When I asked Sam how he felt after the proposal, he answered with a very candid “Sam Xu” reply:

“It happened with style. HAHAHA”

This is going to be a long one, guys! If you just want to see the pics, scroll on down, but I absolutely love sharing love stories about the beauty of a couple’s relationship, and I encourage you to read on! Their story is intertwined with photos! :) This may be my longest written post yet! Now if any of you wonder what a Christian, God-centered relationship looks like, this is an absolutely great example of one! & Yes, by the way, these are all things Grace & Sam shared with me and told me they wouldn’t mind sharing with you all!

The proposal started like this, Sam contacted my good friend Christine, an event and wedding planner (Sweetly Memorable Weddings & Events), and me a couple months ago about helping to coordinate and execute his picnic proposal plan for his now fiancé, Grace (spoiler alert: she said YES!!). I was so ecstatic!

Sam, Christine, me, and a couple of great friends (Leanna, John, Andy, and Michael), met at Andy’s house that morning to get a good foot on how everything was going to happen. We had to get quite a few things done before the proposal happened, which you will find out soon enough! Once Sam left to go meet Grace, we broke off and did our deeds before we had to meet at Sycamore Canyon Park. We were supposed to arrive before Sam and wait in the parking lot and hide until they passed us an park. Let me just briefly say that this included us quickly ducking deep down in our seats scared that they saw us when they finally arrived!

Sam wanted to surprise Grace as best as he could so he implanted a date for her to expect the proposal (the 30th). So she had absolutely no suspicions of this happening! Sam planned it so that he would take Grace on a hike to the top of the park’s hill, something they would normally do on a daily basis. So they walked up to the top and once we figured that they passed the location we planned out beforehand, our group moved in to set things up!

It had been an extremely cloudy morning, and it was pretty chilly, so we were a bit worried about the weather! But God provided and it didn’t rain, though it was a still a bit chilly, and the clouds were on and off! Sycamore Canyon Park is absolutely beautiful! We had to cross a stream to get to the designated spot!

 

 

Sam handcrafted a B-MO stuffed doll (he’s a robot game character from the cartoon, Adventure Time) to accompany an awesome wooden table he also made with his hands! I was so impressed by his hand stitching and wood work! These two items went along with other props and items Christine had made and bought, and items I had brought from home to set up a sweet picnic set up Sam wanted to have awaiting for him and Grace when they walked back down! Sam planned it in a way that since they walked past it going up, she wouldn’t suspect anything on the way down. The biggest element of Sam’s proposal was surprise!

Once things were hung and set up, everyone went into hiding and Andy called Sam, posing to be Sam’s employer calling him into work. Andy, Christine, Leanna and Michael then took their places in hiding, and John and I took our places and hid as best as we could in the trees! It was REALLY hard finding spots to hide in and be able to still capture moments! Haha

 

 

We waited and waited and finally when we heard them approaching I distinctly remember hearing two things: 1. “THAT WASN’T YOUR MANGER ON THE PHONE!” And 2. “YOU’RE A REALLY BAD HIDER!! I can see you!!” Yes. That last comment was directed towards me. Sigh! I was even wearing my forest green jacket to try to camouflage, but there really was no way to hide well! Thankfully we positioned Grace to a point where she couldn’t see John at least! I did my best to keep her focused on Sam by turning away, which worked thankfully! And Sam went on to unfold the rest of his beautiful proposal!

 

 

As Grace picked up the B-MO plush Sam made and held it with love, he began sharing with her a few key bible verses he had written in a journal Grace had drawn on for him–like a mini bible study! It was so sweet!

 

 

When he reached the end, he took B-MO got down on one knee, and opened a zipper he sewed into B-MO’s butt (you have to watch the show to understand), and pulled out the ring and asked for her hand in marriage! Grace seemed in absolute bliss and shock as she quickly nodded her head and let him slip the ring on her finger! I’m pretty sure I squealed quietly at this moment!

