Simony and Mayvin didn’t mess around when it came to their adorable meet-cute, out-of-this-world proposal or intricate engagement session.
The Meet-Cute
Let’s just say it wasn’t quite love at first sight.
“We were introduced at a mutual friend’s cookout, but I thought she was a lot younger than she was,” Simony laughs.
Luckily, later that night, the cookout crew decided to all venture over to a Labor Day party, and that’s when Simony noticed that Mayvin had some moves.
“We were all dancing and she just had this natural rhythm. I thought, ‘Oh, she’s cute.’”
Still, the sudden attraction didn’t stop her from making her friend I.D. Mayvin when she tried to put those moves on Simony later in the night.
“Once I confirmed that she was of a significant age of consent, I said, ‘Okay, you can kiss me now,’” Simony laughs.
The Proposal Story
If you think back to August 2017, you may remember that a certain celestial event was all the buzz.
“When I heard about the impending solar eclipse, I thought proposing during it would be really cool and memorable,” Mayvin says. “Plus, I found out that the moments right before and right after totality are called a ‘diamond ring.’ How perfect is that?”
The one caveat: Rhode Island would not be privy to the full effect of the eclipse. And so, on the Friday before, Mayvin picked Simony up from work and headed, bags already packed, to the airport. A lover of both flying and surprises, Simony wore headphones and kept her head down throughout the entire trip, not knowing where they were headed until her cousin later tackled her with a hug at baggage claim.
“I started laughing and said, ‘I guess we’re in Georgia!’” Simony recalls.
They spent the weekend exploring Atlanta, and Simony — believing the trip itself was a belated birthday present — thought nothing of it when Mayvin suggested they all venture out to view the eclipse on Monday. The couple drove three hours that morning to a little town called Blueridge where they happened upon a miraculously secluded clearing right by a lake. There, Mayvin nervously counted down the minutes to totality while Simony happily set up a picnic and Snapchatted away. She dropped everything, though, when the moon started to shift into place.
“There’s something that happens to your body,” Simony explains, “because it’s the middle of the afternoon and it goes from bright sun to pitch black. The temperature drops and it’s so quiet. I was just taking it all in, and then all of I sudden I realized Mayvin was talking to me and her voice sounded funny….”
Simony shouted “yes!” before Mayvin could even officially ask. “But I still finished my spiel and knelt,” Mayvin assures. “And then I gave her the ring, a peach sapphire, just as the second diamond ring shone above us.”
The Engagement Session
“Don’t get me wrong, engagement photos are beautiful, but I rarely see any where I think, ‘Yes, I want to do that.’” Simony reflects. “So, when we decided to do our own, we thought, ‘Let’s show what romance is to us.’”
Thus, their multilayered shoot required three locations. First, Jordan’s Jungle for an all-Americana romance session. Second, the Red DWG Library to showcase a more intimate look at domestic life (complete with their favorite DVDs and board games) and the couple’s nerdy side (see: Mayvin’s comic book collection). And finally, Troop in Providence for a glimpse of Simony and Mayvin’s cultures, both past (their roots — Cape Verdean and Dominican, respectively — are represented through their royal-reminiscent stances and clothing) and present (the glorious graffiti on display at the hip-hop themed restaurant highlights their African American upbringings).
“If you’re considering an engagement session, think about: ‘What story am I trying to tell the world?’” Simony advises. “If a stranger saw ours, I think they’d get a sense of who we are both individually and as a couple.”
