Don't be fooled; this winter engagement session took place in June. Read on for the darling story of Josie and Daniel. Photography by David Clumpner.
"Daniel Manuel and I originally met back in 2013 at a youth convention in Houston. I was checking people in on that first day, and he had walked over and introduced himself after he saw me standing next to his cousin, who was on the board with me and also responsible for organizing the event, Shortly after introductions, we had found out that I knew his sister and he knew my brother. Small world considering he is from Minnesota and I am from San Jose!
We snapped a couple pics together over the course of the weekend to send to our siblings, and we mostly just became social media friends and had left it at that. Little did I know (until much later on), that he had apparently told one of his female cousins at the end of the convention that I was one of the two girls he had developed a keen interest in. I still haven't found out who the second girl was...
Skip ahead to 2017, Danny was living in LA and I was living in the Bay Area. Danny posted a story on social media while he was snowboarding in Breckenridge, CO. It was such a gorgeous scene that I had replied to it asking about the location. He now claims that the reason we're together is because I "slid into his DMs." His infatuation with this line isn't helped by the fact that DM is also his initials... but my intentions were innocent, I promise!
He kept the conversation going and about a month later he had told me he was coming into town for his friend's St. Patty's Day party and would love some hiking suggestions. I gave him a few and he invited me to come along. I brought my best friend and we went on a hike among the Bay Area's most beautiful big Redwood trees. Finishing a whole bottle of wine throughout the hike (a unique first for us both) also made things quite interesting; we clicked on so many different levels and didn't stop talking. After he left the Bay we kept texting, which turned into Facetiming. A month later we had our actual first date -- a road trip to explore the majestic Zion National Park! Go big or go home I guess.
Skip ahead to 2021, we had been dating for 4 years, three of those long distance. We decided to make a big move from LA to Honolulu and stopped by Maui on our way, to what I thought was purely for celebrating Danny’s 31st birthday. On the very last day of our trip, Danny finally popped the question during sunset on the coast of Maui (overlooking the islands of Lanai and Molokai), all while catching it on his drone! Later on I was told that he had aborted his initial two attempts earlier that week due to unexpected rain and his drone battery dying. Third time's the charm!
Now for these amazing photos. Don't be fooled by the snow, they were taken mid-June of 2022! We happened to fly into Bozeman the day of the disastrous flooding in and around Yellowstone. We were originally planning to take the pictures in Lamar Valley of Yellowstone, but we were not able to get in due to the flood and the evacuation. The Gallatin River was almost overflowing! After contemplating whether to reschedule the photo shoot to another date or just take the risk and grab some pictures while we were in town, we decided to do an early morning shoot with the unexpected snow and had a blast!" –Josini, the bride
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Photography | David Clumpner (#MBV)