Fun Engagement Session at Eden Garden and Fort Pickens|| Neila+John
For all of our Disney loving couples, Neila+John’s proposal story is one of the most romantic ones. But, let’s hear it directly the couple:
Neila+John’s Love Story
Call it fate, or that God had a plan, John and Neila were destined to be with each other! They first met while volunteering at a medical clinic for the underserved. Neila didn’t usually volunteer on the days that John did, so they didn’t meet until the volunteer director called Neila to see if she could help that day. Neila went in and did her normal volunteering job. She did notice John that day while he was working. After seeing him encounter a pretty rough situation in the clinic, Neila went over to check on John. He saw Neila’s compassion, he was instantly interested in her. The two made small talk. Neila, a graduate of Auburn University then found out he graduated from her rival school, the University of Alabama. They teased each other about the rivalry, but then they both returned to their work. Neila happened to be organizing files for quite some time. She started noticing that John was finding any excuse to go into the room she was in to talk with her. They ended up talking more and found out that they were both taking the same summer class at UWF. As the saying goes, the rest was history.
The two often went to Disney World to vacation. On September 2nd, 2018, John managed to surprise Neila by getting a room at the Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, a place Neila had dreamed of staying. While eating dinner at the resort restaurant, John encouraged Neila that they should go watch the fireworks. The waiter then led them down the stairs to the pier, where they watched the Magic Kingdom fireworks on the water. After the show was complete, John popped the question, and of course, Neila said YES. They spent the rest of the night in the Disney World celebrating their newly found engaged status. That night was the best night of their lives, and they cannot wait to begin their Happily Ever After on March 14, 2020.
We are so thrilled to photograph the beginning of Neila+John’s Happily Ever After next year, and meanwhile, we planned a fun engagement session, and this time it was Neila that had a surprise for John. He wanted a sunset session by the water, she wanted a session in the park, so we decided to photograph in both locations. Everything was planned and set to go weeks in advance, but that day the weather forecast was announcing heavy rains with lightning and thunder. Changing the session date wasn’t an option so we went on with it.
Our first location, Eden Garden, looked like a scene from Gone with the Wind, rainwater making the ground and trees wet, bringing some mist in the air with occasional thunder and lightning created a truly magical (however, soakingly wet!) setting for a park session. The couple’s fur babies, Holly and Beau-Beau joined the session proudly wearing wedding collars. Too adorable not to notice! As the downpour strengthened, we found shelter under a covered patio inside the park and it was the time for Neila to reveal her surprise for John. When she handed him a box, John thought it might be a shirt (as he later told us), but there were two cutest shirts for Disney couples with one stating “I’m her Mickey”, and the other one “I’m her Minnie”. But…that was not all – underneath the shirts there was the surprise, a card for December 2019 Disney Vacation! Best Engagement Session gift ever, don’t you think?!
Afterward, we proceeded with our next mini-theme. Neila+John, graduates from the notorious rival schools Alabama and Auburn, have a divided house…But at the end of the day, as you can see from the photos, their love always wins!
We still wanted John to get his sunset photo-session which was not happening that day, so we planned for a Part II session, and this time at Fort Pickens. And, it was totally worth it – it was a warm (and dry!) evening with a gorgeous sunset giving us the opportunity to create all kinds of epicness, even a full moon hanging low at night was teasing us to take a shot with it.
We love when our couples give us enough time to create artful and fun images, and Neila+John did just that, and more. Cannot wait for their Big Day next March!
Fun Engagement Session at Eden Garden and Fort Pickens|| Neila+John
For all of our Disney loving couples, Neila+John’s proposal story is one of the most romantic ones. But, let’s hear it directly the couple:
Neila+John’s Love Story
Call it fate, or that God had a plan, John and Neila were destined to be with each other! They first met while volunteering at a medical clinic for the underserved. Neila didn’t usually volunteer on the days that John did, so they didn’t meet until the volunteer director called Neila to see if she could help that day. Neila went in and did her normal volunteering job. She did notice John that day while he was working. After seeing him encounter a pretty rough situation in the clinic, Neila went over to check on John. He saw Neila’s compassion, he was instantly interested in her. The two made small talk. Neila, a graduate of Auburn University then found out he graduated from her rival school, the University of Alabama. They teased each other about the rivalry, but then they both returned to their work. Neila happened to be organizing files for quite some time. She started noticing that John was finding any excuse to go into the room she was in to talk with her. They ended up talking more and found out that they were both taking the same summer class at UWF. As the saying goes, the rest was history.
The two often went to Disney World to vacation. On September 2nd, 2018, John managed to surprise Neila by getting a room at the Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, a place Neila had dreamed of staying. While eating dinner at the resort restaurant, John encouraged Neila that they should go watch the fireworks. The waiter then led them down the stairs to the pier, where they watched the Magic Kingdom fireworks on the water. After the show was complete, John popped the question, and of course, Neila said YES. They spent the rest of the night in the Disney World celebrating their newly found engaged status. That night was the best night of their lives, and they cannot wait to begin their Happily Ever After on March 14, 2020.
We are so thrilled to photograph the beginning of Neila+John’s Happily Ever After next year, and meanwhile, we planned a fun engagement session, and this time it was Neila that had a surprise for John. He wanted a sunset session by the water, she wanted a session in the park, so we decided to photograph in both locations. Everything was planned and set to go weeks in advance, but that day the weather forecast was announcing heavy rains with lightning and thunder. Changing the session date wasn’t an option so we went on with it.
Our first location, Eden Garden, looked like a scene from Gone with the Wind, rainwater making the ground and trees wet, bringing some mist in the air with occasional thunder and lightning created a truly magical (however, soakingly wet!) setting for a park session. The couple’s fur babies, Holly and Beau-Beau joined the session proudly wearing wedding collars. Too adorable not to notice! As the downpour strengthened, we found shelter under a covered patio inside the park and it was the time for Neila to reveal her surprise for John. When she handed him a box, John thought it might be a shirt (as he later told us), but there were two cutest shirts for Disney couples with one stating “I’m her Mickey”, and the other one “I’m her Minnie”. But…that was not all – underneath the shirts there was the surprise, a card for December 2019 Disney Vacation! Best Engagement Session gift ever, don’t you think?!
Afterward, we proceeded with our next mini-theme. Neila+John, graduates from the notorious rival schools Alabama and Auburn, have a divided house…But at the end of the day, as you can see from the photos, their love always wins!
We still wanted John to get his sunset photo-session which was not happening that day, so we planned for a Part II session, and this time at Fort Pickens. And, it was totally worth it – it was a warm (and dry!) evening with a gorgeous sunset giving us the opportunity to create all kinds of epicness, even a full moon hanging low at night was teasing us to take a shot with it.
We love when our couples give us enough time to create artful and fun images, and Neila+John did just that, and more. Cannot wait for their Big Day next March!