Tom & Jenna

How They Met

We met at a bible study for Young Adults. I was late getting there, and ended up sitting directly across the room from him. I had been coming to the group for a few months, so it was very obvious when there was someone new in the group. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of him. Shortly after he started coming to group, he revealed that his birthday was coming up. Since I sell cupcakes as a hobby, I asked him what kind he would like for me to bring. He said he was much more of a pie person. So I baked him a homemade apple pie. He ended up eating the entire thing within 24hrs of receiving it. He jokes with people and tells them that’s why he’s marrying me.

The Proposal

Tom had a key to my apartment, and had come over before I got off of work. He wanted to make me a spaghetti dinner (my favorite), and wanted to get there early to set up and get started. When I got home, he had the pre-lit candles turned on and the lights turned down low. I was suspicious from the moment I walked in. I asked him what he was doing, and he responded with, “I just want to make you a nice spaghetti dinner!” So I went to my room and dressed down to sweats and comfort clothes. I was sitting on my bed, and he came into the room holding something behind his back. He asked me to scoot to the edge of the bed. I told him, “No. What are you doing?” His response, “Do you trust me? Just come sit at the edge of the bed.”

I thought he was going to feed me something unpleasant since he had just started cooking dinner. He began a proposal speech, and I began to tear up. He pulled out a white box, he got down on one knee, and opened the box. He said, “Will you eat my spaghetti dinner?” and opened the box to reveal uncooked spaghetti noodles. Needless to say, I was in-between laughs and tears. It was and wasn’t funny. We continued on through the night. He made me the most delicious dinner, loaded me up on carbs and wine, and eventually disappeared. When he came back, he got down on one knee, and started into the real proposal speech. He revealed the actual ring, and asked me to marry him. The whole night sums us up perfectly; laid back, goofy, honest, and real.

The Engagement Session

We are both very simple people, and wanted to do something that represented us, that wasn’t cheesy, and something we could have fun doing. We chose to make a pie (since that’s how I hooked him in the beginning stages). We had just moved into this big, beautiful house, and the kitchen is my dream kitchen. We decided to do the shoot in the beautiful space that we had just acquired, and make good use of it.

The Engagement Ring

We went ring shopping together. We went to Diamonds Direct in Richmond, Virginia and looked at a few different rings. I had spent the past couple of weeks searching through Pinterest trying to find the perfect ring. I ended up going with a ring that I didn’t even have on my radar. I had tried on a few different rings, and the gentleman who was helping us at Diamonds Direct was very open and honest about the 4 C’s in choosing a diamond. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the one Tom ended up getting for me. I tried it on, and fell in love with it. All the others left me with an uneasy feeling, like it just wasn’t right, and putting this one on almost had me in tears with how right it felt. It’s perfect. It looks like a flower, and the rose gold goes perfectly with my skin tone. It’s classic, unique, and breathtaking. Everyone who has seen it is enamored by it, and want to know everything possible about it.

Photos by Caroline Martin Creative