Lauren + Tanner | Laguna Beach Engagement Session
Lauren and Tanner’s love story is one of patience, distance, and a matchmaking aunt :) And it starts way back when their parents were in high school!
Her mom and his dad went to prom together in their hometown of Corona, California. That obviously didn’t work out, but Lauren’s aunt set up Tanner’s parents, and their families grew up side by side. His cousins were Lauren’s best friends!
When Tanner went on his church mission in Brazil, he and Lauren wrote letters back and forth. It didn’t seem like it would work out, because Tanner was coming home in April, right after Lauren left for her mission to Mexico. They weren’t going to see each other for 3 ½ years. But, one of the few positives of Covid was that Tanner finished his mission early, Lauren came home for an intermission, and they started dating for the first time. They were so smitten that Tanner wrote to Lauren for another 14 months while she finished up her mission.
He proposed to her on the California beach where they had their first date, so of course, we had to end their dreamy engagement session on the sandy shore of Shaw’s Cove. I had never been to LA before, so flying in and location scouting near Laguna Beach was an adventure! LAX was crazy and parking at Laguna Beach was a nightmare, but I lived to tell the tale and take some gorgeous engagement photos of this fun couple.
We started the session in Heisler Park, which is a long stretch of manicured gardens and open grass where people picnic, look out over the ocean or take photos! Lauren and Tanner were so relaxed about posing in such a busy location. There were times that they had to hold a pose while a group of tourists slowly walked through the background!
I was ready for it to rain, but the storm held off and we even had the sun break through a few times which made for gorgeous, glowing photos.
I am so excited to meet back up with this couple in June for their wedding! It will be at the Newport Beach Temple with a backyard reception in their shared hometown of Corona.