This Philadelphia couple was given the ultimate engagement experience! Jamie and Rick won a recent giveaway hosted by Heart & Rae Photography along with Papertini, Cake Life Bake Shop, and Garces Group. The idea was to give one lucky couple a taste of the best vendors in Philly, and we have to agree this couple got to experience the finest this city has to offer! These two love-birds explored Fishtown with a stop at Kensington Quarters followed by some sweet time at Amberella’s murals, and then they were off to their cake tasting. The couple ended the night with a romantic dinner at a Garces Restaurant, the perfect end to a lovely day.
From the Photographer, Heart & Rae Photography: Jamie and Rick were the winners of our Instagram contest in collaboration with Cake Life Bake Shop, Papertini Floral and Event Design, Garces Events and Garces Group. They won an amazing giveaway that included an engagement shoot by us, a cake tasting with Cake Life, a gorgeous bridal bouquet by Papertini and dinner for two at a Garces restaurant. Jamie and Rick are big foodies, with Jamie running her blog Philly Food Adventures where she writes about navigating the Philadelphia ethnic food scene. If you want to treat yourself, take one of her Philadelphia’s Chinatown tours! So naturally, we ran with a food theme and did pictures at one their favorite restaurants, Kensington Quarters. Jamie is also a kick-ass cancer survivor. She shares some of her experience on her blog so we had to go to this amazing Amberella conquer mural. Lastly, we hit Cake Life’s for their cake tasting.
This was not included in the giveaway, but Jamie had her hair done by @brentericsson and makeup by @jkobeauty1.
How They Met
Jamie: “We met back in college; we were a lot…. frattier back then and have grown up so much since which led us back to each other in recent years.”
Rick: “She warned me not to fall in love with her, but I wouldn’t listen and instead professed my love inappropriately early on at a frat party.”
Jamie: “I love that Ricky is ticklish and open to trying any food I put in front of him. Also, he is incredibly intelligent and has a huge, romantic heart. He genuinely believes that I am the most beautiful woman in the world and goes to great lengths to try to get me to see what he sees. And, an A+ at cuddles.”
Rick: “I’ve pretty much-been head-over-heels in love with Jamie since the day we met. Jamie embodies sexiness – not just skin-deep beauty, but the kind of profound sexiness that radiates from within immediately brightens any room she enters and leaves everyone she meets grateful for having had the opportunity to connect with her. She’s fierce, confident, passionate, and resourceful, and can find or create fun in just about any situation she finds herself in; she’s been an amazing friend to me, and to so many people; her sense of humor is second-to-none. She inspires me every day to be a better man.”
The Proposal
Jamie: “The proposal could not have been more perfect for me. On Black Friday I was in Queens with my family and was under the impression Ricky was in Connecticut doing the same. We had planned a family dumpling crawl, a pretty typical activity for us, and my mom insisted we make a stop at our favorite place, Joe’s Shanghai, for xiao long bao (soup dumplings). We have been eating there since I was 7 years old, I even had elementary school birthday parties there. Once we sat down our waiter was acting strange and quickly brought out the bamboo steamer that typically contains the dumplings. A cabbage leaf was staring at me and everyone was telling me I had to unwrap it. Earlier in the day I was in a feisty mood and kept pranking everyone and assumed this mystery cabbage was some sort of much-deserved trick. Even when the waiter lost patience and removed the cabbage to reveal an engraved jewelry box I still wasn’t getting it. It wasn’t until I heard Ricky’s voice directly behind me (he had been hiding in the men’s bathroom for an unreasonably long time) that I realized what was happening. He got down on one knee and said some very sweet things, the restaurant cheered, I was in shock for a while, and then we drank champagne and ate my favorite dumplings.”
Engagement Photo Inspiration
Jamie: “We are both city people and wanted an urban setting. Not that we don’t love trees, but sharing a cocktail at Kensington Quarters was more of a natural setting for us than standing in a garden or forest would be. I liked the idea of smooching by their meat locker. We were able to go during off hours and had most of the place to ourselves; the staff was kindly accommodating. Later, our photographer found a mural that suited our journey perfectly.”
Wedding Planning
Jamie: “We sure have! Between that and buying a house its been a busy year. We have a lot of our vendors locked down but still have plenty more to do. The spam emails from vendors trying to get us to book them are out of control. Having a designated wedding email account is key, Ricky came up with that trick.”
Engagement Session Experience
Jamie: “We had a great experience with Nadine of Heart & Rae Photography and all the vendors involved. I love the end result, especially the different lighting in the indoor and outdoor photos. We felt comfortable and were able to be in the moment to enjoy this time we had set aside to “meditate on our love” or maybe just have an excuse to kiss in public.”
Rick: “I really thought the experience was going to be awkward for me… but I actually enjoyed it. I already told Jamie I think we should do a photo shoot together every year.”
Vendors | Photographer: Heart & Rae Photography | Florist: Papertini Floral and Event Design | Cake: Cake Life Bake Shop