To say that we were excited for Amanda and Grant’s engagement session would be an understatement. There were so many fun elements to anticipate – finally meeting these two that we had been emailing for months (well, I suppose we had met Amanda about a year ago when she was a bridesmaid for Michelle – but it was different this time!), exploring southern California for the first time, scouting out their beautiful wedding venue, and snuggling with Paisley and Poppy!! Oh, and I suppose also taking their engagement photos at Balboa Park. That too!

Amanda and Grant have an amazing love story – and I’m so excited to share it with you! These two met in law school in Nashville and quickly became fast friends. They could talk for hours, make each other laugh, go out with friends or just spend time together as the two of them. Every Sunday they would head to their favorite bar and watch their teams play. Amanda fell for Grant pretty quickly. Grant, however, just knew Amanda was his best friend. After some time, Grant began to realize that dating your best friend would pretty amazing… so they had the conversation about how their relationship would evolve and they were both willing to take the risk – good thing! They were both so close already (umm – three 30-hour road trips will do that to you), so their relationship progressed easily from there.

Their proposal was definitely an entertaining one. Grant and Amanda decided to go ring shopping together – after all, it is a big decision! When they had picked out “the ring” they made sure to tell the sales associate to call Grant when the ring was ready – they wanted the timeline to be a surprise. Welp. You can guess who they accidentally called saying “your ring is ready for pickup!” 😉 When the day finally arrived, Grant had a plan in his mind. He knew he wanted to propose by the pier with their dogs, Paisley and Poppy. However, Amanda’s family was in town to celebrate her dad’s birthday, and they all managed to take a nap that afternoon (hey – having family around is exhausting) and before they knew it – it was almost time for the birthday dinner reservation. Grant pulled Amanda’s dad aside and asked him if it was okay if he proposed during dinner – and of course he said yes. However, he also managed to say “this is so exciting!” in front of everyone on their way over to dinner. Amanda was starting to put the pieces together. But, of course, when the dessert came out with “Will you marry me?” written out rather than “happy birthday” all of the emotions flooded over her. I love that Grant got to propose in front of Amanda’s family!

Grant and Amanda, we absolutely loved getting to know you both (ahem – four)! I love the way you look at each other and how comfortable you were together. We can’t wait to see you all again in eight months… but I wish we lived closer! I can tell we would have board game marathon weekends…. ha! Thank you both for being wonderful!