Amanda + James Engagement Session at the Japanese Tea Gardens

November 19, 2020

Hanging with Amanda and James was nothing short of FUN on Friday the 13th. It amuses me that was their session date because – well, their story has amusement written all over it! James has an infectious sense of humor, initially attracting Amanda’s attention on their first date… and they, together, made me laugh all of Friday afternoon. Originally I had meant Amanda on FaceTime, and I got to hear all about their story, how they fell in love and the proposal! It’s not one to soon forget, but while I was taking ring shots for them, I decided to ask James his side of the story… mainly because I just wanted to hear it again!! Haha. I cannot wait for y’all to read on! I’m sure their wedding is going to be a GAS!! After you read, check out all the images of Amanda + James Engagement Session at the Japanese Tea Gardens!!!

How They Met

We were matched on the dating app, Tinder. After messaging for a few days, we met at the Flying Saucer for drinks. The conversation flowed easily and he made me laugh. At the end of the date, we both agreed that we were interested in meeting up again sometime. Sometime ended up being the next night, as James asked me to go to dinner with him.

Becoming BF/GF

A month and half after our first date at Flying Saucer, James and I met downtown to have dinner on the Riverwalk. After dinner, we walked along the Riverwalk. It was the beginning of December and I love seeing all the Christmas lights along the Riverwalk. During our walk James gave me a necklace. I told him it was a big gift to give someone who wasn’t his girlfriend and his reply was, “Maybe this is my way of asking you to be my girlfriend?” and how could a girl say no to that?

The Proposal

James and I were supposed to go to Disney World in May 2020. But a little thing called COVID derailed those plans and James’ original plan to propose at Disney World. Not wanting to wait until our trip could be rescheduled James came up with a plan b. On March 31st, James came over to my apartment for dinner. After dinner, we watched a movie. And after the movie, James announced he had to go to the bathroom. As James headed to the bathroom, I went to remove the DVD from the DVD player. Then I heard James call my name. From the bathroom, which in my apartment was in my bedroom. I was like, “yeah?” and he’s like come here. I walk towards my bedroom and was like, “what do you need?” and he said “just come here.” As I walk into my bedroom, the bathroom door is closed, and I’m really nervous about what is on the other side. I walk to the bathroom door and open it. Inside, James is down on one knee with the ring in his hands. “Amanda, will you marry me?”. I went to turn around and said I can’t do this right now! In the bathroom! But he grabbed my hand and asked me again and I said Yes!

James wanted the proposal to be a surprise and my apartment didn’t have a lot of areas where James could have pulled off the element of surprise, which left the bathroom. Also, being the jokester, James wanted to propose on March 31st, so when I went to tell people the next day they would think it was an April Fool’s joke. Funny though, when I did tell people the next day, no one even thought about April Fool’s. My big smile and ring probably seemed a bit too real.