Couple Dresses as Disney Princesses for Engagement Photos to Celebrate Their Modern-Day Fairytale

Yalonda and Kayla Solseng found their “princess charming” in one another, and like many in couples in love, decided to get married. To celebrate their engagement, they emphasized this fairytale feeling with a romantic photo shoot. Both the women dressed up as Disney princesses—Kayla as Belle from Beauty and the Beast while Yalonda donned Cinderella’s iconic blue dress—as photographer Taylor Snyder snapped the enchanting images. The resulting series features adoring looks and sweet kisses, with a little magic sprinkled throughout: the smiling Mrs. Potts tea set accompanies the ladies, and Snyder worked Cinderella’s feathered friends into a shot.

The theme was fitting for the couple, who have bonded over the TV show Once Upon a Time ever since they started dating two and a half years ago. “That show rewrites fairytales and this was our modern-day fairytale,” Kayla told The Huffington Post. Yalanda even worked in a classic line from these timeless stories into her proposal. “I asked Kayla, ‘Will you be my happily ever after?’” Yalanda recalled. “Of course she said ‘yes’ and cried.”

These images have gone viral after first being shared online, and they send a powerful reminder that love is love. “Gay marriage has been legalized in the U.S. for over a year and we hardly have gay or lesbian characters in children’s movies—let alone them being main characters,” Yalonda explained. “Kids want to be the characters they grow up with but when none of the characters represent you, then you feel alone. I want our photos to be shown to kids and families as a way of saying it’s okay to be who you are. It’s okay to be with the person you love.”