Maui Sunset Honeymoon Session

Sydney and Denver’s enthralled and romantic love glowed through their photos during their honeymoon/engagement session with Aloha Zoe Photography. Their session involved the dark and earthy black and red sand beaches along with a hidden waterfall – seriously, how amazing is that! The tranquil feeling you get from staring at the green and brown shades in these pictures is incomparable!

How did you meet?

We met at our high school freshman orientation….and basically spent the next 3 years flirting, telling everyone we absolutely did NOT like each other, and texting 24/7. We’ll never forget the day one of our teachers said it was “so interesting that Denver always ends up at Sydney’s table despite having an assigned seat.” It’s so funny thinking about us at age 14…we don’t know why we didn’t just admit our crushes!! It ended up taking us being at two colleges, five hours away from one another, for three more years to realize we were always meant to be.

What is your proposal story?

We treated ourselves to a vacation in the Smoky Mountains with the intent to just disconnect and unwind. We booked a cabin, and that was the extent of our planning. On the way there, I found a few hikes that looked awesome for our first day. We woke up early on day 1 to try to get the bulk of the hike in before it got too hot. When we reached the waterfall at the end, us and a handful of other people stood in awe of the falls, incomplete and total silence. Although blissful to me, I later found out Denver was panicked. We both knew that every event for our wedding would be filled with other people, so we really wanted our engagement to be just us. All these people standing in SILENCE were completely messing up his proposal plans!! As we hiked back, he racked his brain for plan B, when I spotted a beautiful spot with two huge trees that the path passed between, and asked him to take a photo with me. Being completely alone, we set up the tripod and put the camera on a timer. Right when the camera was about to take the photo, he got down on one knee. Not only did we get the private engagement of our dreams, but an absolutely amazing photo of the exact moment. Like the engagement, we kept the photo to ourselves – but I can tell you it perfectly captures my total surprise and his complete joy. We got to spend the next week dreaming up our future together before returning home to celebrate with friends and family.

Tell us about the ring/band.

My engagement ring is a classic 6-prong solitaire with a thin white gold band. I love that it’s timeless, and when the light hits it right, it casts tiny prisms all over the place. It’s so beautiful. I chose an Art Deco inspired band to go with it. It’s the same width as my engagement ring band, but it has alternating emerald cut baguettes and round diamonds.

Tell us about your engagement shoot outfits and accessories.

Our outfits were kind of a happy accident. The silver slip skirt was part of what I wore for my bridal shower, and when I found the graphic tee with island scenes it just kind of clicked! I chose brushed gold monstera leaf earrings as an accessory – but I left it at that! Denver wears khaki jeans more than anything – so I thought that would be a good choice for him, so he could be comfortable. I wanted the shoot to capture “us” so I didn’t want to completely change up our usual looks.

Have you started planning your wedding? What is your wedding date?

We chose to do this shoot on our honeymoon, so the wedding was already over. We had the BEST time celebrating with our family and friends in New Orleans, then took off for two weeks in Hawaii! We were so glad we met with Ryan and Corinne for this shoot early in our trip – they really helped us unwind from all the craziness that the last year had been trying to plan. They brought us back to center and encouraged us to just soak everything in. Newly married, so in love, and on one of the worlds most beautiful islands. Their photos captured it all so we can treasure it forever.

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