San Francisco Wedding Photographer

Laura+ Kevin /  by Tiffany Zabala

It was early in the Obama administration when Laura and I first met. The operative word in that sentence being “first”. My childhood friend and I, and fellow groomsman, Dan Brooks, were out and about on a Friday night in San Francisco in 2008, or 2009, though the exact dates have long been lost in ancient history by dating scholars. 

Dan and I proceeded into one financial district watering hole as gingerly as two tasmanian devils on holiday when Dan whispered ever-so-loudly, across the bar and its roomful of patrons, “Hey, that’s my cousin!” pointing to Laura. As friends dating back to kindergarten, I had known of Dan’s cousin, Laura. I recall seeing school photos and Christmas cards on his kitchen refrigerator. Perhaps we even crossed paths too. But never had Laura and I gotten to know one another to any great extent. 

That night I specifically remember thinking she was cute, smart, and funny. Then I found out she was just beginning law school and I immediately prompted Dan for us to make a quick bankrobber-esque exit. I knew law school was hard, and selfishly, I thought dating someone in law school would only be that much more difficult. Clearly, I had my priorities in line.

Fast forward to late 2014. Still the Obama administration. As fate would have it, we re-connected with a little help from social media and a little help from my best man, Josh Rust, I might add (Hey buddy!). Like a bad comedian, timing was never my thing. I still found her cute, smart, and funny only this time without the baggage of whatever-the-fu… (easy, kids might be reading this) law school students study, talk about, or spend evenings-weekends-months preparing for. Lucky me, right? Even Laura’s mother, Kelley, compliments me to this day for having the foresight to wait. And wait I did. 

The critically acclaimed 2003 film, “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” portrayed acting, writing, and directing at its very best said no one. Never one to be outdone by Benjamin Barry (Matt Mac’s character you’ll of course recall), I brought my own twist to this Hollywood gem, starring Kevin and Laura in, “How to Propose to Your Girlfriend in Under Four Years.” Finding ourselves in New York one evening of September 2018 under the disguise of a long weekend vacation slash business trip (again, the same setting of HTLAGITD), I asked Laura to marry me. She was one genuinely surprised woman. And I was one happy man.

My Dad put it best when he asked me, “Well, what did she say?”

- KEVIN

HER STORY:

Most people may not know this, but Kevin and I actually met in 2008. Kevin seems to think it was in 2009, but I know it was 2008 because that was also the year my sister-in-law, Jackie, and I were looking at places to throw the ultimate surprise party for my Mom, Kelley. So it was 2008. 

Jackie and I were abusing Dad’s trust telling him we were still “scouting places” to throw the party when we found ourselves at happy hour that Friday in San Francisco. When in reality we had already found the perfect location for Mom’s Birthday Party, but it was fun having happy hour with Jackie on Dad’s dime (Sorry Dad). Thats when I ran into my cousin, Danny, and all of his friends including Kevin. 

After Jackie, myself and some of my girlfriends had left, I got a very discrete text from Danny saying that his friend, Kevin, thought I was cute and wanted to know what we were doing later. Although not important, Kevin and Danny met myself, Shannon, and her now husband, Nick, at a Dirt Nasty concert with special guest Micky Avalon at 330 Ritch later that night. Yep, I was that girl. I digress. 
For many reasons 2008 wasn’t our time… the biggest reason being law school. 

Almost 6 years to the date the little red notification came up on my Facebook Messanger. It all started, Chapter Two of Our Story, with these words “Hey there Laura. Long time. Kind of just had to tell you that your profile picture is stunning. You look beautiful. Random, yes and I know it’s out of left field. I’ve always found you hot. 🙂 Alright, anyways, back to Monday. Cheers” Yes, I did just go way back into the intrawebs to find the adorable ramblings of a nervous Kevin. It still makes me blush. 

After some adorable nervous back and forth on Facebook, Kevin invited me to go on a “Sweats Wine Date” where we were going to commiserate over both our recent break ups, or as regular folks call it a first date. We met at Spasso… where unbeknownst to Kevin, my cousin, Steph’s, future husband was pouring us wine and my Godfather was at the other end of the bar. No pressure. 

It took Kevin almost 2 months to ask me on our second date. Thankfully with the help of his best man, Josh, and another long rambling, but even more adorable, text message. 

It took Kevin 10 months to call me his girlfriend. 

It took Kevin 14 months for him to say he loved me. 

It took Kevin 6 months after I asked him to move in, to actually move in. 

Finally, it took Kevin almost 4 years to ask me to marry him. 

But you know what? He was worth the wait…
and I now have a PhD in patience. 

- LAURA aka Blogger miabellalotta.com