Paola + Paulina :: 3/21/22 :: Elopement in San Diego

Today is our 11 year business anniversary and it is SO exciting to be posting about Paola and Paulina today! We did an elopement giveaway for our 10 year anniversary last year and these two were our winners! About them and their proposal(s) in their own words:

"We met at the book signing of The Host, her best friend was my internet friend! 

We started talking online and promptly became great friends. When she went through a breakup we started getting closer and closer, finally on March 21st of 2011 I told her I was falling for her and she said she was too! On march 24th we had our first kiss eating clementine sorbet. Our families weren’t ok with us being in a same sex relationship and it was a VERY hard time for the first 2 years, we sneaked around to talk, and had to have our friends chaperone our visits. We were 1.5 hrs away from each other. Once I graduated and saved some money I moved to her city to be together, but suffered discrimination at my place of work and had to quit and go back to living with my mom. She did an exchange program in france and graduated, but things weren’t the best by then and in nov 2016 broke up with me, we were in very different places and our relationship wasn’t working. Fast forward to april 2019, she moved to San Diego for her work and I was working here too, we started casually talking and going out, I was still seeing other people and she started to get jealous. She invited me to stay over at her apartment a few times and it wasn’t long before we fell for each other again. We had long deep difficult conversations about where we were and what we wanted, and decided that if were to be a couple again, it would be forever. In october 2019 we decided to take a leap of faith and get back together. When march 2020 and the pandemic hit, I asked to move in with her because my mom was extremely susceptible to covid and I was working at a primary care clinic, besides itas “only for a few weeks” ...the pandemic didn’t go away so we looked for an apartment and moved in together in July 2020 with our 7yo dog Honey. 

I bought her engagement ring to propose in NYE but shortly before, during a marriage conversation, she expressed her wish to propose to me first...my plans got ruined and had nothing else to do but wait. I did got an engraved heart ring box for her ring that has our names and “will you marry me?” In the back. We started planning our anniversary weekend, and I didn’t know, but she was planning the perfect proposal. She got me my dream Heidi Gibson ring, she enlisted my best friends one to take pictures ans the other one to coordinate a decorator to set up a beautiful picnic in the loft we rented for the weekend; he got me a present and presented me the full scenario after covering my eyes. Our songs were in a playlist and she first gave me a present, that contained a sweatshirt that read “future wifey”. In her speech she quoted Taylor Swift (my favorite) and how much she knew it was always me. After she proposed I ran to my suitcase, and brought back the heart shaped ring box, knelt to the ground and prop"

As part of their prize they received personal flowers from the incredible Urban Marigold (in their favorite colors!) and after their wonderful ceremony at city hall on a sunny Monday afternoon, we visited Balboa Park for all the incredible portrait locations. We had such a blast with them and their families, and wadore these two incredibly kind humans. We wish them all the love in the world as they begin married life together!

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Enjoy!