It’s no surprise that Laguna Gloria engagement photos always end up being some of my very favorite – Chris and Taylor’s mid-morning session was no exception! From the moment we exchanged emails, I knew we were going to get along. Our fun didn’t just stop at their session, but we get to KEEP having fun since we’ll be photographing their elopement in Big Sur next fall! As a bicoastal photographer in both Austin and the Bay Area, it worked out perfectly that we got to shoot their engagement photos in Austin AND are getting to shoot their wedding in California. It really was kismet.
As for Taylor and Chris’ story, Taylor was kind enough to share how they met, fell in love, and got engaged. 🙂
Our “how we met” story isn’t anything crazy. We met at a bar – Kung Fu Saloon in Austin, TX. Chris was chatting with my group of friends and introduced himself to me. We hung out as friends about a month after that and ended up breaking away from our group of friends to grab dinner with each other (sushi!). I asked Chris to go to a music festival with me the following weekend, and the rest is history.
Neither of us can think of a specific moment when we knew we wanted to marry the other person. Ever since we started dating, everything just felt “right” so I guess we’ve always known that we wanted to be together forever!
We planned on spending a romantic week in Napa and Sonoma in late September 2020. Unfortunately this was during the California wildfires. We kept track of the fires and air quality to make sure it was safe as the trip was approaching. Everything seemed great, but once our plane landed in San Francisco I received several voicemails from wineries cancelling our reservations due to smoke – a large fire had started overnight right before our flight. We spent one lovely day in Sonoma then had to cancel the remainder of our wine country trip. By this point any suspicions of a proposal went out the window for me. *I later found out that Chris originally planned on proposing at Castello di Amorosa in Napa and lined up a photographer to capture it, but had to cancel because part of the castle burned.
So without any agenda, we took our rental car, drove down the coast, ended up in Monterey Bay and enjoyed the remainder of our vacation. We spent our last day in Carmel. Chris was adamant that I wear my favorite dress and said he wanted to visit a few scenic places that day. We went on the scenic 17 Mile Drive and he was acting a little off the entire day. I still did not expect a proposal since our plans had gone so off-course.
We were at a scenic overlook toward the end of the 17 Mile Drive and had asked another couple to snap photos of us. I walked away and had a conversation with someone else, and while I was gone Chris asked the woman to take more photos and whispered that he was going to propose. We took those last photos and Chris suddenly stopped and turned to me with his hand in his pocket. He said “Taylor, I couldn’t imagine my life without you and I just couldn’t wait any longer. Will you marry me?” I responded with “obviously!!!”. I was so excited that I yanked the ring out of the box and put it on my finger myself. We had to take time to calm ourselves down in the car before finishing the rest of the drive.
We are most excited to have a romantic, carefree wedding day at Big Sur. Since we plan on having a private elopement ceremony, we get to have a totally intimate experience and focus only on each other!
Laguna Gloria Engagement Photos
If you love these film Laguna Gloria Engagement Photos, you will LOVE this Big Sur elopement!
Paige Vaughn Photo is an Austin and San Francisco Wedding Photographer specializing in fun, romantic and vibrant wedding, engagement, couple and boudoir photography. Within the Bay Area, we serve San Francisco, the South Bay, Peninsula, and East Bay: San Jose, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Carlos, Burlingame, Los Altos, Milpitas, Union City, Fremont, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Carmel, Monterey, Santa Cruz and surrounding areas. Within the Central Texas area, we serve: downtown Austin, Dripping Springs, Georgetown, East Austin, Wimberley, New Braunfels, San Antonio, and Houston. She is available for destination weddings and engagement sessions! Contact her for more detailed pricing.
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