Engagement in Paris, France, photographed by Tina Joiner of Tina Joiner Photography

How They Met

Meghan: We met at the Naughty Squirrel Hostel in Riga, Latvia in July 2014. A friend and I were at a Yiddish language program in Lithuania, and we decided to spend a weekend in Riga, which was only four hours away; there we met Joost and one of his friends, who were there for a fun weekend getaway. The four of us were staying in the same dorm room at the hostel, and Joost and I got to know each other during a pubcrawl sponsored by the hostel. The next day we spent some more time together, and we kept in touch. 

Why Paris?

Meghan: We picked Paris because I’m currently doing research there for my PhD (Joost lives in Amsterdam), and what better place to do engagement photos than Paris?

How Did He Propose?

Meghan: Joost and I had been talking about marriage for a while, and I knew he had something very special in mind in terms of proposing. Joost put a lot of time and effort in designing a “mystery trip” to Iceland in January— it was a mystery trip because I didn’t know where we were going until shortly before we left. I found out later that Joost had hoped to propose while we were watching the Northern Lights; however, for the first four nights of our trip, we could not see the Northern Lights because of the weather. At the time I did not know that Joost was starting to grow concerned that we would not see the Lights at all during our week in Iceland. On the fifth night of our trip, however, we saw them for about two hours, and he proposed while we were watching them on the porch of our cabin. It was a perfect proposal and a really wonderful trip.

Fashion For Your Engagement Session

Meghan:  I had always wanted to wear an Adrianna Papell gown, so I was very excited to have an opportunity to wear one. My favorite color is red and I really wanted a three-quarter length sleeve A-line red dress, and after a lot of searching I found the NISSA dress I ended up wearing. I rented the blue dress from Rent the Runway; it was a dress I had worn before, and I knew how it fit. I had ordered another Rent the Runway dress, but there was a snafu and it was not mailed in time, so I substituted a white dress with a sweater top and a flowy skirt that was already in my closet from ModCloth; I’m very pleased with how that dress looked and thought it fit very well into the Montmartre aesthetic. Joost wore a custom-made blue suit and a sharp casual outfit from Dilliards.

Additional Tips From Meghan

Meghan: I thought a lot about whether to get my hair and makeup professionally done, and I am glad I did because these were once-in-a-lifetime photos. We did research and got inspiration from other Parisian engagement sessions we found online; this was helpful in fiiguring out where to take photos and for making a plan for the whole day. I’m very happy that I brought a pair of flats to wear while traveling around Paris, because those high heels were brutal. We also hired another PhD candidate, Kelly, doing research in Paris to help watch our changes of clothes, etc. while we were taking photos; she was extremely helpful, and she made sure nothing got stolen while we were shooting in high-traffic tourist areas. 

Engagement in Paris, France, photographed by Tina Joiner of Tina Joiner Photography

How They Met

Meghan: We met at the Naughty Squirrel Hostel in Riga, Latvia in July 2014. A friend and I were at a Yiddish language program in Lithuania, and we decided to spend a weekend in Riga, which was only four hours away; there we met Joost and one of his friends, who were there for a fun weekend getaway. The four of us were staying in the same dorm room at the hostel, and Joost and I got to know each other during a pubcrawl sponsored by the hostel. The next day we spent some more time together, and we kept in touch. 

Why Paris?

Meghan: We picked Paris because I’m currently doing research there for my PhD (Joost lives in Amsterdam), and what better place to do engagement photos than Paris?

How Did He Propose?

Meghan: Joost and I had been talking about marriage for a while, and I knew he had something very special in mind in terms of proposing. Joost put a lot of time and effort in designing a “mystery trip” to Iceland in January— it was a mystery trip because I didn’t know where we were going until shortly before we left. I found out later that Joost had hoped to propose while we were watching the Northern Lights; however, for the first four nights of our trip, we could not see the Northern Lights because of the weather. At the time I did not know that Joost was starting to grow concerned that we would not see the Lights at all during our week in Iceland. On the fifth night of our trip, however, we saw them for about two hours, and he proposed while we were watching them on the porch of our cabin. It was a perfect proposal and a really wonderful trip.

Fashion For Your Engagement Session

Meghan:  I had always wanted to wear an Adrianna Papell gown, so I was very excited to have an opportunity to wear one. My favorite color is red and I really wanted a three-quarter length sleeve A-line red dress, and after a lot of searching I found the NISSA dress I ended up wearing. I rented the blue dress from Rent the Runway; it was a dress I had worn before, and I knew how it fit. I had ordered another Rent the Runway dress, but there was a snafu and it was not mailed in time, so I substituted a white dress with a sweater top and a flowy skirt that was already in my closet from ModCloth; I’m very pleased with how that dress looked and thought it fit very well into the Montmartre aesthetic. Joost wore a custom-made blue suit and a sharp casual outfit from Dilliards.

Additional Tips From Meghan

Meghan: I thought a lot about whether to get my hair and makeup professionally done, and I am glad I did because these were once-in-a-lifetime photos. We did research and got inspiration from other Parisian engagement sessions we found online; this was helpful in fiiguring out where to take photos and for making a plan for the whole day. I’m very happy that I brought a pair of flats to wear while traveling around Paris, because those high heels were brutal. We also hired another PhD candidate, Kelly, doing research in Paris to help watch our changes of clothes, etc. while we were taking photos; she was extremely helpful, and she made sure nothing got stolen while we were shooting in high-traffic tourist areas.