If someone had videotaped Christina and Hamed’s love story, it would be reminiscent of Love & Basketball, the quintessential black romantic comedy of the early 2000s. After Hamed moved to her hometown 23 years ago he became best friends with her older brother and soon was at their house almost every day. They began building a friendship when Christina began playing basketball with him and her brother, then during her junior year of high school they began dating. As in the movie they separated for some time, but a little more than a decade later rekindled the love affair that began when they were so young. For her 31st birthday, she planned a fun birthday shoot, but he had a secret plan of his own. He conspired with the photographer to surprise her doing the shoot with a proposal, you can see the look of sheer joy and bemusement on her face as she agreed to be his wife. Their second e-session was a Love & Basketball themed shoot, which is one of their favorite movies; the bride-to-be said the court is nostalgic of the time they spent together as kids. We wish this couple all the best on their October wedding!
How They Met
23 years ago, Hamed moved from Lexington Park, MD to Brigadoon Trial, Baltimore County, MD. He became a very close friend my my brother, one of his best friends to this day, Ron Junior. Hamed became like family, always coming around, playing basketball with Ron Junior and Senior, as well as the rest of the crew Kirk, John, Mike, Ryan, and Kevin. The Williams’ home became the Kool-Aid house of the neighborhood, where all would come to find refuge and hangout. At a young age Christina took an interest in sports. You’ll hear stories told by her brother Ron, how she was the only girl on the court at times, tagging along to watch, sitting on the side eating sunflower seeds, and eventually ended up playing ball with the fellas. Well as they got older, they took a little more notice of each other and during Christina’s junior year in high school, their friendship blossomed into something more and began dating. But as divine providence had it, they went their separate ways, only to reunite 13 years later. Their wedding marks twenty plus years of laughs, smiles, breakups, tears, heartache, and maturation. This is *pretty much* their story 20 years in the making!
The Proposal
On my 31st birthday we planned a birthday photo shoot. I had the day all planned out. Hair and nail appointment, then home to get ready for the photo shoot. Little did I know that Hamed had another plan. He had been acting weird all day. I tried to pay him no mind because it was “MY DAY”. Well at the photo shoot Hamed and I were looking great! Our wonderful photographer Arica said, “Ok let me just get a few pictures so that I can check the lighting and stuff”. (By the way, she was in on what was about to go down). As Hamed and I were taking test pictures he got on one knee purposed and that’s how my birthday photo shoot turned into our first engagement session!
The Engagement Session
Our engagement session was really about celebrating how we met and grew up. We took pictures right in front of my childhood home. It was like our lives came full circle by taking picture there and then by him proposing was the cherry on top. I chose the color combination based off a pair of sexy heels I had in my closet but never wore Sole Obsession from DSW. He decided to go with grey and yellow to compliment my bright yellow dress by Shabby Apple. My accessories brought the shoes and dress together. My custom made necklace (Etsy/kirstenann) matched the sparkle in my heels and my simple red dot earrings were very simple and my watch was by Guess. Hamed had on a grey vest & pants from H&M and his tie was part of his personal collection!
The second half of our session was on the basketball court, something that we both grew up playing, together sometimes. Love and Basketball is one of our favorite movies and that was our theme. A playful game of b-ball between two people that love each other. Simple black and white, with a hint of red. I chose this color because of this cute blazer I found at Charlotte Russe, simple skinny jeans from Macy’s and a cute sparkly tank top. Shoe by Shoedazzle. Love necklace and rings from Forever21. Hamed wore Sean John cardigan and jeans, H&M v-neck tee, shoes were by Aldo, watch by Movado. We did not go shopping together it just looks that way…lol!
Looking Forward to the Wedding
We are most looking forward to becoming husband and wife on the beach of Jamaica this October, with some of our closest family and friends!
Vendors
Etsy-KristenAnn
Shoedazzle
Thank you so much! My fiance and I are thrilled that you posted our story! Our wonderful photographer Arica Gonzalez of AJ Gonzalez Photographer is the best! We could not have looked this great without her!
The joyyyy on her face is so palpable and infectious. Smiling over here on my laptop happy for the lovely couple.