Kiara and Jonathan’s mutual love of basketball brought them together. From the moment they met on the basketball court there was an instant connection. They’ve been inseparable ever since. For their engagement session, they wanted to incorporate their love of basketball and the school that brought them together. When they’re not on the basketball court, they love to get dressed up and go out to dinner so their second look featured formal wear.
Read all about Kiara and Jonathan’s relationship, upcoming wedding, and their blissful basketball engagement session in Virginia. The gorgeous photographs were taken by MunaLuchi coterie member Keith Cephus Photography.
Bride & Groom: Kiara & Jonathan
Occupations: Model/Blogger & Professional Basketball Player
Wedding date: August 8th, 2020
Wedding location: Destination Wedding
Location of Engagement shoot: Founders Inn, Virginia Beach, VA
Tell us how you met and all about the proposal. It sounds a bit cliche but we actually met on the basketball court. Prior to actually meeting Jonathan, I had met his younger brother and his father on separate occasions. It never clicked that they all were related until I was invited to his parents church service one Sunday. Jonathan and I met during a summer workout my coach had scheduled with me and
two other team mates. She invited the men’s team but only Jonathan was
around at the time. From that day on we were inseparable. We literally spent everyday of our summer break together, experiencing a lot of first time memories. We just connected instantly.
Our engagement was something so beautiful! May 6th, 2017 both Jonathan and I graduated from Norfolk State University. I am originally from Australia so my family planned a trip along with some of my US family members (I am biracial) to attend my special day. Leading up to the event, I was trying on engagements rings for fun because we would spend most weekends at the mall. Jonathan kind of joked about how amazing it would be to actually graduate and get engaged all on the same day but financially we weren’t in the position for that. So I honestly was more excited to see my family at the time. Nonetheless, my family flew in and we got ready for graduation. It was such a hectic day! Jonathan was just acting so strange after we graduated because we initially had made plans to go our separate ways and meet up
after we had all finished dinner with our families – but he was being so pushy to have both of our families together. So that is exactly what we did, Jonathan’s parents had rented a house for the weekend and we all came together for a beautiful celebration. Little did I know Jonathan and his two brothers were planning the proposal. Jonathan was really big on giving a huge speech at the end of dinner so we actually came together and planned what we were going to say. All that time I was planning to dedicate everything to my family and to my Grandfather who had passed away just two years prior. Jonathan began the speech and during that time I am sweating trying to piece together this amazing speech and out of nowhere he pops on one knee and in front of my entire Australian and US family he proposed on the spot!!! I WAS
SPEECHLESS!!!
Describe your engagement session.We actually didn’t have a theme. I picked out my dress and our wonderful hairstylist created an amazing vintage look which
complimented my dress. The entire scenery of our location was
absolutely stunning! It was quite a hot day but the sun what shining and
the atmosphere was unreal. We started fairly early, 6am and we
finished the day at around 4pm. It was quite a long day but we wouldn’t
change it for the world! Although, we were pretty exhausted after it.
What did you do on your first date? After we had finished our summer workout we headed to a place called Fusion which is almost like a YMCA with a gym, soccer field, indoor basketball courts etc. We spent most of the day there kicking the football just having fun like little kids. Later that night we spent some more time
together watching “The Dark Knight” which is still our favorite movie to this day. We also spent a lot of time just talking. We loved to create scenarios where it involved us and how we would interpret certain situations as a couple. We just got closer and closer everyday.
What’s your favorite thing to do as a couple? Our absolute favorite thing is to go out to a nice restaurant or cook together and watch a action packed movie.
How has wedding planning been so far? At this point in time Jonathan has let me piece it all together with a bit of input here and there. I have been slowly piecing it together but so far I’m not stressed yet. I just want it to be perfect and I feel there is no need to rush. Take it day by day, week by week,
month by month. I do have a theme which is a start!
Tell us what you’re looking forward to most on the wedding day.
Just the look on everyone’s faces when we both walk down the aisle as a
couple. We are both goofy/happy people and LOVE music so I can only
imagine how loud, fun and exciting our wedding will be. Most
importantly we’re looking forward to sharing this experience with the people we absolutely adore, what better way than to do that than on our wedding day!
Vendors:
Photography – Keith Cephus Photography
Congrats to you both and your families!