At the tender age of 17, LeAnn and Timothy met just as they were about to start their senior year in high school. Timothy worked at a local video store and his co-worker Eric was a friend of LeAnn’s. One day after school, Timothy road along with Eric to visit another mutual friend; one of LeAnn’s best friends. As any teenager would, Timothy asked her best friend if she had any friends he could “talk to”. After much convincing, LeAnn agreed to give Timothy her phone number.
After exchanging phone numbers, Timothy called LeAnn for the first time while she was attending cheer leading camp. After she visited Timothy at his job, a relationship ensued. Six months later, their relationship was official in December 2005.
After years of courtship, they got engaged in 2013 and decided to celebrate with a romantic e-session in Atlanta that took them from the dreamy Piedmont Park, to their Alma maters Spelman and Morehouse College. Akia René with The Better Beach Photography & Design beautifully captured their love.
The proposal:
Timothy’s proposal was a complete surprise and LeAnn says it was one of the best days of her life. After being together for 8 years. They were both finishing grad school and were ready to take their relationship to the next level. But LeAnn didn’t see the engagement happening anytime soon. On October 12, 2013, Timothy flew in from Chicago to attend an awards banquet hosted by her church. LeAnn was really excited because she was being recognized at the banquet as the “Next Emerging Leader” of her church, Timothy was in town and she hadn’t seen him in a few months and a lot of my family and friends would be in attendance.
LeAnn also had to give a short acceptance speech at the banquet so getting engaged at the banquet never ever crossed her mind. While giving my speech, she noticed Timothy standing at the front of the room and off to the side as if he was taking pictures with his cell phone. When the speech was over, LeAnn began to walk towards him so they could walk back to their table together. As she got closer to him, he began to get down on one knee. She literally had no idea what was going on and kept asking, “Tim, what are you doing?” Everyone in attendance at the banquet began screaming and all she could see was Tim down on his knee. When she looked out at the audience, the only person she could see was her mom with her hands in the air. In utter shock and after Tim asking had asked her to marry him three times, she finally said yes with tears streaming down her face.
Favorite thing to do as a couple:
Their favorite thing to do as a couple is to be adventurous and do things we’ve never done before! Anything from trying new restaurants, traveling to new cities, states and countries, trying new activities, etc. LeAnn and Timothy are very adventurous! However, there are some evenings where snuggling on the couch watching a good Redbox movie is all it takes!
The engagement session:
Their engagement session was awesome and a lot more fun than anticipated. Usually professional pictures are a little stressful for LeAnn because she always feels nervous afraid that she won’t like the pictures. Their photographer, Akia Rene’ with The Better Beach Photography & Design, did an amazing job helping them feel comfortable being themselves in front of the camera. The photographer posed them, created creative shots, allowing them to interject their own ideas and she was overall just wonderful to work with. Timothy and LeAnn wanted to have their engagement shoot in Piedmont Park as well as use Spelman College and/or Morehouse College campuses, their alma maters, as the location for their shoot. Since both LeAnn and Timothy are fun, young professionals, they wanted to make sure they captured fun shots in our casual clothes and some shots with a more professional look.
How has the wedding planning been so far?
For LeAnn, wedding planning has been great thus far. Having a year and two month long engagement, really helped decrease the stress of the process. The tow of them were able to enjoy the bliss of being engaged for a few months and then she got busy with planning. As the bride, there have been a few stressful moments but overall the wedding planning has been time consuming and busy but not necessarily stressful. The first thing on LeAnn’s agenda was securing the venue! After that, it was on to dress shopping with her mother and sister. After which, she began researching and booking vendors. With a little over 4 months to go until the big day, there is still a few loose ends to tie up but everything is falling into place.
What are you looking forward to on your wedding day most of all?
On the actual wedding day, LeAnn is looking forward to celebrating their union with all of their close family and friends. She’s most looking forward to the honeymoon with just the two of them relaxing in Costa Rica!
Vendors
Photography by Akia René
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