Alina & Al - Sacramento, CA Engagement Session

On February 2, 2019, Alina found a lump in her breast at 33 years old. That next week, she was diagnosed with stage 2B Breast Cancer. She started her first of six rounds of chemo on March 8, 2019, the day after these engagement photos were taken and had her chemo port placed earlier that week. Usually, engagement photos are a time of joy during the “stressful” wedding planning process. Being with these two, watching them go through this journey and doing so while engaged, planning a wedding and life together definitely puts things into perspective.

Society places too much emphasis around weddings and not enough on marriage. There’s pressure to have the perfect engagement photo session, engagement party, bridal shower, bachelorette weekend and to have the wedding of your dreams. What if for some reason, life gets in the way and doesn’t allow for that? I feel that during this season of engagement, we lose sight of the end goal, a successful marriage.

This shoot was planned in a handful of days and rain or shine, it was going to happen. We picked up her stunning bouquet made by the talented Walnut and Main, threw on our rain boots and walked around the beautiful American River Parkway Trails outside of Sacramento. My favorite memories of this particular day were seeing Alina & Al take everything in. I witnessed these two truly love and appreciate each other. They laughed, smiled and shed a few tears but most importantly I watched them forget about cancer.

Alina & Al; I wish you both a lifetime of love and happiness. It is my hope that during this journey, you never lose the light within you. That you continue to be brave. You are not fighting alone.