From childhood friends to high school sweethearts and now soon-to-be husband and wife, Valencia and Kevin’s love has already spanned a lifetime – seemingly destined-to-be since birth. The New Jersey natives chose the beach and boardwalk of Asbury Park as the backdrop to their engagement session – having been a “central piece” of their relationship. Valencia looks forward to Kevin’s reaction to seeing her in the wedding dress on their special day.
Read all about Valencia & Kevin’s love story and sentimental surprise beach proposal in this intimate and stylish engagement session, coordinated by MunaLuchi Coterie member Prestige Affairs Event Production and beautifully captured by Quintessence Photography.
Bride & Groom-to-be: Valencia & Kevin
Occupations: Bride – Diversity and Inclusion Educator; Groom- Commercial Account Manager
Wedding date: July 16, 2017
Wedding location: Aberdeen, NJ
Location of Engagement shoot: Asbury Park, NJ
Tell us how you met and all about the proposal. How we met differs depending on who you ask! For me, we initially met under the watchful eye of my grandmother who babysat both of us when we were toddlers. For Kevin, he recalls us meeting at church years later. We ended up becoming great friends and developed innocent crushes on each other during our youth group meetings. Eventually, in high school, Kevin got the heads up from my cousin that I did in fact like him and a few months later he asked me out. We’ve been on the love roller-coaster ever since.
We got engaged on July 4th, 2015. Kevin and my girlfriends had been planning the surprise proposal for months. Mainly, because it’s incredibly hard to surprise me; I can be a tad bit nosy. Ultimately they fooled me into thinking I was planning a fourth of July weekend with friends in our hometown, Asbury Park, NJ. I grew up along the Jersey Shore so fourth of July is filled with firework shows, food festivals, bars, and of course, the beach. I thought it would have been a great time for us all to connect there since we haven’t seen each other in what felt like ages.
Meanwhile, I had been asking Kevin for months if we could have some professional pictures taken for our milestone dating anniversary and he kept putting it off. A few weeks before we were headed to Asbury Park from Upstate New York, he told me he had scheduled our photo shoot during our weekend home. Fast forward to fourth of July weekend and the photo shoot gets cancelled last minute and I’m a bit devastated. Luckily, we had dinner plans on the boardwalk with our friends who were in town for the holiday so my outfit wasn’t a complete waste! During dinner we had all stepped out to watch the fireworks show and one of our friends suggested taking pictures on the boardwalk and beach. I thought it was a great idea because I had my make-up, hair and nails done prior for the cancelled photo shoot. As we’re taking group pictures, I quickly noticed our friends scattered, and when I turned around Kevin was on one knee asking me to marry him! I couldn’t believe it. It honestly felt like it was just the both of us at the beach and after I said yes we were surrounded by our friends, family, and even strangers who congratulated us. It was truly special!
In the end, Kevin and my friends tricked me into planning parts of my engagement, such as getting my friends to all be in the same place at the same time, which allowed me to be preoccupied planning other things than noticing that they had their own agenda!
Describe your engagement session. We didn’t have a real theme for our e-session. We knew we wanted to do our casual, fun look on the Asbury Park boardwalk because it’s been a central piece to our relationship. We’ve had many dates there, it’s where we said I love you for the first time and got engaged. For our second look, we wanted to set the tone for our wedding: modern elegance. We both enjoy getting dressed up and our e-session was a fun way to show both sides of our personalities.
What did you do on your first date? Wow, we were so young! Our first date was to the movies to see Coach Carter. Afterwards, we grabbed something to eat at the mall’s food court and spent hours talking to each other.
What’s your favorite thing to do as a couple? We love trying and exploring new places and things. Whether it’s a new city, restaurant, activity or event.
How has wedding planning been so far? Wedding planning so far has been great! Initially, I thought I wanted to plan the wedding on my own, however, with new adjustments in our lives; moving to a different state, finding new jobs, etc., that idea quickly shifted and we hired a wedding planner. Best. Decision. Ever. Having a planner has truly allowed us to enjoy the season of being engaged and preparing for marriage.
Tell us what you’re looking forward to most on the wedding day.
Valencia – There are so many things I’m looking forward to! From having a private and intimate moment together during our first look, seeing Kevin’s reaction when he sees me in my wedding dress, to getting ready with my bridesmaids in our suite and celebrating with our closest friends and family.
Kevin – I’m looking forward to the entire experience. From the ceremony to the reception and being surround by our friends and family.
Vendors:
Wedding Planner – Prestige Affairs Event Production
Photographer – David Betram of Quintessence Photography
Wardrobe Stylist – Cassandre Joseph
Makeup Artist – Juicy Looks by Abby
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