Charles and Sarah met at their alma mater, UCLA, in a Christian fellowship they attended together, Intervarsity! A mutual friend introduced them and they grew closer the more time they spent with one another. As time went by and they became better friends, and even classmates at a point, sparks definitely flew. ;)
“The first thing I remember about Charles is his sense of humor and his dorkiness. He could always make me laugh even when I was completely stressed out about school and midterms/finals.” – Sarah
It was a beautiful day for a photoshoot! The sun was up, but it was surprisingly not too hot! It was truly great! As we walked around Franklin Canyon Park, I definitely got to witness how well Sarah and Charles worked together! There were so many laughs and just a really evident sense of love and care for one another! It was truly a sweet time. :)
To get a glimpse of Charles’ humorous side, I hearing his answer about what 3 things he loved about Sarah:
1. That she knows how to talk to people so I don’t have to. I’m just terrible at making conversation.
2. She loves food. I love food. So we’ll be totally be okay with being fat and old together.
3. Her butt.
HAHA! Too funny!
Well, let me stop just talking about how cute they are, and let me start showing you their sweet engagement session!
“The first thing that attracted me to her was when she put her head on my shoulder in our film class when she fell asleep.” – Charles
As they hung out more, and chatted more online (the good old days of AIM), Sarah started to notice how comfortable she was with him.
“I started questioning myself if it was “normal” to hang out with someone of the opposite gender every day and feel so close and comfortable with him. So I decided to initiate the conversation with Charles about our relationship of whether we were just friends and going to continue being just really good friends or does it seem to be more than “just friends”. I wanted to get his perspective of our relationship and what he thought and what he wanted. We had a sit down conversation about it and he initially didn’t know what to think (I think…) and we gave ourselves time apart to think about it. After about a week or two apart, which was the longest we haven’t seen or spoken to each other, to think about if we wanted to be more than “just friends”, we both mutually decided to give it a try.” – Sarah
I’m so glad they decided to give it a try because they’re truly such a beautiful couple now! :)
“I love Charles’ sense of humor/dorkiness, openness to try new things, and his calmness (especially since I am a naturally anxious person).” – Sarah
Before we headed off to UCLA, we found this great little patch on the side of the trail! And the laughs and sweetness continued! :)
One of Sarah’s excited requests while we were shooting was for her to get a picture taken on the school’s mascot statue, Joe Bruin! Let me just say, it took quite some effort to get up there, but she did it!!
And here’s the little behind the scene of what happened as Sarah climbed onto the bear! ;)
“I knew I wanted to marry Charles because he was so patient with me and in general. He never has “blow ups”, never yells, and doesn’t have a temper. Because my personality is always anxious and a bit impatient, it really helped me in my daily routines that he was so patient. Also, not only was he so kind and patient with me, he’s like that to everyone we know and new people we meet.” – Sarah
As I saw them interact more and more during the shoot, it just became more and more awesome to watch love naturally flow between them, and it was so exciting being able to witness it. :)
I remember clearly that as soon as I sat there with them and their wine glasses filled with water they instantly began toasting each other over and over again, which made them laugh and made me laugh because it looked pretty silly! Haha! But I loved how easily amused they were and how quick it was to draw up natural laughter from them. :)
As we took these shots, I discovered that it’s actually Charles who is the reader between the two of them, which made it a bit comical that it was Sarah reading to Charles! Haha! But Sarah did a great job reading aloud for all of us there. ;)
It was so crazy how the sun was instantly hidden after Sarah & Charles changed into their second outfits! As John and I waited with their things we were shocked to see the clouds come in! Sarah was such a trooper for wearing her dress in the cold!
I asked Charles what made their relationship work, and I loved hearing his answer.
“…She has the character traits that make me a better person. She has the A type personality that I am so terrible at. Organization, planning ahead, outgoing, etc. [She] complements my personality and makes us better together… We accept each other’s fault and that we would always choose to go the extra length for each other.”
