From a long distance coast-to-coast relationship to a glowing Paris proposal (for which the Groom-to-be took guitar lessons to serenade his sweetie! swoon) this duo has us captivated with their macarons and bling and their afternoon of row-boating in Central Park. Are they not the cutest? Judy Pak made sure to bottle up every bit of that cuteness in the form of this gallery—see it all here!
From the Bride-to-be… The love story between me and Roy begins in Fall 2008, when we met through our business fraternity in college. At the time, we were actually dating other people, so we were nothing but “acquaintances” for a couple of years. We often ran into each other at social gatherings of mutual friends, and it was clear that there was always an unspoken attraction, but we always left it at that. We finally decided to stop making our run-ins an accident and had our first “official” date in Summer 2011, about a month before he was all set to move from San Francisco to Boston for a new job. Although our friends called us crazy at the time, we spent almost every day he had left together and ended up starting a long distance coast-to-coast relationship. This is the last thing anyone would have expected out of us, but I guess it’s true when they say “you just know” when you’ve found the one! Many red-eye-flights and sad airport goodbyes later, I finally decided to join Roy in Boston a year later, and we have since been growing our love and building our life all over the East Coast.
On December 29, 2013, Roy proposed to me in the city of love, lights, and macarons: Paris, France. Paris was our last stop on a multi-country European vacation and Roy told me he made dinner reservations for us to celebrate as we were nearing the end of our trip. The restaurant was breathtaking, with floor-to-ceiling glass windows over the Seine River. After excusing himself from the table shortly after we were seated, a waiter came to me with an iPad “containing their dinner menu options” for the evening. I was surprised to find a tear-jerking slideshow he put together of our most cherished moments in our relationship. Once the video ended, I turned around to find Roy holding a guitar. I found out later that he had taken lessons and been practicing for months! He serenaded me to one of our songs, and once he finished, he got down on one knee and popped the question! The proposal was everything I could have asked for: beautiful, heartfelt, and in the most romantic city in the world! It was truly the happiest day of my life, and one I will cherish for years to come.
We decided to have a long engagement and enjoy the wedding planning process. Once it came time for engagement photos, Roy and I did some research and stumbled upon the incredible Judy Pak and immediately fell in love with her soft, editorial, and romantic style. We chose to capture our love in NYC (where we currently live) and chose the iconic Central Park as our backdrop. I have always thought rowboats were so romantic, so I was certain I wanted to incorporate them into our shoot.
We also wanted to infuse elements of Parisian flair into the engagement shoot to commemorate our Parisian engagement, so we brought along some macarons and red balloons. (Funny side story: We were actually very late to our dinner reservation in Paris the night of the proposal because I insisted on stopping at 3 different macaron shops on the way!) Judy is not only exceptionally talented, but also very friendly, patient, and easygoing. She helped bring our vision of our engagement photos to life, and I am so thankful for her and the beautiful way she captured our love. Thank you, Judy!
Photography: Judy Pak Studio