Elizabeth Ray Photography

Garden District + City Park {New Orleans}

Rey – one word to describe Courtney- Scrumptious
Courtney – one word to describe Rey- Tantalizing

How did you two meet?
It was our orientation weekend at college in DC and we met initially
on a camping trip. It was a brief interaction between us initially
and she had trouble remembering my name. We had a few classes in
common and during one of our first chemistry classes Courtney lent me
a pencil. After class she told me to “keep it.” During the same week
on our first weekend out we ran into one another at a DC hot spot
called Bravo Bravo. Courtney was easy to spot as she had on a
psychedelic shirt. We started talking and dating shortly there after.
I later found out that she had swung by my dorm room earlier in the
evening to see what I was up to that night.

what’s the engagement story?
The plan was to tentatively propose to Courtney on December 23rd,
prior to going out to dinner in New Orleans. I had come up with a
pretty good plan, but she kept saying things that led me to believe
she knew it was coming that night. I made a decision to wing it so to
speak and propose on Dec 21 up in Baton Rouge where Courtney lives.
We had made casual plans to get sushi that evening. We enjoyed a nice
dinner, however I was feeling the heat and simply wanted to propose as
I had the ring in my pocket. Things did not go as planned at dinner,
so we ended up going home and having some cocktails on Courtney’s
patio with our three best friends…our dogs. We were chatting and
the mood was quite nice. After a brief proclamation of my love for
Coco I asked her to marry me and she said “Yes.”

FRIEND PHOTO BOMB:

tell us about your wedding day and what you are planning?!
We are getting married on April 27th 2013 at Race and Religious. We
have always been huge fans of Cuban cuisine and have used our wedding
as an excuse to play it up a bit. Being that my father is from Cuba
we figure nobody will think twice about it. We are going to have a
small ceremony followed by a party.

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05-10-2012

Matthew & Katharine : {Married}

Race + Religious { New Orleans}

Matthew – One word to Describe Katharine -Sassy
Katharine – One word to describe Matthew – Loyal

How did you two meet?
Hmmm let me count the ways…..
Matthew and I grew up at the same little christian school on the Northshore, went to the same church, his mom is a teacher at our school, I hung out with his little brother in high school, and his little sister and I went to the same university.
One summer when I was working at a hotel on the Northshore, I was surprised to see Matthew walk through the door for his first day of work in his hotel uniform.
I told him it was good to see him and that I didn’t realize that he was back from Iraq. His response was…
Do I know you?

> What’s the engagement story?

The first week Matthew and I were together was a whirlwind romance. We spent every waking moment together before I had to leave to go back to school. We were only together a week before we decided that we were going to try a long distance relationship.

One of our first dates was to a light house in Madisonville that I had never been to before. We always said that we were going to go back,but three years later and we were still talking about this date that we hadn’t had the chance to take.

Finally we decided that we were going to make this happen. That weekend it rained.

The next week we were excited to go…. and I got sick

At last we woke up before sunrise, went down to the light house, and the waves were too big for our little canoe. We had to come up with plan B.

Where we were parked we could not see the sunrise because we were too close to the tree line, so we just decided to have our picnic on top of Matt’s SUV. As the sun started to come up Matthew started to act a little weird. Finally Matt grabbed my hand and said ” let’s stand up and start the day together!”. I was reluctant at first but went along with it anyway.

So there were were, teetering on top of his SUV, as the sun was coming up, and with our special light house in the distance. Then Matthew gave me a kiss on the cheek and dropped to one knee! He gave a perfect little speech and asked me to marry him! So for the next couple hours we stayed on top of that car laughing, eating our breakfast picnic, calling our loved ones, crying, and then laughing some more. perfect day

Tell us about your wedding day and what you planned?
Race and religious was perfect for us. We wanted a place that was personal and intimate, a place that could tell our story. It is a venue that you could explore a hundred times and still find something new and beautiful. It was amazing to have all of our favorite people in one place celebrate together. We loved every inch of our day!

How was the cake?
My favorite cake was our groom’s cake. Chocolate with hazelnut gnosh. Yum! We hot married on Matt’s dad’s birthday so It also doubled as a birthday cake.

Katharine – What will you remember most about your wedding day?
Setting up before the wedding. Matt and I set up the decorations that morning with some friends. My family didn’t think we should see each other, but I was so glad he was there. He is my sanity.

Matthew – Do you have a favorite memory from the day?
The first look photos, it made everything feel real… That we would finally be married at the end of the day.

One word to describe the married life?
Adventurous

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05-02-2012

AHMED + LENA {ENGAGED}

♡ French Quarter + Warehouse District : New Orleans ♡

love this shoot! and the shoes!! and the rooftop! and the…. the whole shoot. I think i’m just going say it. The warehouse district is the new French Quarter. Lena and Ahmed! way to go!! keep shinin’!

Lena: One word to describe Ahmed: selfless

Ahmed: One word to describe Lena: soulmate

How did you two meet? We met at a mutual friend’s happy hour that was being held le cote brasserie that happens to be called the “young professional’s society” which mysteriously sounds like a speed dating service. Lena describes this story. Ahmed vehemently denies it.

What’s the engagement story? There I was, perturbed that Ahmed was late and wishing we could spend more time together the weekend before I left to Dallas for an entire month. Sure, he was on call the night before, but he had been home for a while and we were supposed to go to his friend’s party.

What’s the engagement Story:

When he finally came, he apologized for being late and anxiously said that we should go to this mysteriously early party in the french quarter. He called a cab and we went to Jackson square. When we arrived, he was extremely nervous and said, “we’re early.”

“Who arrives to a party early?”

“Sorry. Let’s walk around some…”

After two laps around Jackson square, he finally admitted, “Hey baby, I can’t find the horse and carriage I rented as a surprise.” As he said it, the horse and carriage pulled up and away we went. At this point, I knew, but I didn’t know where.

After riding around the city for about a half hour, we pulled up to a stop sign and to my surprise, we were at La Cote Brasserie, the restaurant where we met! We walked inside, and at the table where we met he set up roses, strawberries and candles. Nervously, he said a long-winded speech, pulled out a ring, and through my tears (and behind his friend’s camera flashes) I said yes…

Afterwards, we called our families and went to dinner at Tommy’s. He told me afterwards that he had dessert set up on my rooftop and we should call our friends from there. We climbed the stairs, hoping no one was there, only to find that “surprise!”, all of our friends along with a great band were waiting to celebrate with us!

After a long night of celebration, I finally went to bed, on a high I’ve never felt before and elated, dreaming of the days to come.

Tell us about your wedding day and what you are planning:

The wedding is going to be in Columbia, SC! It is set for labor day weekend on September, 2. It will be a fusion of India, Arabic and American cultures and traditions. The ceremony will be outdoors and held at the lace house. The reception will be at the same venue. The night before there will be a Henna party

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04-22-2012

Happy Earth Day !

i think you are lovely.

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04-10-2012

I Dream in Seersucker