This beautiful engagement shoot by MEIWEN WANG is drenched in that stunning California light. Captured in Palos Verdes on a secluded rocky portion of the coast Michelle & Hans were the absolute dream couple to for Meiwen to photograph – their love for each other is so fun and obvious to see. “They took us down to a secluded area of the Palos Verdes coastline, near the area where he proposed, where they often go running together. I love that the location was a familiar and special place to them, and there was nobody else but us there. The entire afternoon felt like we were just hanging out with good friends, but also casually documenting their love & intimate interactions– my favourite kind of shoot!“
The couple share their proposal story with us, “Hans proposed to me on June 11th, 2016. The morning of, Hans told me he was going to a friends graduation at UCLA but he was actually setting up with everyone. The location he chose was our favourite spot to run in Palos Verdes. It is this small cliff that overlooks the ocean with the Palos Verdes cliffs on the side. When I first found this place I thought it would be amazing to be proposed here but I never told anyone. Somehow he was thinking the same thing!
So after he comes back from “graduation” he tells me let’s celebrate our 4.5 yr anniversary early! Let’s dress up a little and take some pictures. I go along with it so we’re driving down Palos Verdes Drive but we have to pass the location, park, and walk to get to the location. As we were driving we saw his sister and my sister booking it to get there before we do. I chuckled and said, “Hans, I saw someone that looks just like your sister.” He brushes it off but later we see my mom and my step dad walking and it just became hilarious from there.
Once we park I walk closer down the trail, up ahead I see pink rose petals leading the way and rose gold painted vases with pink peonies too. I inch forward and right around the bush I saw everyone with cameras and phones! They all said hi and then I was directed to the center. Hans comes over to me and says his speech then gets down on one knee as I’m tearing up and asks me to marry him! After I said yes, everyone ran over. A few people left early while we took more pictures.
I thought that was the end of the festivities but we drove to another location and I thought we were taking more pictures. But when I got there I saw three picnic blankets on the grass and a beautiful tree with pictures of us circling the trunk of the tree. There was also a chalk board with calligraphy saying “Congratulations Hans and Michelle #yaoweidding” they already came up with a wedding hash tag for us!
A few of our close friends were there too and it was basically a picnic celebration with everyone we loved. By the end of the night before the sunset we just all grabbed a football and threw it around. It was perfect. I could have just gotten married there because that was really all I wanted for a wedding. This proposal was more than I could ever dream of and I was so overwhelmed by all the love and support from our friends and family.“
