I met Grace and Jason a few months ago when they came into the newly opened Los Angeles shop together to search for an engagement ring. They were both still on cloud nine from Jason’s recent proposal and full of infectious laughter and excitement. After exploring many designers, Grace settled on a gorgeous brown diamond hexagon ring by Satomi Kawakita. I had to special order the size she wanted, and the day it arrived Grace and Jason came to the shop with photographer in tow to commemorate the experience. I loved working with this super cute couple and asked them to share their story and beautiful photographs with us here. A: Tell me a little about yourselves. How did you guys meet? G: We met at a party; I remember seeing a cute boy in the corner. By the end of the night, I gave him my number and by the end of 2 weeks we were dating. 8 years later, here we are!
A: How did Jason propose? G: On the eve of our 8-year anniversary, I was feeling exhausted from work and wanted to sleep early. Jason was being weirdly insistent on staying up until midnight. Desire for sleep won over, and I went to bed at 10pm. At midnight, I was pulled out of my slumber by Jason shaking me awake. He had fashioned a ring out of aluminum foil and went to a big box jewelry store to get a ring box. Laughter ensued for about 30 minutes, and then I went back to sleep and woke up feeling like I had a weird but wonderful dream.
A: What brought you into ESQUELETO to search for the ring? G: A mild obsession with ESQUELETO Oakland's Instagram page. My cousin, the very talented Hannah Suh of Hannah Suh Photography had done some work with the store in April 2015. I immediately fell in love with the unique rings and knew that my engagement ring would be something untraditional. Whether it was kismet or coincidence; Esqueleto opened up shop in LA the following summer!
A: I love that you guys did your engagement shoot inside the store, that was so much fun. Can you tell me about that, how you got that idea? G: Even though Jason's proposal absolutely reflects our intimacy and I wouldn't have it any other way, I was also giddy about how to commemorate the moment and share it with my friends and family. Since it would be the first day we had the ring, I couldn't think of a better place and time for a "proposal shoot." The Esqueleto LA store had the aesthetic that we love so much, so I asked a friend of mine, Erich Chen of Erich Chen Photography, if he had time for a mini-session. A: What are the big wedding plans? G: Still trying to filter down my lifetime of dreams into a feasible wedding. We like small, close, personal gatherings, but we also love to throw down once in a while. Do we go for our everyday, or do we take on a massive project? It'll be a fine balance between my crazy dreams, Jason's practical mindset and our two Pinterest boards. So far, we both like a 1920's art-deco garden party. Fingers crossed!