D+J|Married (Yosemite Wedding Photographer)

When Danielle contacted me about her wedding last year I was beyond excited! She had so many fantastic ideas for her wedding day and it was going to take place in Yosemite. Since Danielle and Justin are from Texas they were having to plan everything remotely, ship items and I even brought a few props as well. When the day approached I finally met Danielle and her family and it felt like we had been old friends. They are some of the kindest people I have ever met. As I write this post I am saying it in a Texas drawl just FYI. The wedding couldn’t have been more magical. They chose to do a first look and then have the ceremony under some trees over looking a meadow and a waterfall. After the wedding while we weer taking photos her family and his set up the picnic reception in the meadow. There was beautiful music being played while we ate and did I mention there was a waterfall?

The proposal: “Friday, December 23, 2011 Christmas Eve Eve”
“On Friday morning, Danielle had been doing last minute Christmas shopping, finishing wrapping gifts, & baking as they were both planning on returning to go see their families back home for Christmas. As Justin was out running a few errands, Danielle was exhausted and decided to lay down for a bit to take a nap. Later, when Justin returned that afternoon he quietly walked in the room and placed two gifts next to her as she was sleeping. Justin decided to send her a text that said “LOOK!” She was so tired that she completely ignored the text and continued to sleep. After several attempts Justin finally walked in and said, “Your phone keeps going off, you think you need to check it?” She said, “No I will when I wake up.”
Justin eventually said to her again “LOOK” and she grabbed her phone which was inches from the gifts next to her head. She used the light of her phone to look at him to see what was different about him. “Did you get a haircut or shave?” Danielle said. Justin laughed and said, “No, LOOK.” Danielle, getting frustrated, as she didn’t know what to look at Justin pointed at the gifts. She soon smiled really big and began to open her gifts.
Justin knows that Danielle is a hard person to fool for surprises so he decided to place her gifts in two boxes. One box had some old shoes in it and another box had a sweater in it. As she shook her gifts she instantly knew what he had bought her. “A pair of shoes and clothing of some kind.” Inside the first box with the shoes contained a small red box. She looked and said, “Oh My Gosh, what is that?” He said, “Just open it.” As she opened it, she found a pair of earrings. He could tell she was excited, but she thought that it would be a ring. When she opened the second gift, it was a sweater. When she pulled it out, an envelope fell, and she said, “What are all these random things?”
When she opened the envelope, there was a framed picture of Justin in front of a Christmas tree holding a ring on one knee. As she was staring at the picture, she was trying to figure out what he was holding and kept saying, “What are you holding?” At the same time Justin had been on one knee holding her ring trying to get her to look up for at least 10 seconds, but she wouldn’t. When she finally looked up, she saw him holding a ring with a little note on it, and she grabbed it to try it on smiling from ear to ear. Justin did not even get a chance to ask, “Will you marry me?” After about thirty seconds went by, she couldn’t stop smiling, Justin said, “Well I assume that is a yes?” She looked at him and said YES!!!

I feel so fortunate to capture their wedding day and be in the presence of such sweet, genuine people. Thank you again and I hope you enjoy your pictures.