 

 

Grace’a reactions were so priceless!!

 

 

Afterwards, once everyone came out of hiding and said congratulations, and we gave the two of them some space. :) Such sweet moments!

 

 

And when they were ready, we started off our engagement session!

 

 

Can you believe Sam hand sewed this doll?!

 

 

I took a quick group shot before the others left John and me with the two newly engaged! What lovely faces! ;)

 

 

As if this proposal wasn’t enough of a surprise for Grace, earlier that morning Sam told us that he wasn’t able to get her in a dress, but that she would maybe wear a peacoat (and he was quite right!) John and I couldn’t let our friend take her proposal after shots in jeans and a peacoat or just a sweatshirt, which we guessed she would wear, so with Sam’s permission we ran off quickly I find Grace an outfit at Forever 21 before we met back up with the group to help set up! We had 10 minutes to shop and thank God we were able to find a cute outfit! And even awesome-r, it fit Grace perfectly, and the necklace and flats were great apiary! Seriously it was all God’s work! Grace looked stunning! She’s always so beautiful, but it was so nice seeing her dressed up for this special day! :)

I let Grace keep on as much as she could to keep warm while we walked back to the location Sam proposed at. :) Look how excited she looked for this session! ;)

 

 

Grace’s words on this entire surprise:

The proposal… Happened quickly. I don’t know. I blanked out for the most part. I recall what he said during his speech, but I went on panic mode and I wasn’t really thinking. I usually like to be in control and know as much as I can if not everything. I like to plan out how to react to things so I know Sam was aiming to throw me off completely so I would just comply with everything he planned out. I guess from my point of view, I was caught off guard then swept off my feet into a whirlwind of his devious and sly planning. [Otherwise]… I probably wouldn’t have worn a dress or done a photo shoot because I love my comfort zone. But, it was sweet and I enjoyed it.

Job well done, Sam! You successfully surprised her!! :)

 

 

And then, of course, there was Sam’s answer that I posted at the top! It all happened with “style”! Haha! But he did add on to it:

It went smoothly thanks to the help of my amazing friends! I thank you much for the proposal and for the party afterwards! It was a blast! I HAVE FRIENDS!!!  I was hoping that she’d cry a bit more, but ah well. Her brain probably went blank so she wasn’t able to processes anything. Hahaha

Oh, Sam! :)

 

 

I met these two individually in college at the Christian fellowship I was a part of at UCR and when they started dating a couple years after they graduated, I would have never guessed, but I was so happy for them both! Since UCR, I had seen them as two amazing role models of a godly man and woman, and it was awesome to see them come together! Their relationship is such an encouragement to me, and getting to ask them about their relationship a little more, I was even more encouraged! Before I begin to unfold it all, let me just say, I was moved to shed a couple tears at how beautiful their relationship is! & I’ll be quoting them a lot because I absolutely loved their wording of this all!

I knew Sam as the Men’s Coordinator, and Grace as the Women’s Coordinator at AACF. Sam called me “Moon” back then due to a costume I wore once for an event (I cut out a moon and hung it around my neck with string, and my friend Sam did the same with a star), and because he couldn’t remember my name. Grace and I had an extremely long, but awesome, conversation that consisted of QUITE a number of things such as sweat and (poop). HAHA! They never really hung out together, or got very close during these times, though they hung out in larger groups with other friends. Most of their deeper conversations happened online, where they were able to be more open with one another. A trustworthy inside source, Wilhelm, who was the Core Coordinator of AACF at the time (he oversaw the entire fellowship like a president) and also a good friend of both, noted that during a game in which Grace had to truthfully say who in the room of AACF leaders they would date, regardless of their current dating status, she had answered Sam (though she had no interest at the time)! HAHA! Little did she know…

 

 

