Their Session: Liberty State Park, Jersey City

Meeting Kathleen and Victor was by far one of the coolest ways I’ve connected with a couple! Kathleen is the makeup artist for one of my brides, Nikki! She did Nikki’s makeup for her engagement session and we connected over Instagram first!! When she reached out, I was over the moon excited to get to work with another industry creative and photograph their Jersey City engagement session at Liberty State Park! I can’t get over how much fun these two have with each other and how easily they can make the other laugh. It definitely made my little photographer heart so happy to capture their playful side but also some seriously epic model-like portraits. You have to hear all about their adorable love story, I’m so obsessed!!

Their Love Story

Kathleen and Victor were both out at a TexMex restaurant for Cinco de Mayo. Kathleen met a couple friends from the area, who happened to also be from his hometown. She came to TexMex after a long day of work and actually wanted to go home, but somehow her friends convinced her to stay. So so glad that she did!!! One of her friends spotted Victor – she already knew him from high school. From what Kathleen heard, Victor wanted her friend to introduce them, which she did!

He was super sweet when they met and he called her beautiful, which got him some brownie points in her book! Their interaction was brief and they exchanged numbers and left off from there. That same weekend, Kathleen left for California with a friend because she was interested in moving there. Victor happened to know a ton of restaurants and cool bars to check out. She went to alllll of them and ended up having the best trip ever!

She said, “I knew I couldn’t be so lucky to meet a sweet, funny, classy and all-around cool guy so I had to go on a date when we got back. That’s exactly what we did, and we had the most fun! We didn’t want the date to end. We started off in a fancy restaurant with some red wine and ended up in a dive bar with some billiards and beer haha. We just vibed perfectly and he was the best of both worlds. He happened to be an educator, too, so we both lived through the struggle of coming out of college and landing our dream jobs! My favorite part is that we’re both seriously best friends, he’s a coach for high school football so I love watching his games when I can, we can hang out and cuddle and binge watch Netflix and we can be workaholics that run around for meetings and errands. I just never met a guy like him and I’m honestly so happy I met him that day.” Blessed for TexMex!!!

Now, get ready for this proposal!!! Kathleen said, “This proposal was unbelievable and I still to this day do not know how someone did not slip up! Victor and I moved to Jersey City a couple of years ago, I was working in the city and he was working in JC. It was convenient but our apartment was also beautiful and amazing! We both landed amazing jobs in New Jersey but JC was no longer convenient. We moved back to our hometowns to save some money for a house. The week of his birthday in July he explained his father would be in town from Florida and he wanted to do a birthday dinner together with the family. We planned a date and kinda left it from there. The night of the proposal was like any other day… (so I thought in the beginning) we got lunch and drove by our old apartment to reminisce on old times. We got a room in the Hyatt Hotel off the water in Jersey City, I assumed we got such a big fancy room because his family might be staying with us. He then went all out for everything, with drinks, with attire with the room, with everything! The restaurant was the rooftop of the Hyatt so we walked there from the room. When we entered the rooftop I didn’t see anyone, but other customers and his sister. Victor walked me to the balcony where it overlooked the Hudson and all of New York City and popped the question. He asked me to turn around and mine and his entire family, friends, loved ones from all over were there. We cried, and then we partied. We had the time of our lives, (everyone still talks about the epic night). It was the most beautiful well put together and seamless proposal I had ever seen and I still can’t believe I was the lucky girl to be proposed to.” VICTORRRR, are we kidding?! How freaking perfect are they?!

I love that they chose Jersey City for their session because it played such an important role in their love story. Kathleen says it’s where they really established themselves. “We would hang out in the downtown area, drink wine outside by the path station. We would listen to music when bands were in town, or walk around when they had whole food tents. It’s comfortable and relaxing but you can have a good time out there, too.” I’m so glad they went with somewhere that felt truly like them – I think it worked out pretty dang well! 😉

Kathleen and Victor,

You two are a joy and a half to hang out with. I’m so so thankful you reached out to me to be the one to take these special photos for you. If you looked this stunning at your session, I can’t even imagine how gorgeous you’ll look on your wedding day! Congratulations on your engagement and all of the exciting new adventures ahead. Love you two so much already and wishing you a lifetime of happiness and so much more laughter!! <3