My favorite part about working with my couples is taking the time to get to know their love story. Once a client confirms their booking, I send them a love story questionnaire. Their responses always make me smile and they also allow me to understand their vibe! Taking the time to listen to the details has always really paid off when shoot day comes around. I love playing music and doing what I can to ease any tension or nerves of being in front of a camera. (It happens to most!) Enjoy a few of Sabrina + Jonah’s love story, its a cute one!!
Curious about these love questionnaires?
Read Kady + Bobby’s Love Story | Vashon Island Elopement
Q: When did you meet?
A: We started messaging on Tinder around May 2018, but we first met in person later that summer, August 3rd, 2018 to be exact!
Q: What do you both do for a living?
A: I work at Citrix as a Multimedia Production Specialist, and he is currently an intern at Barn2Door!
Q: When did you know that he was the one?
My first thought that he could be the one was during his first trip to come visit me in California. We had a busy day of driving around to see one of is friends at UCLA, and I got a major headache, so bad in fact that I could barely drive. We pulled into a parking lot and switched drivers so I could close my eyes, which was really helpful and very sweet of him to be willing to drive. We had ordered dinner at an amazing pasta place to take back to my apartment that night as well, and when we got back to the apartment (with my super bad headache still) we went to eat dinner, and I didn’t end up loving my pasta as much as I had hoped. Jonah let me try his, and then proceeded to let me eat the rest of his while he ate mine, despite him actually liking what he ordered. That same night, we watched Coco because Jonah had never seen it… I proceeded to fall asleep while we were on the couch together, and I ended up missing almost the whole movie.
Related: Will + Rachel’s Fall Engagement
Falling asleep on the first date.. oops!
I woke up to us being in the same position I fell asleep in, and him still watching the movie. I apologized for having fallen asleep on one of our ~kinda~ first dates, and he said it was fine, and that he just wanted me to feel better. That was the first time I kinda felt like he could be legit… He really did just want the best for me and not only did he say it, but he truly showed it all evening. I just felt like his intentions were true and he genuinely cared about my well being rather that focussing on one thing. Then the next day we did a full day at Disneyland and I had always remembered this post I saw when I was younger that if you could last a day at Disneyland with someone, then you could last whatever…
Slightly Awkward Disneyland Date
Our day at Disney was slightly awkward, I remember thinking there were a lot of times of silence, but I don’t remember ever feeling like it was the end of the world kinda awkwardness. It was silence, but it was okay silence. Which is another thing I love about Jonah, he’s comfortable with silence, he’s never been someone to fill he silence just because he’s afraid of it, which I think is an amazing and confident trait. Anyway, after that day I remember thinking… well, we don’t hate each other, I’m not annoyed with him, I don’t feel super uncomfortable… Maybe this could really last! I was just really impressed with how that whole trip went, he thoroughly exceeded my expectations.
Q: How did he propose?
A: I think this story starts the night before… Jonah randomly was like “Let’s go on a surprise lunch date tomorrow” and I couldn’t help but feel like something was up because he doesn’t do surprise anything unless I make him… So I said “I can’t help but feel like this is a proposal” and he hesitated but then said it wasn’t…. I trusted him so I didn’t think too much more into it. The next day, we got ready, got in the car and drove on I-90… I thought “Okay if he gets off in Bellevue, or goes like he’s going to his house, this could be an engagement” He drove passed the Bellevue exit, so that left the route to his house…. Which he ended up going to.
Did you lie to me?!
We got to the park by his house that overlooks Seattle and he walked me specifically to this little piece of grass, and I can’t even remember what he said initially, but I remember saying “Did you lie to me” and he said “yes” and I started crying. He definitely said “Last time we were here, I chickened out, but I’m not going to this time… I have a question for you” I told him he didn’t have to get on one knee, but he did (only for like 10 seconds) and asked me if I would marry him, I said yes, and he stood right back up! It was a relatively nice day so there were a lot of people there, and we didn’t want to make it a big thing. I couldn’t believe that he lied to me, but we were both glad he did because I was so anxious about it (I don’t really know why) so that was good, and the rest of the day was so nice. We drove around to our grandparents to tell them (socially distanced… unfortunately) and called everyone in our families, it was such an exciting day.
Q: When you can do anything you want to do, like a typical Friday night, what would you do?
A: I like to just chill and relax. I really do like when we go out to new places and dress up a little. That makes me really happy. I also really like going bowling or mini golf, a little friendly competition with each other is always fun! Even though I’m kind of a sore loser, Jonah puts up with me.
Q: What do you think is unique about you as a couple?
A: I think we just flow so naturally, which I think should be a normal thing, but I think it’s very unique for our age, like although our relationship hasn’t 100% been easy, it’s been fairly easy. Our families are also very similar which I love and think that’s unique. We both had all 4 grandparents when we met which is incredibly unusual and neither of our parents are divorced which is also unusual. I also think something oddly specific about us as a couple that’s unique is that our transition to moving in together has been fairly easy.
Everyone said that it would be a lot, and that you would learn a lot about how the other person lives… But I don’t feel like much has changed with us living together. Maybe it’s because the majority of our relationship started with us NEEDING to live together on long-distance visits or because we basically lived together with the pandemic, maybe I’m the one that’s hard to live with?… I don’t know why, but it’s seemed like an easy transition to me.
Q: Tell me three things about your fiancé
A: He is the most level headed, easy going, calm person I know, and he totally balances me out. He is also the most understanding person I know, and with that, he is the best listener. He’s so intentional with everything he does and I love that about him. I also love how family oriented he is. He doesn’t mind being with my family so much, and he’s also close to his own family.
Q: Share a time this year that you were proud of Jonah
A: I’ve been so proud of how he’s handled his job situation. I know it’s been so hard, but he pushed through and persevered and got an internship after almost a year of looking. I’m also very proud of how he’s self-started a lot with coding his own video game, learning how to make a website from scratch and trying to learn all that that entails. He’s been very motivated to learn his own craft and it’s been amazing to watch. Even now, after he got his job, he uses his free time to look up different things regarding other jobs he may be interested in, and teaching himself new materials and techniques, constantly. It’s amazing and gives me very good confidence for his, and our, future. It’s been amazing to see him in this different light.