The one thing that I always find truly beautiful is hearing about how couples love one another, and how they choose to love one another despite the faults, differences and challenges. It’s such a beautiful depiction and reminder to me of how God loves us despite our own failures and faults. :)
“I knew I wanted to marry Charles because he was so patient with me in general. He never has “blow ups”, never yells, and doesn’t have a temper. Because my personality is always anxious and a bit impatient, it really helped me in my daily routines that he was so patient. Also, not only was he so kind and patient with me, he’s like that to everyone we know and new people we meet.” – Sarah
The wind started coming in, which made things a bit tough with the balloons, but we used it to our advantage for fun! ;)
Now the story of how Charles proposed is pretty sweet! Hehe :) Here’s the story from Sarah’s point of view:
“My best girlfriend, her sister, and him “tricked” me and told me we were getting happy hour at Terranea and then walking/hiking around Palos Verdes because we’ve been wanting to go hiking for awhile (and I totally wasn’t expecting a proposal till Summer and it was February). So we went to go eat happy hour at a sushi restaurant at Terranea, then went to the Donald Trump Golf Course to take a walk because the location has trails that go to a beach. We had brought along our cameras, and as the sun was setting. My friend Jin told us to turn around to face the ocean and the sun to take a silhouette picture.
Charles and I stood side by side facing the ocean and the sunset and then he turns me around to face him and he kneels and takes out and opens the box with when he was down on one knee. It was to the gist of: I know you’ve been waiting and wanting this for a long time…thank you for being so patient with me and loving me….will you marry me? LOL!! I was so shocked I wasn’t listening that well to what he was saying LOL. I think I didn’t even verbalize a yes and just stood there motionless. Then, I waited for him to put the ring on my finger but nothing happened, so I whispered to him (because I knew my friends were video tapping), “Do I put the ring on myself?” and he said yes, so I felt super awkward and had to take the ring out of the box and put it on my own finger. I felt really awkward because in the movies/on TV you always see the man put the ring on the woman. I think because he was so nervous he didn’t even think of it. At the moment, I remember it feeling completely surreal (I think because I’ve been waiting so long for it to happen).”
HAHA! A note to you gentlemen about proposals, don’t forget to put the ring onto her finger! ;) I can only imagine how nerve wrecking proposing must be! Props to you Charles! It sounds like such a classy proposal! Sunset, beach, ring, down on one knee–sounds perfect! Here’s Charles’ view on his proposal:
“There isn’t much without going into the nitty-gritty. Just months of saving money and then purchasing the ring in secret after I figured out which style she wanted. I invited her out to a “hike” with some close friends (to take pictures) and then waiting/stalling until the right moment to say the words. It was at small trail behind a golf course that ran to the beach and waited until the sun broke through the clouds to make my move. I can’t really describe the incredible nervousness I felt even knowing that she would say yes (most likely) .
It went much better than I expected considering the day started off cloudy and gloomy. I was pretty much determined to do it no matter the condition of the day. When I look back, I almost think that getting the right ring was tougher than the proposal itself. Almost. There was so much that went into getting the correct size, style, and still fall under my meager budget that I was almost as relieved after buying the ring as I was after the proposal haha.”
:)
As it got darker, we ended the session with the beautiful LA bokeh behind them! It was so great getting to take their photos back where their relationship began. We just had so much fun! :)
I asked Charles and Sarah to share something they learned from their relationship and of course, Charles’ answer made me laugh: “Letting her win makes everything go smoother.” HAHA! Reminds me of the old saying, “Happy wife = happy life”! Good thing he’s learned it early on! ;)
Sarah also shared what she learned from their relationship, as well. :)
“I’ve realized compromise is a huge part of the relationship, and both people need to be willing to compromise. And kind of related, when Charles does something differently than I to reach the same goal (or finished product), it doesn’t mean it’s the wrong way, just a different way.”
Charles also imparted a piece of wisdom to all you couples out there!
“Talk a lot. Just tell each other all the things in your brains. It’s better to let the other person know right away if you’re struggling, hurt, or whatever because it’ll eventually get out anyway and be a bigger burden on both of you.”
So true! Communication is so important!
CONGRATULATIONS CHARLES & SARAH! I’m so excited for the both of you and the things to come! :)
Happy Friday!