Sam and Grace were officially introduced to each other by their friend Tiffany at Sandals church briefly one Sunday in 2007. Funnily, as Grace recalls, she wasn’t having the greatest week and she wasn’t really interested in getting to know him (she had no idea she was meeting her other half). Sam, being the character he is, states his initial reaction of her as, “I remember it more like seeing this really sad/moody girl after a Sunday service at Sandals. Kinda reminded me of the Zoloft ball of depression commercial.” I couldn’t help but laugh! Haha! Don’t worry… it gets sweet. ;)

 

As they graduated and moved on in life, the continued to keep in contact online. After about a year since they had graduated, their conversations grew even deeper, and Sam realized that there was something about Grace that made him thoroughly enjoy talking with her. “…It always felt like a relaxing time to just talk about whatever I wanted or to listen to whatever she had to say. ” Grace noticed that her view on him had changed. “We talked a lot about who Christ was to us individually and we were more honest with our walk and struggles. I suppose seeing him over come his difficulties and his heart for lost people… changed my view of him.”

 

 

After they defined their relationship, and Sam told Grace how he had felt, I remember Grace sharing with me and a group of our friends that she honestly had to think and pray for a bit to help her decide if she should date him. It was during this time that a mutual good friend of Grace and Sam, Eric, called Grace and vouched honestly and truly for his friend. He told her that “[she] would NEVER find a guy who is so tight with God as he was and is.” To have had such a close brother in Christ vouch so firmly and adamantly for his brother is definitely such an awesome thing to see, and in my opinion it says a lot about a man’s character! And Grace’s followup to this statement that she shared also just blessed my heart. “Those words rang true. Day after day, week after week, month after month and now I can say year after year- I always see him prioritizing his relationship with God above me, school, games, family, etc. Every chance he gets, he spends it in prayer and reading the bible. He cherishes the word of God simply by putting it into action. Unlike in James where the man walks away and forget his reflection, Sam walks away knowing how is he.”

 

 

I asked Grace and Sam to tell me the things that they loved about each other. Grace, in relation to her previous quote, stated that she “love love loveee[s]” Sam’s relationship with God. Though it may sound like a Christian cliche, you can just tell that it’s so true by her responses about his character.  What’s awesome is that Sam said the similar thing about Grace! “I love how Grace remembers to place God first before me. I know that when her relationship with God is strong, then her mind and actions reflect that in our relationship. I also love how Grace is very considerate and always has my best intention in mind.” It may sound like a “Christian-ese” thing to say, but truly, this truth is so evident in each of their characters when you really get to meet either of them!

 

A second thing Grace mentioned that she loved about Sam was that he pushes her out of her comfort zone. Not so that he can just enjoy things he likes, but he pushes her for her own good, to correct “fundamentally incorrect views” Grace has of herself, or of life. Let me just quote the example she gave me. :)

One example… 2 weeks ago we went bowling which I loathed. I hated it because I didn’t bowl well and I was very score driven. I gave up before I threw the bowling ball 3 times. In many ways that reflected how I view life. My esteem drops the moment I fail because I expect perfection from the beginning. Sam knew this about me, and he called me out and then proceeded to show patience and taught me how to bowl properly and kept encouraging me throughout the game. Now I actually enjoy bowling and my score went from a score of 20 to a score of 85. :3 but most of all I learned an important lesson on how God desire to teach us and how He goes about it.

How beautiful is that? This correlates back to Grace’s response to when I asked what she thought it was that made their relationship “work”.

Something that makes our relationship work… We both have a huge desire of being like Christ and the church. We talk about how we want our relationship to be a light and to be an example. (I know its cliche but it’s because we really want Christ to dominate and rule our relationship) So because we have that vision in our minds, when we are confronted with difficulties we want to glorify God first so we work through it. It’s also part of our personalities to serve those we love because of the way we grew up. We both enjoy putting others first, so sometimes when we do get into conflicts its because we’re being too considerate (or we’re just ignorant haha).

It’s so encouraging for me to read about how their relationship with one another is so edifying and encouraging, and Christ-centered! It fills me with SO much joy!

 

 

Sam gave more amazing insight to what makes them work, as well!

