I am so incredibly excited to share with you Brian & Karen’s engagement session! Right after the stormy El Niño weeks SoCal faced, we were blessed with a gorgeous day for a session! Karen & I had been texting and emailing back and forth to prepare for their adventure themed engagement session for quite some time, and when it was time to finally meet them, I was just so excited to finally meet the couple I had been preparing for! This was a very special session for them since years of their dating relationship was (& still is) long distance, which meant they didn’t really have any photos capturing their special times together since it was scarce! In fact, Karen kept trying to warn me that they might be a bit awkward–but I kid you not, this was far from what really happened! Their love and their sweetness just oozed out of them so naturally! Loved it!!
Brian & Karen met during their fourth year of college at UCSD. They met at their mutual church’s small group, where Brian would come regularly and quietly with his posse (according to Karen)! Karen was a new member at the time, and according to Brian, she was “warm, friendly, and welcoming”!
“I became initially interested in Karen just seeing how friendly and effusive her personality was. I am a bit of a reserved person so I found an outgoing personality attractive. But as I got to know her better I was able to see her warm heart towards others which also caught my attention.”
As it goes, they became good friends, and apparently Brian had to ask a couple times before they officially began dating! Karen was pretty impressed by how confident and persistent he was! ;)
“Even after I rejected him initially, he kept trying to be my friend and continued to ask me out. He didn’t stop trying to get to know me more. I think that is the initial reason why I became interested in him.”
Well good job, Brian! Haha! Kudos to you! Karen didn’t want to date while she was in college, but after their graduation, they started dating! This is where Brian first thought of creating an Adventure Book based off Karen’s favorite movie, “UP”! *Cue the cute theme music* He bought an empty scrapbook that was entitled “Brian and Karen’s Adventure Book”, attached 20+ balloons to it and asked her to fill it out with him! And this is how they officially became official! Here’s a better glimpse of it from Brian’s point of view:
“I prepared the sketch book and balloons in my apartment right in the middle of the room. As it was a surprise, I was so excited to finally show her what I prepared. But upon entering my room, she walked passed the whole preparation like it didn’t exist. After several minutes of waiting for her to comment I finally asked if she didn’t see the balloons to which she replied that she thought that I had bought all of that for a roommate. It was so funny and frustrating at the same time but it is a fond memory that we started our relationship with.”
Haha! This Adventure Book theme is also what brought us here today! Brian specially crafted and created another Adventure book (with the help of a friend) when he proposed to Karen!
“Because Brian used the adventure scrapbook to ask me out after college, he wanted to continue our adventure from dating to marriage by incorporating the same idea into his proposal. He asked his friends to help him prepare a real Brian & Karen’s Adventure Book. Inside the book, there were pictures from how we started dating, fell in love, and even his preparation for proposal. He brought me back to Scripps Pier where we used to hang out a lot in college, and then he asked me to open the adventure book. When I turned to second-to-last page, it was a picture of us sitting on the bench looking at the Scripps Pier–the very same spot where we were sitting while I was reading the adventure book. On the last page, there were 4 polaroid photos with my cat, Kitty, my mom, his parents and him holding the sign “Will you marry me?””
Dear Brian, I’ve gotta say, I stinkin’ LOVE how craftily you incorporated this singular theme in your relationship! This now leads us to our Adventure themed engagement session we had on the campus of UCSD, and at Scripps Pier, where their engagement story begins!
“Being in a long distance has been tough. The hardest part was being unable to physically be present with one another. It was tough knowing that we would be unable to meet even for the simplest of things such as a meal. Although we were unable to spend time together in the same place, it was a blessing to be able to have FaceTime. Through that at least we were able to have some semblance of being in each other’s presence.”
– Brian
“Dating long distance is tough because it turns a romantic relationship into more like a friendship. Hope is what helped us get through the long distance relationship. The hope of one day we will be able to live in the same city, start our own family together and share our lives together with God’s love.”
– Karen
“I feel loved when Brian buys me flowers randomly, fills up gas for my car, drives an hour to my house to hang out with me, takes me out to nice dinner, holds my hand when we walk across the street, makes sure I get home safely when I’m out with friends, writes me cards every anniversary/birthday, and when he does the many more little things he does for me. But I felt most loved when he told me that his biggest accomplishment so far in his life is our long distance relationship over the past 6, going on 7, years.”
– Karen
D’awwww. I was gushing when I read this! So sweet!!
We ended our session at Scripps Pier, with the bench where Karen said “Yes!” as our first stop! :)
It was truly such a glorious and beautiful day, and God truly just set everything up perfectly to finish capturing the story of the love He so graciously gave them. Maybe it’s because this exact location has the most memories or sentimentality, but this was my absolute favorite part of the session. :)
“Loyal, honest and funny. These are the three words I will use to describe Brian. To me, Brian is loyal because you can always count on him when you need him, whether it’s his friends or family; He is honest, because he will not lie to me, except when he’s trying to pull a prank on me; And he is funny, because I always laugh when I’m with him.”
– Karen
Three words Brian used to describe Karen:
“Beautiful: Only because I do not get to tell her this enough! I truly do believe that she is beautiful regardless of time or situation. Adventurous: Karen is always ready for a new adventure whether its exploring a new restaurant, new place, new activity. She is always welcome to try new things Faithful: Karen’s faithfulness has always been encouraging throughout the years. Not only has she been faithful to my wishes and goals, she has been faithful for the welfare of my family and friends. But most importantly she has been such an amazing example of faithfulness to God, many times in our relationship showing me what it truly means to love and follow Jesus.”
“I feel most loved by Karen whenever I’m reminded of how much she has given up and will give up for my career. Shes willing to give up her dream job, her comfortable life in Los Angeles, her family, and so many other things for the sake of the continuation of my career. The fact that she is willing to give up so much for me tells me ultimately how much she loves me.”
– Brian
What an example of selfless love!
As we packed up and got ready to leave San Diego, I couldn’t help but look back out at the ending sunset! It truly was such a beautiful day to spend with the two of them! :)
Now lastly, a word of advice from Brian for those who are seriously dating and close to reaching that stage of engagement:
“If I had to give advice about getting engaged I would say to put less weight on the current circumstances. There will always be school, jobs, events, etc always in the way and upcoming. There will never be an ideal time to propose/get married. If you know you want to be with that person for the rest of your life do it as soon as you can and don’t let outside pressure/circumstances dictate that date.”
And a quote Karen wanted to share for those of you nearing that point of being engaged:
“To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.”
– Tim Keller
Happy Friday!