Jahari + Jonathan: {Engaged} -Munaluchi Bride

If any two things go together perfectly, they are love and food. Many perfect dates take place over a delicious meal, and great food tickles the senses just as love tickles the heart. They are a winning combination – just like Jahari and Jonathan. Jahari’s and Jonathan’s engagement session was uniquely set in a kitchen and was fabulously captured by Marcell Pickens of Evvett Marcell Photography. Be warned, though! This session might make you crave a delicious cupcake or two ;).

The Bride: Jahari Chavis
The Groom: Jonathan Jacobs
The Wedding Date: August 26, 2012
The Wedding Location: The Tides Estate, North Haledon NJ

The Meeting …. “One evening after eating dinner in the college lunch room, Jonathan decided to spend some time digesting his food in a nearby computer lab at his school, Morgan State. He was perusing the then popular social media website entitled Black Planet. After a few pages of random individuals promoting themselves in the typical self-serving way that was popular at the time, he found himself on a new page….one that was different from the rest. It was one that was not overly decorated with stars, rainbow fonts, and music, but rather simple; a non-descript page that could have been easily overlooked. Well, the one thing that this page had going for it was one picture of an equally young, beautiful and unique woman that was highlighted on this page.So this man, who’s interest was quickly peaked, decided to read the bio of this woman.

Within the first sentence this woman has already declared her love for God, the Bible, Jesus, and the 12 disciples. Well, maybe not the disciples, but throughout her page, she made it clear that she loved the arts, singing, and most importantly, God. So this guy who was reading her page felt an instant commonality with her due to his own church upbringing. So he decided to reach out with a simple comment of appreciation…”It’s nice to see there are still some virtuous women still out there.” She responded. He replied in kind.

He found out that she attended Temple University, they had a mutual friend/poet at TU, and that they both lived in northern NJ, 25 min apart. The two college undergrads exchanged contact information, developed a distant friendship first, and that eventually grew into love. The rest is history.”

The Proposal ….. “The weekend of October 9, 2011 started out as a surprise get-away trip to Canada he planned. We started out at the Botanical Gardens taking a tour of the grounds. There is a horse and carriage waiting to take what I thought would be a group of us on a tour, but it turned out to be just us. Along the tour, he stops the driver and asks him if we can take a picture under one of the trees. He grabs my hand and pulls me closer to the tree. This tree is white with silver leaves and just absolutely BEAUTIFUL. He gets on one knee, and proposes!”

The Theme ….. “Jonathan and Jahari wanted to do a different and unique type of engagement photoshoot that was classic and showed one of the half’s favorite hobby, baking! The couple was able to shoot these pictures by the amazing Marcell of EvvettMarcell Photography, in a loft in New York City. They captured the beautiful rooftop scenery. These pictures were intended to tell a story and show the admiration of each other in a sexy kitchen setting!”

The Planning Process ….. “Because Jonathan proposed in a Botanical Garden, and the couple LOVES the outdoors, it was only right to plan an outdoor wedding with a romantic yet chic nature theme. Planning so far has been time consuming yet exciting! The bride is a creative being and intends to pay attention to the close details, which include many DIY projects and creations. Jonathan is the money manager and has been great with keeping Jahari on budget! Believe it or not, Jonathan has been super helpful with the planning process…more than I expected. As a bride I appreciate this because it really does feel like OUR celebration and Godly union we are working towards and planning for.”

The Challenge ….. “The biggest challenge has been adjusting to one person running the budget (Jahari) when we were use to two different people making decisions on where their own money goes. Wedding planning has definitely taught us the art of compromise. We are both really looking forward to this August and becoming the Jacobs family.”