Alisa and Jeff are the kind of couple that make you smile and you just can’t stop.They’re playful, silly, adorable, and absolutely in love. They’ve been in each other’s lives a long time, and that familiarity and comfort that comes from knowing someone so deeply is always in the air – and it’s really nice. They adore their kitties, Ace and Ami, and love playing the Final Fantasy series, Counterstrike, Chrono Trigger, Patapon, and Fat Princess, so we of course had to incorporate some gaming into their photos! Jeff and Alisa like to try new things, like new places to go on vacation, new foods, new hobbies, new activities, etc.. By the time they get married, they’ll have been together for 8 years.
Jeff is a production engineer at Q2ebanking, and Alisa is currently a student occupational therapy assistant (SOTA) and will be certified next year. Alisa is culturally Thai, but her genetic makeup is Vietnamese and Chinese. Which is good, because when we went out for Thai after the session, I didn’t feel so bad when I exclaimed that my food was waaaaaay hotter than 3 stars. She concurred. Most of her extended family is still in Thailand and she says she can still carry on a casual conversation in Thai, but when it comes to things like politics, “forget about it!” They had so many neat and creative ideas for their engagement photos, so we started in their home playing video games in their engagement outfits, then ventured out to McKinney Falls State Park in some spiffy blue outfits, which just happened to match the gorgeous little patch of bluebonnets we found near the end! Alisa made the banner she held up near the end of the session with their wedding date. So crafty! What I liked most about capturing them is their goofy side, the fact that they link pinkies instead of holding hands, and all their adorable “disgusted” faces they make at each other. Alisa wrote me a beautiful card that I received two days ago thanking me for capturing who they really are, which gives me the warm fuzzies big time. At the beginning of the session I remember her saying “Do we have to be serious?” I was like “please don’t be!”
The proposal:
Jeff proposed to Alisa during a trip to Hawai’i nearly 2 years ago, although since they missed their flight by 20 minutes, the ring arrived in Hawai’i before they did. Everyone had been telling Alisa that if Jeff didn’t propose on their trip to Hawai’i, he was “dumb”, but she kept reassuring everyone it wasn’t going to happen yet for various reasons. After arriving and reconnecting with their luggage, Jeff told her, “I know the trip’s not gone as planned, but I know something that’s gonna make it better”. Alisa turned around to see Jeff on bended knee, and he said, “Will you marry me, Ace, and Ami?”
In her words: “I opened my mouth and all that could come out was babbling things like, “What? How? I mean… I thought that we couldn’t… Is this a joke? That’s not funny.” and then a couple tears started forming. Jeff asked me, “Well, are you going to say yes?”, he slipped the ring on my finger, and I hugged him after a resounding “Yes!’“
The wedding:
Alisa and Jeff are getting married in Hawai’i on Thursday, April 16, 2015 surrounded by family. They went to a Buddhist temple to have a monk determine the most auspicious date for their wedding based on their birth dates:
While I won’t be able to photograph their wedding, they are still totally my ideal couple, the kind of couple that makes their wedding something completely their own. Their cake topper is going to be Cthulhu and Hello Kitty figurines adorned in wedding clothes, and the ceremony music ranges from Final Fantasy to Nightmare Before Christmas music. Not to mention that their wedding colors are sunset colors, my absolutely favorite! I’m sure it’s going to be incredible.
Engagement photos!!!
Hair by Lorian Does Hair, makeup by Lauren Lumsden
