Delayed flight take-off.  Thunderstorms all day.  Airport shutdown.  Closed roads due to protests.  There were so many reasons to cancel Michelle and Shawn’s South Miami Beach summer engagement session. But, nothing was going to stop this adorable Florida couple from meeting up with Nicole for mini engagement session in Miami Florida as Nicole was only there for a day and half.

In a perfect world, we would have had about 1.5 to 2 hours for their session.  Plenty of time to explore South Miami Beach and Ocean Drive, but after all the delays life threw at us, we had less than 20 minutes before it was too dark and that was even pushing things a bit!  Michelle and Shawn were just extremely grateful for this opportunity to work with Nicole and she captured what she could. 

Both Michelle and Shawn are Florida natives, just not Miami natives.  Both had relocated to Miami from different parts of the state for school.  According to Michelle, their love story is a little unusual.  These two lovebirds met in a lab full of cadavers (oh we forgot to mention, Michelle is an Occupational Therapist and Shawn just started his second year of medical school). Shawn was Michelle’s anatomy tutor during her first year of grad school and taught her all about the lungs… What started as tutoring sessions turned into actual dates for these two. 

After Michelle took his breath away while teaching her about the lungs and 4 years of dating, Shawn was ready to make another major move towards his future.  As these two were headed for a brunch date, Michelle decided to dress up for the occasion.  However, the brunch was a disguise for them to go out and Shawn took her to their favorite beach spot in Miami, Virginia Key Beach.  As they arrived, Shawn surprised her with roses and champagne.  As they were on the beach, Shawn got down on one knee, presented a vintage rose-gold pear shaped ring and asked Michelle to be his wife.  Of course, she said yes!!!! (Disclaimer… this is normally where we showcase the stunning ring, but since Nicole was traveling light, the macro lens didn’t make the cut…. sadly, we were not able to capture the bling but we can say Shawn did an amazing job and Michelle is very lucky).

These two are still in the are in the early stages of wedding planning, they were beyond grateful for an opportunity to get in front of Nicole’s camera, even if it was for only 15-20 minutes. And we’re not sad they did either. Our only regret is there wasn’t more time with these two! But we can’t control planes, traffic, or weather.

The only major benefit to getting to the beach so late… no one was around and we had the view to ourselves!!!

Michelle and Shawn, thank you so much for meeting Nicole at South Miami Beach for a mini engagement session!  She had an amazing time working with both of you as you are the sweetest couple ever. Her only regret is she wanted more time with you two in front of the camera because you two are just naturals!!!  As wedding planning becomes crazy, remember to slow down and appreciate the time you get to spend with your best friend playing with your French bulldog Luna, salsa dancing, exploring new cities, or trying new restaurants.   Enjoy this time as it is the beginning of the next part of your lives together!

Happy Wedding Planning,

Nicole & Ryan