Sometimes, to land the love of your life you have to make a bold move.
That’s exactly what Jamon did when he saw Gigi on Instagram. Captivated by her beauty, he “slid into her DMs” (Direct Messages) with heart eye emojis. And then he waited. Because Gigi did not see his message, and it took her two months to reply. Determined, Jamon decided to send her a second message, and this time he caught Gigi’s eye. She liked his profile picture, especially his beard, so she responded. Their conversations flowed naturally, and their love story began.
After years of dating, Jamon pulled off a cute surprise proposal to Gigi on her birthday! To celebrate, they wanted to have an outdoor engagement shoot, but nature had other plans. So they worked with their photographer MunaLuchi Coterie member Shagari Gerard Photography, to bring a bit of spring indoors for a stylish studio engagement shoot. See all of their alluring photos and read more of their charming love story below.
- Names: Gigi & Jamon
- Occupations: Medical Coder & Plant Operator
- Wedding date: March 6, 2021
- Wedding location: Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center in Baton Rouge, LA
- Location of Engagement shoot: Achroma Studios in Baton Rouge, LA
Tell us how you met.
Gigi: When people ask this question Jamon and I always look at each other and laugh, then I say, “It went down in the DM.” LOL. If you are our age and younger you already know what that means, but we have to break it down for our older generation. One day I was at work, I was finished for the day so of course I was scrolling Instagram. I noticed something called “DM Requests” at the top right corner. I never saw that before honestly, and to my surprise I had 10 DMs just sitting there unopened. Apparently, if you’re not following someone and they message you, it goes to that instead of your main inbox.
As I scrolled through, I saw a guy with sunglasses on and a beard. He had a private page, so I had to add him before I responded to the DM. Mind you this was in September, and Jamon DMed me way back in July! He sent another set of heart eyes a couple weeks before I responded. This is where I feel like everything happened like it was supposed to because he could’ve deleted me or wrote me off, but as soon as I responded, we started conversing naturally. Who would’ve thought that the man God had for me was sitting and waiting patiently in my DM this whole time?
Jamon: I noticed Gigi scrolling through Instagram. I saw this picture of her, and I was like wow she’s beautiful, I would love to get to know her. I sent a DM to her which were heart eyes and she didn’t respond. Some time passed by, and I gave her a timeline in my head. If she didn’t answer, then I was going to delete my DM. I sent another DM, which she then responded to because she notice my beard which I tell everyone and she knows it true. Once she responded I knew it was a wrap.
How did he propose?
Gigi: My proposal day was my birthday and a lot of people ask if I expected it in the back of my mind. The answer is absolutely not! In a lot of our early conversations, he told me that he would NEVER do it on my birthday or a major holiday. If you asked me, I assumed he would’ve done it on our trip to the Dominican Republic in June. But, that trip came and went with no sight of a ring lol.
I planned myself a small birthday dinner and the whole day consisted of me getting ready for that. Jamon was so calm that day, so nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I got to my dinner, and everybody ate. Towards the end. I opened my birthday gift which was a brahmin book sack. I figured that was my big gift, and I was excited about it no lie. But to my surprise, the waiter brought in a cake and everybody started singing Happy Birthday to me. I’m a Leo, so I’m just loving the attention. It took me a while to stop smiling so hard and read the cake that said, “Will you marry me?”
Jamon: For the proposal, I always told her I wouldn’t proposal on a holiday, or her birthday since we met. So, I went shopping for rings with my friends Torren and Dion one day, and I found the perfect one. After buying the ring, I FaceTimed her big sisters to let them know what I was doing and to show them the ring.
On one of my days off, I lied and said I was going to help my mom clean up but instead I went to speak with her both parents in Baton Rouge. I had to be timely because I know she was going to call and ask what time I was going to be back home.
After I got her parents permission, I started to plan out when I wanted to propose. I thought about her birthday because I knew she wasn’t going to be expecting it. What made it better was that she was already planning her own dinner party. All of her favorite people were going to be there so that was perfect. Once that day came, she knew she was going to get a gift. So, I brought her a Brahmin book-sack so she would see a gift from me and not suspect anything else. Once she opened her gift that was it in her eyes. Her sisters had a cake made which said “Happy Birthday,” but the back of the cake said, “Would you marry me?”
Describe your engagement session.
So our plan was to have a beautiful outside engagement session at a park, but God had other plans. The weather forecast was nice for everyday EXCEPT the day of our pictures. It started off as 30% chance of rain and went to 80%. Because of our work schedules, canceling was not an option, so we turned lemons into lemonade. We are having a spring wedding so our theme consisted of white, floral, and our wedding colors. Days before our appointment we decided to move our session inside, and our wonderful photographer Shagari worked hard to bring our vision to life. We were able to bring spring inside.
What did you do on your first date?
We actually lived in two different cities that are about two hours apart. So it took about a month to finally make it on our first date. We spent a lot of time on FaceTime and talking on the phone getting to know each other. I picked the restaurant and Jamon drove down on a Sunday to take me out. Our lunch date turned into dinner because we stayed at the restaurant until it was closed. After that first date, we never went a weekend without seeing each other. A year later we get to see each other every day because we are now living in the city of Lake Charles.
What’s your favorite thing to do as a couple?
In our younger days you would probably find us out and about every weekend, but nowadays we are the game night with our neighbors type couple. We really just enjoy spending quality time and eating good food together. Our best days are the ones where we both are off from work and Jamon cooks his signature “sauce” outside on the patio in his black pot. So ladies, marry a countryman they know how to cook from scratch and you will never go hungry.
How has wedding planning been so far?
We gave ourselves plenty of time so we can have the best choice of vendors. We haven’t had any issues booking anything so far. Wedding planning has actually been ok other than getting the guest list together. The guest list has been a struggle because although we would love to invite everyone, that just isn’t possible. We have a wonder wedding planner that takes a lot of stress off as well since we are planning from 2 hours away. I am learning to not stress over the small things and trust that at the end of the day it will work out how it’s supposed to.
Tell us what you’re looking forward to most on the wedding day.
We are simply looking forward to saying “I do.” Some people may consider our engagement “long” but we are going at our own pace so that we can have everything we dream of. On March 6, 2021 we will finally get to showcase our vision, hard work, and love to our closest friends and family.
Vendors
- Photographer: Shagari Jackson @shagarigerardphotography
- Hair: Corren Coleman @blissbycorren
- Makeup: Christina Price @oncuemakeup
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