Before Esmeralda and Nasim made headlines as a couple, they were making news professionally. Nasim is a photographer and Esmeralda is a television producer. The two met while covering a news story and have been creating one of their own ever since.
The couple became engaged at beautiful Yosemite National Park during a walk through Stoneman Meadow. “The year before, we’d taken a picture together in that same exact spot, and he wanted to ‘recreate’ the photo and set up his camera on a timer,” Esmeralda remembers. “I impatiently tapped my foot as he set up the shot, but in the middle of snapping our photo, he got down on one knee and popped the question.”
It’s only appropriate that the couple chose Yosemite for their big day. With a narrow planning window, they needed to keep things short and sweet. They decided to set up chairs on the lawn of the historic Ahwahnee Hotel for the ceremony. “Part of that process was deciding which ‘backdrop’ we wanted while we said ‘I do,’” says the bride. “We chose Yosemite Falls. I’ll never forget my father walking me across the lawn and looking up at the picture perfect falls.”
Not even the threat of a snowstorm would dampen this beautifully planned affair. Despite major snow the day prior to the wedding, the sunshine illuminated the valley, melted the snow, opened up the roads and paved the way for a perfect day.
Guests moved on to The Ahwahnee’s Mural Room, with an intimate dinner party awaiting close friends and family. “For a few of our guests, this was their first trip to Yosemite,” Esmeralda says. “We were so glad to share the experience with them and watch them fall in love with the park, just as we did. Watching the kids play outside in the meadow felt like a fairy tale.”
But even these precious memories couldn’t compare to that moment Esmeralda and Nasim laid eyes on each other for the first time that day. “We laughed, hugged and cried in the span of a few minutes,” she recalls. “We felt so proud and so happy that we’d pulled it off. We gathered our closest friends and family at the place that we love the most and we would soon be pronounced husband and wife surrounded by nature—a constant reminder of what brought us closer together.”
