I mentioned in this post how the Waldorf Astoria Orlando helped us celebrate the engagement of two of my best friends, Jamie & Shane, while we were all in Orlando, FL together. It was such an honor to be there when Shane popped the question, and to be able to photograph their sweet moments around the Disney parks, and so with their permission, I wanted to share some of my favorite snaps from their engagement photos that I captured.
The Proposal
Shane, who is from Australia, met Jamie while she was serving drinks at the restaurant she manages, and Shane was in the United States to record an album, and had stopped into her restaurant by chance. They hit it off immediately, and stayed in touch even after he went back home, “down unda“. He was able to fly back to meet her parents in Arizona about a year later, and then again he returned to the states in the middle of the pandemic last year to be with Jamie after her older sister tragically lost her battle with cancer.
He has been such an amazing friend and partner to her through all of their long distance relationship, the crazy way the world has changed and the stress that came along with that, and through Jamie’s heartache. Hearing her talk about him, all of the wonderful things he does for her, and how happy he makes her makes me so excited for the two of them! He’s head over heels for her too, and he has a unique talent for relating anything wonderful he experiences throughout his day to day life to something that reminds him of Jamie, something he wants to do with Jamie someday, or something special she’s done for him; it’s the sweetest thing. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen two people who seem to work together so well – they’re a perfect match.
Shane clued me and Robin in that he was going to propose to her during our trip to Walt Disney World, and I was so excited to help plan a bit! I had no idea when Shane was actually going to propose, because he was waiting for the “perfect” timing, and he said he wasn’t sure when that would be. As we were exploring Jamie’s favorite park, Animal Kingdom, it worked out perfectly that there was no one around and the best photo spot in front of the Tree of Life was completely empty, something we didn’t see the entire rest of our time there. He got down on one knee and asked her to spend the rest of her life with him. I didn’t hear much else of what he said to her, because I was so nervous I’d mess up their photos I sort of got tunnel vision and got a bit dizzy but I didn’t let that stop me from doing my best, nor did I let it disrupt their sweet time together lol. You can see for yourself how much he loves her by how he looks at her, even without hearing a word he said.
Here are a few more of my favorite photos of them together, after their engagement. The sheer joy on their faces is contagious!
Aren’t they just the sweetest? I’m so excited for them! I’m also so thankful Shane told me he was planning to propose to Jamie during this trip, because it gave me enough time to purchase themed shirts for them to wear so they’d have something cute for photos at Magic Kingdom the next day. Here are some photos from that photoshoot I did of them the next day, because if you get engaged at the happiest place on Earth, you have to take as many chances to take cute photos as possible!
Magic Kingdom Engagement Photos
I love Magic Kingdom, it’s just so charming and romantic, which made it the perfect backdrop for their second round of engagement photos. I had so much fun taking these!
With this last one, I tried to get more of the castle inside the ring’s band, but it didn’t quite work the way I’d envisioned. It still looks so pretty with the out of focus castle in the background!
The above photo is one of my favorites. We took this at Epcot in Morocco, and the colors of their outfits unintentionally matched the background of this photo perfectly!
The Celebration
After they got engaged, we took Jamie & Shane out for dinner at a restaurant called Seito Sushi in Orlando, FL and it was seriously the best sushi I’ve ever had. The restaurant hooked us up with champagne to toast their happy news, as well as desserts, which was so thoughtful and unexpected. The Waldorf also helped us celebrate, which you can read all about here. We had so much fun celebrating their love, and I’m so happy to have been there when they were engaged. It was a fantastic day and one of the highlights of our already fantastic trip. I also stayed up extra late so I could edit all of their engagement photos in one day, and it was totally worth being a bit tired the next day to surprise them with their photos right away.
Congratulations to you both on your engagement, I’m overjoyed that you found one another in this huge world of ours. I’m so excited for your move to Australia, and to see what life has in store for you both. Thank you for being my friends, and for allowing me to be a part of your engagement – I love you guys so much!
Anonymous says
Congratulations to the happy couple!