Last September I got an email in my inbox from a very excited (& a bit nervous) Vincent who was about to propose to his girlfriend at the time, Kami! I had never met him before, but he was referred to me by a friend from college (Thanks Nelson!!)! Though I didn’t know him personally yet, I got to know him a lot through our emails and one thing was instantly clear to me–Vince put a LOT of thought into what he wanted to do for Kami to make his proposal special for the two of them. He loved her. A lot. :)
Once we established a date (December 20th!), we made things final! He even made me a powerpoint image of the Tommy Statue (where he wanted to propose) since I told him that when he first contacted me, I had never been on USC grounds before! I was able to scope out USC with my friend Gail ahead of time, thankfully, and eagerly awaited for the day to come! Before I get into their sweet love story, let me just give you some details on what happened on the day of their special proposal! It’s amazing to see how everything came to work together!
Well first off… we were all running late… John and I had a bit of trouble getting there due to a few unexpected things, and Vince waited as his lovely fiance-to-be had a hair appointment that also pushed back the time a bit, so we (minus Kami) were all in a bit of a frenzy. Thankfully, John and I arrived a good 20 minutes ahead of them!
Secondly… we never would’ve guessed that there would be a WEDDING on campus that day! AND they were taking a couple of their bridal portraits right in front of the Tommy Statue! Let me tell you, John and I were frantic! We (okay it was John) ran around trying to find a secondary location for Vince before he came to help make sure things went smoothly! I pretty much blew up his phone trying to tell him ahead of time! But lo and behold RIGHT when they got on campus (John and I had to quickly play it cool), the wedding party moved locations and Vince winked at John to let him know things were back on track. ;) HAHA!
So as John and I tried our very best to cleverly get back into place in our original location, Vince led Kami to the iconic statue. And thus, the proposal story begins! A few words from Vince to start this all off:
“I wanted [the proposal] to be something special to us, yet memorable enough that it would always a great story. I tinkered with many ideas until I realized a few key things. For one, I am a terrible, terrible liar. An impromptu trip to Santa Barbara? The look on my face would be a dead giveaway that something was up. For two, our family and our friends are so important to us – I had to include them in any way possible. And lastly, the more I thought about it, the more I loved the idea of proposing where we met. In a way, it’s where our story started and where the next phase of our life together started as well.
Not going to lie, I am relieved and overjoyed it all went so well. In the moments leading up to the proposal spot, I was definitely starting to get very nervous that there was another party standing at our planned spot. But then as we got closer, they left – it was serendipity.”
Let me start off their story from the very beginning. The way Kami & Vincent met cracks me up! They shared the story with me during our little mini session after the proposal, and I couldn’t help but laugh!
“We met at a party my fraternity threw during welcome week in August 2008 – I know it’s super cliché. I think the first thing I ever said to Kami was, “Jello shot?”. Not even a complete sentence! And probably not very smooth, but it got us talking. My first impression of her? Man, she is HOT. As dorky as it sounds, I remember telling myself to be cool.”
-Vincent
I love how funny the beginning of their story is because it reminds me of how fun it was spending time with them and getting to know them! The session was full of laughs and smiles! :)
“He didn’t ask me out right away, but I knew there was something special about him.”
– Kami
Vince quickly walked Kami to the Tommy Statue after things were finally settled, and shared with her a few things before he finally got down onto one knee to ask her one of the most important questions he’d ever ask in his life. I asked him if there was a moment where he knew that he truly wanted to marry Kami and his reply was sweet. :)
“It’s hard to pinpoint a specific moment but if I had to, a few Christmases ago, we started to establish our traditions. Every Christmas we always set aside time to have “Our Christmas”, which takes place a few days before December 25th. Besides decorating our tree and house, this entails an evening of Christmas light viewing, complete with Hot Cocoa as well as Christmas movie night. We also have a Disneyland day because what’s more special than Disneyland in December? And it all culminates in exchanging and opening our gifts to each other. Creating these traditions is what makes a relationship special and as we’ve built them over the years, it made me think – what could be better than building a lifetime of them?”
“There wasn’t one specific moment, but being with Vince has always just felt right. I’ve known for a long time that he was the man I wanted to marry.”
– Kami
Alas! This was the moment where John & I were finally discovered!
“I was completely taken by surprise. Vince can never keep keep secrets from me. I almost always get my birthday or Christmas present weeks early because he will be too excited to keep it a secret. We used to joke that I would see a proposal coming from a mile away, but I really had no idea.
The whole experience was a blur. One moment, we were walking across campus, reminiscing about the good old days, and the next moment, he is in front of me, down on one knee, asking me to marry him. There were lots of tears, and I’m pretty sure I said yes. When the initial shock wore off, he introduced me to Margarette and John, who captured the moment without me even noticing. Afterwards he whisked me off to a restaurant for dinner– where all of our friends and family were waiting to surprise me. That night, he was bursting to tell me about the intricate web of lies he had to weave to make everything come together so perfectly.”
-Kami
You can bet your bottom dollar that I was smiling ear to ear from behind my camera (& I can guarantee that I was hehe-ing to myself)! :)
Once they had a couple of minutes to themselves they smiled at me to let me know they were ready for part two of their proposal–a surprise mini session! But first! They took out their phones to tell their parents the good news!
