Alena and Jason are both very active and enjoy a lot of outdoor activities particularly running – in fact if you read their engagement story you’ll see that’s how they met! They also enjoy relaxing and sharing a bottle of wine. That is why I thought Jolo Winery and Vineyards would be the perfect fit for them. It’s a gorgeous winery and vineyard with a perfect view of pilot mountain along with other picturesque views. The day of their shoot was a little iffy. We had been threatened with rain all day but it hadn’t actually happened, however, as soon as we got there and got set up to shoot, it began pouring down rain. We decided not to let that stop us and started off photographing them under the porch. In the end it worked out for the best because it cleared up and created some gorgeous skies. You’ll see with the sky pictures below… I of course was in heaven, it also helped that Alena and Jason are very natural and freaking adorable together. Enjoy! 🙂
Their engagement story from Jason’s point of view:

I’ve been participating in a running club for the past couple of years. One day, Alena showed up and I could not take my eyes off of her. I wanted to introduce myself, but I couldn’t keep up because she is such a fast runner. So, I tracked her down after the run, introduced myself, sang the Soviet national anthem (which I randomly know), talked for a while, and asked for her number.

The proposal was on Christmas Day. Naturally, the day was full of traveling around, meeting family, eating, exchanging gifts, and all of the other festive actions that surrounds the day. Wanting to enjoy a bit of peace, we elected to wait until the end of the day and give each other gifts when we would be able to sit down, relax, and fully appreciate the moment. We were still at my mom’s house around mid-afternoon, and I asked Alena to relax while I ran a couple of errands. She was puzzled by the nature of these errands…

I went to her house, spread rose petals all over the bedroom, break out the champagne glasses, set up some music, put the last of the gifts under the tree, and set up my guitar.

After preparing the house, I brought Alena back home. We drank the champagne, and had a wonderful time opening gifts. After all the presents were unwrapped, I explained that I had one last gift, but it wasn’t exactly something that I could wrap…It was a song that I wrote for her, called “Hearts and Arrows.” (The title came from the style of the diamond that I was going to give her…she had already seen the diamond a few weeks earlier at the store, and the jeweler explained that the stone had that name, and that it meant it had a perfect cut.)

So, Alena relaxed on the couch while I was sitting beside the guitar case on the floor, singing to her about how much she means to me, and about the brightness of our future. When the song was finished, I began the process of putting the guitar back into the case. The ring was hidden inside of the case, so as I opened the case, I pulled out the ring, and asked Alena to marry me.