Sometimes when you meet certain people, you just click. I met Brianne though INSTAGRAM. Yes, that’s right people. I made a real human friend through social media. It can be done! We had so much in common that we weirdly just started talking on IG. We come from divorced families, like to dye our hair, love Star Wars & cats and are avid photographers of tattooed beauties. We both even did photo projects that involved the darker side of Disney in our younger years. The list goes on and on. When I was flying to Houston for an engagement session, I knew we had to meet up. We ended up snapping some portraits and going for beers after…. for 5 hours. Happy I found my twin in halfway across the country! 

Initially. I contacted Brianne to be my second shooter for a wedding I booked in Houston. After chatting, I knew we would be fast friends. It turns out Brianne was engaged herself so we decided to meet up to in person and to snap a few portraits at McGovern Centennial Gardens. Justin is Brianne’s perfect match. She is not only smart, funny and beautiful but she overcame cancer this year! She is incredibly brave and Justin was with her every step of the way to help her stay strong. I included their proposal story below as well as a few of my favorite shots from the day! 

“Justin and I met when we were 19 years old. We had gone to neighboring high schools and shared a lot of mutual friends. It was about a week or two before my birthday when we had started talking to each other. I added Justin on Facebook and I remember thinking, “Wow he’s really cute I doubt I stand a chance with this guy!” (Which is really funny because I guess he had said the same thing about me when I added him.) We started talking that night and a few days later he had asked me to Skype with him. I was living in Florida at the time and he was living in Texas. When we Skyped he asked if he could drive to Florida to “officially” meet me in person.  I knew my birthday was coming up the following weekend so I invited him to come out to Florida and spend the weekend with me.

After four years of dating, Justin decided to propose to me on April 14th 2016. I had been out of town visiting my family in California and meanwhile, he had decided that he was going to propose. He woke up Sunday morning and told his mom that he planning on popping the question on our anniversary. However, the week before that he had received a phone call from his boss telling him that he would be going out of town for a few months and wouldn’t be home for April 20th. He then decided it had to be done before he left town.  What I love most about our relationship is how pure and genuine everything has been. Justin is one of the most genuine, selfless, and incredible people I have ever met. I have to say, the absolute sweetest thing about our proposal was all of the time and details he put into this. Justin called my mother on the Tuesday before our engagement photo shoot and asked for her blessing. My mom burst into tears and was so ecstatic that he had thought to ask her before proposing to me. Justin also called my dad and asked his permission as well. To me, that meant so much more than I can even express. 

Justin’s idea for our proposal was to have a photographer come along and capture the entire thing. He knew that (me being a photographer) I had always dreamed of having my proposal photographed and this was something I really wanted. He came up with an idea of what he had in mind and called my best friend Kara (a fellow photographer friend) and told her how he was planning to propose. Kara gave him some ideas on how to convince me that this was my idea, not theirs, thus hiding the engagement part of the photo shoot. What they decided to do was create an anniversary photo shoot on a Friday for our 4 year anniversary. It was his gift to me since we hadn’t really done pictures together other than Christmas time. Kara came up with a theme for our outfits, a location, EVERYTHING! Every little thing that I could ever want about a proposal was coming true and I little did I know that this is the man I was meant to spend my life with.

When we got to Challenger Park, we rushed out to take pictures right away before the sun started to set. We had taken a few pictures here and there before Kara gave Justin “the signal” to propose.  She told us to face each other and for me to put my hand on his chest, and give him a kiss. I remember feeling his heart racing a mile a minute and thinking, “Umm…is he about to pass out on me?!” I remember being so confused why his heart was racing and I asked him if he was okay. She told me to give him a kiss and I closed my eyes, and kissed him. I heard her snapping pictures, and felt his body pull away from mine. I opened my eyes, confused why he pulled away, and kneeling in front of me was my fiancé, with a shake in his voice, holding up a wedding ring asking, “Brianne will you marry me?” 

…….Y’all…I burst into tears. That’s the truth! I couldn’t help it!  I just couldn’t believe this was all really happening!! It had been something we had talked about for awhile, but I didn’t know when it would happen…and there it was..it was happening!! I cried like a little baby and poor Justin sat there just smiling from ear to ear, laughing and asked me, “So is that a yes or?” I remember laughing through tears telling him, “Of course it’s a yes you goofball!!!” as I kissed him. It was everything I could have ever wanted and more and I am so thankful to be marrying this man. He always puts others before himself, and he never asks for anything in return. I couldn’t be happier and I am so excited for our special day to come. I know it will be one of the best days of our lives.”