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Me & Luke

3 June 2019

WE SAID YES!!

It’s finally official! While Luke and I have shared many a wedding-styled photoshoot this last year, we absolutely had to do SOMETHING SPECIAL for the real-deal. So, what’s more special than an ocean side shoot in Bali?

“Love believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things.”

1 Corinthians

First off, I want to thank everyone who shared in the weeks and months of planning leading up to this trip. Luke and I couldn’t have done it without you. Special thanks to our friends over at 1215 Diamonds and Forever Artisans, who made me feel like an absolute Queen during our ethical diamond selection and design of my custom engagement ring! Lauren, Missy, Brittany and Mary- THANK YOU!

Secondly, we have a CRAZY chain of events that led up to our final shoot in Bali- Have you heard of Murphy’s law? More on that in a bit, BUT we were blown away at the stunning gown I wore for this shoot, by Karen Willis Holmes. The gown I’m in was designed for their Wild Hearts Collection, which is quite fitting considering the romantic, playful design.

Lastly, for those of you who are bound to ask about the logistics leading up to our engagement- let’s just say that Luke and I, as we have in most areas of our relationships- stood side by side, honoring one another’s separate wishes, so that what began as a sweet, curious conversation- eventually evolved into the expression of our dreams and future together. In other words, we both asked. And we both said yes.

So now more about this RING! Right?

For this blog post, I want to highlight why we chose 1215 Diamonds, a conflict free, lab-grown stone for our engagement ring. It was a truly intimate and special experience getting to work alongside the lovely team from 1215 diamonds,  who spent countless hours  helping me to select the final, perfect, conflict-free stone for my engagement ring.

Just like mined diamonds, these stunning stones depend on excellent cut, color and clarity to really dazzle. Since I was selecting my stone online, I worked closely with the team through video chats, phone calls and several email chains before finalizing my selection. It was more important for me to size down for a clear, brilliant stone than it was to get a bigger stone with visible flaws or a tinted color. All of these details and preferences will be difference for each couple, but it was such a wonderful experience to work with the team over at 1215 Diamonds, because they curated the perfect options according to my specific requests.
Perhaps most importantly, I made an ethical decision, while maintaining the strength and unique chemical makeup of diamonds as we know them. For couples discussing engagement or brides-to-be, I definitely recommend looking into #ConflictFree stones to put that extra 20%- 40% toward your first home or a new car!
Now onto this stunning Vivienne Gown. I actually first bookmarked this gown from Instagram, where I saw a fellow blogger styling it on her feed. I am all about those classic silhouettes with unique details, so I think it was the ruffled, balloon sleeves that drew me in.
Luke was dressed by our friends over at The Black Tux, which is by far our FAVORITE choice for formal wear. He has a difficult time finding pieces that fit well, but their pants and jackets can be custom fitted per your measurements. Plus, we got to try out these suspenders for a fresh style!

While our shoot had been planned out several months beforehand, funny story, we actually had our photographer cancel on us a few weeks before the trip! We tried to fly out another photographer, but as it was pretty last minute, couldn’t line someone up within our budget, so we shot this entire session OURSELVES!!! Yes, that’s right, haha. We had originally lined up a stylist and local bali photographer, but had some issues with the image rights. (Couldn’t land on a reasonable contract.) But then we moved on to booking a Portland photographer who was supposed to meet us out there for two days, which as I mentioned, fell through too! As we’ve always done, Luke and I made the most of a tricky situation and adjusted our plans to make sure we had plenty of time for a remote control shoot, but then- can you believe it- my Canon remote ran out of batteries after about 5 shots. (Insert a million laugh emojis.)

We had to set everything up and shoot with the auto timer (Thank the Lord for little miracles) and wha-la! Here is the result. In the end, we ended up with some spectacular images and some extra money in the bank. We are SO excited and bot look forward to celebrating this wonderful love story of ours with the rest of our family and friends in 2020!

While we haven’t set a date yet, be sure to stay tuned! God willing, we’d love to plan something for July or August, 2020. We have so much planning to look forward to!

 

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Comments

  1. Stephanie says

    June 4, 2019 at 11:04 pm

    I’m so incredibly excited for you. I knew there was something special with Luke the moment ya’ll started dating. Congratulations!

    Reply
  2. Kileen says

    June 4, 2019 at 11:10 pm

    That is so exciting babe and these pictures look amazing!! That is so awesome that you shot these yourselves!! Congratulations, congratulations! Love the ring.

    Kileen
    cute & little

    Reply
  3. TianShanae says

    June 5, 2019 at 8:22 am

    Your pictures are stunning. Congratulations!

    Reply
  4. Kenzi - Life of a Sister says

    June 6, 2019 at 10:54 am

    You shot this by yourselves?! That’s so awesome. You both look amazing and I love how your dress looks.

    Reply
  5. Jasmine Vargas says

    June 6, 2019 at 3:01 pm

    congrats! everything looks so beautiful.

    Reply
  6. Inna Pishtoy says

    June 6, 2019 at 3:17 pm

    These are such beautiful pictures! You look stunning!

    http://innapishtoy.com/2019/06/04/decorating-our-new-home/

    Reply
  7. Azanique S Rawl says

    June 8, 2019 at 9:46 pm

    You look absolutely amazing, sweet friend <3 Congrats to you 🙂

    -xo, Azanique | https://www.lotsofsass.com

    Reply
  8. Delia Atenea says

    June 10, 2019 at 12:08 am

    Your gown, your ring, you look so beautiful! Congratulations!

    Reply

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