Engagement Photos in Chino Hills Park, California

On April 7, 2019, Harry and I dropped by Chino Hills State Park in California during the rare superbloom (aka when a TON of wildflowers bloom) for our engagement photoshoot with our to-be wedding photographers: Meiwen & her husband Lenny! We had been corresponding for a few months and wanted to do the photoshoot somewhere warm and surrounded by nature! Since we were already heading down toward Socal to visit some friends for a weekend, we decided to meet the LA-based photographer & her hubby down in Chino Hills State Park.

The rolling green hills were gorgeous, the hike was short and easy (I mean I was able to do it in my kitten heels), and the entrance fee was only $5! The shoot was SO fun and they helped us feel so comfortable in front of the camera. The view was unbelievable and the weather was literally as perfect as could be! Highly recommend dropping them a hello if you are looking for a quality film wedding photographer! Meanwhile, enjoy these beautiful engagement photos she took of us!!

We Got Engaged!

I would like everyone to official meet my guitar playing, John Mayer-loving, goofy man - Harry Liu! After dating (officially) for 4.5 years, we were both back in Northern California in the Bay Area in the summer of 2018. At this point in our relationship, we had been through many life transitions, but never lived more than a 2 hour drive away from each other. At the end of 2018 summer, Harry was sent on a last minute business trip to India a couple weeks before my 3 week Greece trip. Meaning we would not be able to see each other for about a month - which was quite long for us. Props to my couples that do long-distance relationships! As gorgeous and fun as my Greece trip was, I definitely started to miss Harry more and more as time passed by. As many healthy married couples have recommended - we had definitely been having the marriage talk at many points up until this. So I had an inkling that Harry was going to propose to me sometime soon.

CL: So we have to take this way back to early 2018, take me through your proposal brainstorming process.

HL: Let’s see.. I honestly started thinking about the proposal details in maybe January or February 2018. I had no idea how to pull off a proposal without you having at least an inkling of what was going to happen.

CL: Haha, are you referring to the time in the summer you fell asleep at my place with your laptop wide open while looking at flights from SF to Athens, Greece?

HL: Maybe, maybe not.. anyways, I actually had a couple of ideas thought out! One was a forest proposal in the middle of Yosemite National Park with the help of your friends. I was planning on bringing a generator, string lights, picnic blanket, and all kinds of goodies to surprise you. But I ended up surprising you while you were on vacation in Greece because go big or go home, right? (I ended up going big and then going home anyways.)

CL: It was definitely big alright. I wasn’t expecting anything that big at all! I remember being super suspicious after I caught you checking flight tickets to Greece, but then work called you on a last minute (with barely a 2 week notice) training trip to Bangalore, India during my Greece trip.

HL: I was actually really nervous since my work trip directly conflicted with my flight to Greece. I was sweating bullets when I asked my skip-level manager, “Hey, so can I move this whole India trip you want to send me on?” But in the end, I managed to take a 2-week business trip to India and fit in a proposal after that without rousing too much suspicion from you. I actually flew from Bangalore to Dubai to San Francisco to pick up the ring, get my international driver’s permit, and do laundry. Then 12 hours later, I flew from San Francisco to Toronto to Athens and then took a ferry from Athens to Santorini and docked at midnight. The whole time, I was so nervous something was going to get delayed AND that I was going to misplace the ring - that’s something I would totally do.

CL: That last minute work trip was actually what threw all my suspicions of a Greece proposal out the window. That and Katie telling me straight to my face that you were not coming to Greece! That tricky lady. She had been very empathic the entire trip about maximizing our day time to visit as many places as possible, but on the morning of the proposal in Santorini, after checking in to our hotel, she insisted on staying inside to charge her phone for a little bit longer and to “rest”. I found this a little bit odd, but I honestly didn’t question it too much at this point. Then when she was finally ready to go, she was on her phone quite an awful lot. She had been recording videos the whole trip to document our travels, so I was not the least bit suspicious when she pulled up her camera to follow me as we exited the hotel towards our ATV. Then I found you there holding one of those airport signs with my name on it and all I could do was squeal. I had missed you so much after not seeing you for weeks and it was SO surreal to see you again in Greece of all places. I totally did not expect it.

HL: I’m so glad I surprised you because when I got to my Airbnb, I told Katie to turn on Facebook Messenger location tracking. When she did I was shocked to see my dot getting closer to hers as my Airbnb host drove us to my room. Turns out, I was only a few minutes walk away from your hotel! This part of Santorini is also really, really quiet at night so I was so paranoid that me even talking in the streets would give it away so I didn’t make a peep. Everything was worth it when I drove over to your hotel the next day and surprised you out in front, the look on your face was priceless.

CL: I was SO giddy and could not contain the excitement. I remember thinking that you were absolutely crazy!!

HL: I am crazy! For you! And a little crazy due to the countless number of timezones I had been in for the past two days. I was just so happy to see you but I still had to pull off the proposal itself. I picked out a spot by the cliffside in Santorini that’s called “The Heart of Santorini”. It has an outline of a heart in a rock outcropping that overlooks the Aegean Sea and I thought it might be a great place to propose. Keep in mind though, this was all through dragging my way through Street View in Google Maps without having gone there at all. We drove there and walked the semi-treacherous steps down to the spot and then I got down on one knee. You should take it from here haha.

CL: Haha it was all SUCH blur - I remember there being so much adrenaline running through me that I couldn’t stand still. When you led me to the mountain top spot, gave your speech, and pulled the ring out - all I can make out in the video amidst the wind roaring was me shouting “it’s upside down!!” in reference to the ring box. My heart fluttered a bit at the thought of the ring falling out of the box down the 90 degree drop to our left, but it didn’t and honestly it felt like a dream. I still can’t believe you flew to Greece to propose to me. You’re the sweetest and I don’t deserve you!!

HL: Well you definitely deserve it and let’s just both be thankful that I didn’t drop the ring into the sea. Imagine that conversation… love you!

Katie was the real MVP here - coordinating the surprise with Harry, keeping my suspicions low, and recording everything for us that day. She was even sweet enough to book us three a nice dinner at Ammoudi Tavern, literally right next to the sea, for a celebratory dinner. On our walk down from the main part of Oia, we slowly descended towards the waters and were seated quickly with our reservation. I was still in such disbelief that Harry was here and next to me that I was barely hungry.

My gorgeous engagement ring from Natalie Marie Jewellery - great pick Harry!!

Harry was able to join us on our last stop in Greece for a sunset cruise with Spiridakos Sailing Cruises. This was actually one of my favorite experiences in Santorini, Greece. They cooked us dinner on the boat, had drinks for us, and even provided us fuzzy blankets when the sun started to set. Our tour guide was the perfect balance of entertaining and informative. We stopped at two locations to snorkel and swim at and met a few friendly tourists on our boat as well. For all the sunsets we saw on the trip - this one was my favorite. It was really the perfect way to end this trip. I left Greece tanned, relaxed, well-fed, and a FIANCÉ!

Farewell Greece! Thanks for being so good to us!