Well our relationship works because we both know that this relationship is not the answer to our problems, and that we cannot find satisfaction from one another alone. That is too great a burden. Rather we find our joy and satisfaction in God first, then we share and enjoy that joy and love from God with each other. Another key part to our relationship is open and honest communication about EVERYTHING. Things the other person does that makes us happy, unhappy, what we’re thinking or feeling, and even truths that might hurt at the moment, because it’s all for the building up of the relationship. Also we place each other’s interests first, so we’re very considerate and though we have selfish desires, we do our best to try and understand the other person’s point of view and to explain and talk everything out in a mature way. So we always work on and try to understand how the other person feels loved and protected, and try to do those things, even if it’s not our natural way of expressing or showing love to the other person.

SO STINKING awesome. I was literally so encouraged by this reminder that a godly relationship isn’t built on solely love for one another, but built upon that stronger foundation of something even greater: Jesus Christ. It was also awesome to see how vital honesty, transparency, and sacrificial love are in their relationship. No, none of it is easy, but it’s important to work on!

 

 

 

They started talking about marriage sometime last winter, and when I asked them what made them realize that they were ready for marriage, Grace stated four main points that gave her clarity that he was the man she wanted to spend eternity with: “1. He points me to Christ and gives me to desire to pursue an intimate relationship with God; 2. I just kind of want to spend the rest of my life with him; 3. Financially and time wise its a good time; 4. I think we’re mature enough and we’ve learned about what makes us tick enough to overcome any issues that may arise.”

Sam’s response went like this:

Too many things to write about, but essentially I loved Grace and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. But there were many hurdles to overcome, many of which was giving up control of my life over to God and to trust that He would take care of them. Many of them were logistical things like finances of how we would pay for everything. Where we would live. Where would we work. And other personal issues too for myself like overcoming the fear of commitment, or the “Yes anxiety” as I call it. I think giving that over to God was probably the final step to committing to/making the possibility of marriage so early real.

AHHH! Such beautiful people, and such beautiful reasons for making this step forward together in faith! I can’t wait until they say their “I do”s and are joined as one! :)

The day before (Friday), Christine and I, with the help later on of Andy and John, set up Andy’s house for part 2 of Grace’s surprise–the engagement party! Christine coordinated and decorated everything in sight! She made quite awesome decorations, and planned everything quite perfectly upon their arrival! (Again, contact her to help you coordinate your next event, or wedding here!)

 

 

Though Grace was suspicious of an engagement party, she still came through the door and squealed in surprise of the amount of us! About 30 of Grace and Sam’s nearest and dearest, including their wonderful disciplers, Mark & Jocelyn, gathered together to come and celebrate their first step towards marriage!

Sometime during the celebration, Sam & Grace shared with the group how the proposal went, and it went a little something like this…

 

There was food, laughter, fellowship, and fun! What a good way to end such a beautiful day!

 

Now if you are good friends with this couple, you may be wondering how Sam must’ve kept in all his crazy faces, because trust me, he has a TON. Here are a few behind the scene shots John and I caught of him goofing off as usual. ;)

 

 

There’s a rope swing out in the park that Sam (& John) absolutely loved swinging off of and doing tricks on! Yes, it was dangerous looking, and yes. Grace & I cringed when they did their one-armed antics, and this crazy semi-flip!

 

 

 

And lastly, if you John feels really comfortable during a shoot, sometimes, he does this (it started with him cleaning up while I finished up some shots). Haha ;)

 

 

Anyhow, it’s almost a week later, and I asked them both how they’re feeling now that it happened and they’re engaged! Sam shared that he is happy, relieved that it all went well, and that he’s “thankful for all the friends we have that came out to support and love us!!!” Grace is equally happy, but she’s still shocked! “Still mind blown.” :)

I hope you were encouraged and touched by their story of love that they let me share! I absolutely LOVED photographing them and capturing these sweet moments!!

 

Happy Friday!