that, he slipped a ring on my finger, everyone clapped and cheered and my life would be forever changed.
I found out a few minutes later that the ring I was wearing was his parent's engagement ring that my indescribably gracious, soon-to-be mother-in-law had worn on her finger for 24 years before handing it down to their only child to give to me. Talk about an honor, I had never felt more blessed and loved in my life.
So after a few weeks of going back and forth about what kind of photo shoot we (I) wanted done for our engagement pictures, we (I) decided against a traditional backdrop. We (I) wanted to play.
So I whipped these announcements up on Photoshop, had them sent into a professional printer, and then we hired only the best Shelley Schaffer Photography to head over to the Orange County Fair!
The thing about going to such a public place for your photo shoot is that the fair doesn't stop just because you want to take a picture, which was what I LOVED about the idea. There we were, all dressed up, with a photographer snapping every move we made for almost 5 hours, and we were just ourselves. We drank expensive and warm Bud Light, went on all the rides, played all the games and just had fun. We even have on our wrist bands in the pictures because we forgot about the details.
These are some of my favorite shots:
The rest of our photo shoot with Shelley Schaffer Photography can be found HERE.
this gave me chills! loved it...such a beautiful story :)
ReplyDeleteThat is such a great story and I am so glad that we got to be part of your big day. :) xoxox
ReplyDelete