I asked Vincent and Kami individually a couple questions to get to know them better! One of them was what their first dates were like! Kami’s answers came with the comment, “I’m going to laugh so hard if our meeting/first date stories are completely different from one another’s. Six years was a long time ago!” And… laugh away Kami, because they were indeed different! Haha! But completely understandable! Six years IS a long time ago! So, here are both stories from each of their points of views!
Kami’s version of their first date:
“He actually asked me to be his date for his fraternity’s formal. That night was kind of a disaster (long story) so we decided to salvage it by going on a midnight dinner date at a small Thai restaurant in Hollywood where we got to know each other better over plates of pad thai and papaya salad.”
Vince’s version was completely different! Haha!
“It was very, very coy at first. Things like, “So… do you want to get frozen yogurt after class?”. Which led to us meeting up, talking for 3 hours and barely touching our frozen yogurt. If we don’t count the little lunch or frozen yogurt dates, I’d say our real first date was an unplanned adventure in Little Tokyo. It started with a coy, “want to get lunch?”. We got lunch in Little Tokyo at Oomasa. We really didn’t have anything beyond lunch planned but we were just happy to spend time together which led us to get boba. We talked and laughed until we were hungry again and had dinner at another place in Little Tokyo. After we ate, we walked around some more. I don’t remember what we did or what we saw, but I remember loving every minute of just spending time together.”
Well, either way, they got to know each other better during their dates! ;)
I also asked the two of them about each other! Here are three things Kami shared with me that she loves about Vincent:
“[Vincent] is the kindest person I have ever met. He always goes out of his way to help others or to make me feel special. His sense of humor clicks perfectly with mine. The two of us will be doubled over in laughter while our friends look at us like, “Ok weirdos, it wasn’t that funny.” He is smart. Really smart. In addition to holding two degrees (and pursuing a third) from USC, he always seems to know the answer to every question and can think through a solution to any problem.”
I love these questions because it helps me get to know them as a couple better, and it makes their love story even sweeter. :)
Here are the three things Vincent shared with me that he absolutely loved about Kami:
“[Her] sense of humor – she always knows what to say to make me laugh and she can be a total goofball. She has such a big heart – she will go out of her way to help someone else. She is an amazing cook and baker. She might say otherwise, but she’s never made a bad dish, cookie, or brownie in her lifetime”
I wish I got to experience that last quality! I lovee baked goods! ;) I definitely got to see how Kami could make Vincent laugh so easily! It was great! :)
Vincent shared with us one of his favorite memories with Kami:
“For my first birthday together, Kami planned an entire weekend trip to San Francisco. It was complete with memorable stops, delicious places to eat, and fun little things to do. A great weekend overall but one detail jumps out in my mind. On the way back, we pulled over to get something from the back seat. We happened to stop next to a farm that had donkeys. Kami opened her window and before I knew it, the entire group of donkeys had congregated at her window. Without fear or hesitation, she said “Can I pet them?!”. Her joy and excitement made that weekend complete.”
“My favorite moment is from a few months after we had been dating. For an early Christmas present, Vince surprised me by saying that we were taking off on a mini-vacation and gave me a ridiculous packing list (bathing suit, snowboarding pants, flip flops, boots). He ended up taking me to stay at the Grand Californian at Disneyland, where we had gone on many dates. One night, it rained in the park and it felt like we had the entire place to ourselves. We ran around Disneyland without a care in the world.”
– Kami
Kami & Vincent tried telling me they were awkward in front of the camera and that they never took pictures together, but I had such a great time photographing them! Their love for one another was just so evident it makes me smile just thinking about the session again! You could clearly tell Vincent just adored her, and you could equally see how much Kami cared for him. :)
“I think it’s important to make sure you appreciate each other, and also to let each other know that you appreciate each other. I’m always aware of how grateful I am to have Vince, and I like to make sure he knows it.”
– Kami
The night ended sweetly with the newly engaged couple ecstatic and overjoyed! The sun lowered and lowered and we ended Kami & Vincent’s mini session with one final kiss before Vince whisked her away to meet with their family and close friends for a mini engagement party! :)
So, what’s engaged life been like for Kami the past couple of weeks?
“It feels a little bit strange, because it feels the same but different. Nothing has changed in terms of our level of commitment to one another, but it feels special to make it official that we are getting married. Also, it has been super fun to tell all of our friends and family about the engagement.”
And for Vincent?
“It’s awesome! I think the part I’ve enjoyed the most is hearing the proposal story retold, over and over again. I love that it brings Kami so much joy. And the pictures! They really captured that moment and just look so amazing.”
Vincent shared a little bit of proposal advice for those of you looking at proposing soon! :)
“Enjoy every minute of it – from planning the proposal, to the proposal, to the engagement, and beyond. As the groom to be, I think you spend a lot of planning and thinking the proposal through and when you finally get up to that moment, it’s surreal. I know I had a lot of fear around whether or not something out of my control would ruin my carefully thought out plans but when it finally came down to it, no matter what happened, I knew I met the love of my life and that’s what matters most. Oh and as soon as you’re engaged, be ready to retell the proposal story and answer the question, “so when’s the wedding?””
CONGRATULATIONS VINCE & KAMI! John and I truly had a great time getting to spend time with you both and capture your special moments and we’re excited for you guys in this step towards a new stage in your lives! :)
Happy Friday!