Ashley and Komi's National Portrait Gallery Engagement -Munaluchi Bride

As if taken from a storybook romance, the coming together of Ashley and Komi has the predetermined feeling of fate. She, a west coast native, and he from the east coast, are brought together in Nebraska for the same job opportunity. A “chance encounter” would lead them to cross paths, and, guided by love, from that day forward those two paths would become one – leading to their inseparable ever after…

Read all about Ashley & Komi’s love story, sweet surprise proposal, and wedding aspirations in their National Portrait Gallery engagement session.

Bride & Groom-to-be: Ashley & Komi
Occupations: Government Officers
Wedding date: Sunday, June 25, 2017
Wedding location: Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center, College Park, MD
Location of Engagement shoot: Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery

Tell us how you met and all about the proposal: Ashley hails from California and Komi was raised in Maryland, by way of Togo, West Africa. Somehow a West coast girl caught the eye of an East coast guy, in the Midwest; Nebraska to be exact. Ashley left her Los Angeles life and moved to Nebraska in 2013 for a job opportunity. It wasn’t until two years later that Komi moved to Nebraska for the same job opportunity. A chance encounter at work brought them together and they’ve been inseparable ever since. Komi eventually moved to California for another job but the love between the two never festered. After months of long distance courtship, Ashley and Komi were able to relocate together to Virginia.

Proposal: With Komi being on the East coast close to all his friends and family he didn’t want to propose without Ashley having some family members around. It just so happened that Ashley’s brother and sister in law were coming to visit over the summer and Komi knew that would be the chance. While Ashley thought they were going out to eat in DC so her brother and sister could meet Komi’s immediate family, Komi had another idea in mind. After the food was ordered Komi proceeded to get on both knees and propose to Ashley in front of loved ones. Though the ring somehow was put on the wrong hand, Ashley quickly said yes.

Describe your engagement session. Natural chic. We tasked our wonderful photographer Eric DeHaven of Modern Frames Photography (Gaithersburg, MD) to keep things as natural as possible. We’re a fun-loving couple and wanted that to show in our engagement shoot.

What did you do on your first date? Our first official date happened to be in Texas. Komi was in Dallas for training and Ashley flew to visit Komi over an extended weekend. Komi surprised Ashley by taking her to a fondue restaurant. It was their first time trying fondue and it was special because they were able to do so together.

What’s your favorite thing to do as a couple? We love cooking together. We have been able to establish who’s better at doing certain entrees and work very well together.

How has wedding planning been so far? Seamless. Komi and Ashley decided very early on to work together to find and secure all of their vendors themselves. They also found a gem of a wedding planner, Heather Patterson of Divine and Elegant Events (Frederick, MD) to further assist in all other aspects.

Tell us what you’re looking forward to most on the wedding day. Being around our friends and family to celebrate our union.