Laurel Parker Weddings

I can’t begin to tell you how much I love this couple!  We have become fast friends, and we’ve had a great time together.  Derrick is the guy to have around if you want a quick laugh.  They just both make me smile.  For now I am strictly under oath to only share this beautiful engagement session with you, but I can’t begin to tell you how anxious and excited I am to share Amorette’s stunning bridal session out at the Salt Flats too.  That will just have to wait a few more weeks.    

A wonderful California wedding is in the works, with formals planned for the Redwood Forest.  I have a feeling this wedding is going to be one of the highlights of my summer!  You’ll want to stay tuned for sure!

Keep reading while Amorette shares her romantic engagement story:  ”Derrick and I dance for a performing group called Living Legends at BYU. We had a show at BYU one night, which was attended by our families and many of our friends. After the show, I went to go get ice cream with my family and Derrick went to go spend time with his family (so I thought). After eating at Sub Zero with my family, I said goodbye to my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. I got back in the car with my parents and my best friend, Kaitlynn, who told me she had “something” she wanted to do and that I needed to “go along with it.” She proceeded to put a blindfold over my eyes and head phones in my ears. A recording started to play and it was Derrick’s voice. He began to tell me a list of 100 reasons why he loved me. In that moment I knew what was going to happen! He was going to propose that night! I got giddy and started smiling and giggling as I listened to each reason why he loved me. My parents were driving us somewhere, but I had no clue where we were going. Once the tape stopped, the car stopped as well. Kaitlynn took the head phones off, but had me keep the blindfold on. All of a sudden, the car door opened and my dad and Derrick’s dad began escorting me out of the car, and I began walking with them on something that felt like snow covered rocks. Then all of a sudden, I felt cold hands grab mine and I knew it was Derrick. He began leading me out…somewhere… Then we stopped walking and he took my blindfold off. I looked around and realized I was standing on the frozen Utah lake. We were encircled by a bunch of glowing tiki torches and candles and flowers all around. He turned on some music and we began dancing to the Savage Garden song “I knew I loved you before I met you.” After dancing for about a minute, he began to tell me how much he loved me and other sweet things, and he got down on one knee, pulled out the most beautiful ring and asked me to marry him! I smiled super big and said yes! Then all of a sudden I heard a bunch of cars honking and lights began flashing, and I turned around and saw a line of about 30 cars behind me. Then all of a sudden about 50 of our friends and family came swarming out of the cars and onto the ice to congratulate us! It was so awesome! Afterwards, we went to Derrick’s house and had a big dance party! It was the best night of my life!!”

I’m so excited for Kellyann & John’s upcoming wedding!  They are such a cute and happy couple.  It’s easy to see from these pictures that they are completely in love, and they didn’t have any trouble pretending that I wasn’t there.  We were hoping for a beautiful sunset out at the lake to end our shoot with, but I’m so glad for the moody storm clouds that we got instead.  They made for some unique and colorful images.

Keep reading for the extra “sweet” story submitted by Kellyann of how John proposed to her!

“John and I met in English on our first day of high school.  However, our first date didn’t come until six years later.  Since I was going to school in St. George and he was living in Salt Lake, our first two dates were a month apart.  But after that we tried to spend almost every weekend together.  After being home for a month at Christmas, I had to return to St. George for my final 6 weeks.  It was at this time that John put the engagement plan into motion.  He secretly mailed my roommate, Kira, a package consisting of 6 letters and money for cupcakes at my favorite cupcake shop, “Twenty Fifth and Main.”  Each Tuesday Kira and I would go get a cupcake and then I could read my letter from John to countdown the weeks until I would be home again.

On the last week, I knew that my mom was coming down on Wednesday to start helping me clean my apartment and pack, and that John and my dad were coming down on Friday to help me move.  With this in mind, on Tuesday, February 19, 2013, Kira picked me up for cupcake/letter night.  After we picked the cupcakes we wanted, the cashier said, “We have some red velvet ones in the back if you want some.”  Since red velvet is my favorite, of course I did, oblivious to the fact that they never have red velvet cupcakes.  As she went to get the cupcakes, Kira sat down in the booth.  Again, I was oblivious, as we never stay, and Kira hadn’t paid for our cupcakes yet.  As we were waiting, I of course was talking about John and how he was coming down to help me move.  At that point, he came around the corner with a pink box of red velvet cupcakes with, “Will you marry me?” written on the inside of the lid. My gorgeous engagement ring was sitting on a cupcake frosted like a daisy, my favorite flower.  He got down on one knee and said, “Kellyann, I will love you forever.”  I really didn’t hear any of this because I was so surprised, and my first reaction was “Oh my gosh, how embarrassing we were just talking about you!”  My face was as pink as the cupcake box!”