The search for a creative, colorful and fun engagement session led this sweet couple to a local pop-up carnival, and to their photographer, our Fave Shea Christine Photography . Both the setting and the pro were a great fit for their personalities, and the perfect homage to the location where Bruce asked Tyla to be his wife.
Bruce, from Indiana, and Tyla, a native Floridian from Orlando, met while working as camp counselors in West Virginia, eight summers ago. As Tyla tells us, "Camp is a really unique place to start dating... you really see the best and worst of someone when you are a thousand miles from home, sleeping in a cabin, caring for campers, and making a fool out of yourself at the camp talent show! Dates consisted of campfires, canoe rides, or chaperoning camp dances together. We had an amazing summer getting to know each other!"
By happy circumstance, Bruce moved to West Palm Beach after camp to begin his career as an elementary school teacher, making a long-distance relationship commute manageable; for Tyla's last three years of undergrad and her two years of graduate school, Bruce made the trek to UCF every weekend to see her. And in Tyla's first year of graduate school, Bruce sealed the deal on a trip to Los Angeles - but not before Tyla got an inkling that something was about to change: "The night before the flight, my mom was showing me some of her vintage rings, and asked me to try some on and if I liked any, and if they fit, I could have them! Of course, I tried them on, and picked my favorites. But... she changed her mind, and wanted to keep them! She couldn't fool me. I knew we had just had a ring fitting."
Little did I know, Bruce already had an engagement ring in his suitcase and would propose the very next day! Bruce proposed at Santa Monica Beach, at sunset. The Santa Monica Pier and the famous Ferris Wheel was our backdrop.
Bruce and I really love a good carnival. Between the people watching and the fried Oreos, you really can't go wrong. Once we arrived at the carnival and met up with our amazing photographer, Shea, you could tell her creativity was flowing and we would not only have an amazing photoshoot, but a ton of fun at the fair!
“ Many of our shots would not have been possible without Shea's creativity and courage... she rode her own bumper car while taking pictures, and sat in an opposing Ferris wheel cart and took pictures from the sky, looking down on us! ”
The two tied the knot in Orlando, the site of so many weekends spent together, on a stage in "a swanky theater". From the custom marquee to the red carpet, they treated their guests to a fabulously fun time - which sounds perfectly in character, don't you think? Congratulations, guys!
