How we met: Lance and I met in March of 2014 when we were set up by a couple of friends/clients. I, being a photographer, was hired by a new client (Caitlin) to shoot a bridal session as a wedding gift for her best friend. After the session, I received a text message asking how I felt about being set up. Caitlin just knew that she had someone in mind I HAD to meet. I was a bit hesitant as I didn’t know anything about him, not one thing other than he was a good friend of hers. More than anything, I was just nervous at the thought of a potential blind date. But that nervousness turned to excitement when she followed up her question with a few pictures of Lance she snagged from Facebook. He was cute, so I agreed to a group get together to meet him. Little did I know, but my best friend was in on this as well and sent Caitlin photos of myself to Lance. Gotta love social media! After an exchange of our numbers and a week of talking, it was decided we would meet. But somehow, planned or not, our group date had quickly turned to just two. Lance was a gentleman and asked to pick me up at my home to take me on our first date. I had warned him that I had a big family and they would be there waiting to get a glimpse of this mystery guy but he insisted on properly meeting everyone before taking me out. As we made our way to the restaurant we both admitted how nervous we were to being set up. It made me feel better that I wasn’t the only one. During dinner, we talked what seemed like forever. So long, that the restaurant was closing and we made our way to his truck where we drove around town just to talk more. It was so much more than I would have ever expected a blind date to be. And it was the perfect start to our relationship. Lance asked me to “officially” be his girlfriend in June and I knew from there that this was something special.
how they asked: I knew that a proposal was coming soon but I didn’t know how or when. Lance and I had looked at rings and picked out the perfect one a few months back. We both couldn’t wait to be engaged and talked about it on a daily basis. He knew that it would be hard to surprise me and I thought it would be too but he pulled it off. Here’s how it all went down: My younger brother had asked me weeks before the proposal if I would take his and his girlfriend’s photos. My brother isn’t too fond of taking pictures but knew it would make the perfect Christmas gift for her. I was honestly shocked by his idea as it was such a good one but reasoned it by thinking he was planning cheap. He knew I wouldn’t charge for these photos, thus making a sweet, but cheap gift. Go figure, he could come up with that. As we planned their session, we agreed that a local Christmas tree farm would be the perfect spot. I have to admit, I was a bit obsessed with these Christmas trees. Everything about the location made me happy and I couldn’t wait to shoot with the cute couple. I mentioned to Lance how excited I was about the upcoming photos. He thought it was a great idea and that we should take a few photos ourselves. How easy would that be to hand off my camera to my brother and let him snap a few? Easy enough. So the morning of, we coordinated outfits and made sure to look extra nice. I’m pretty sure Lance was amused by the number of times I changed my outfit but ya can’t blame a girl for trying to find the right outfit. After church, we headed to the tree farm and began our Christmas session. We switched back and forth between couples to make sure we all had plenty of photos. Lance was getting very into the session, as he kept going around trying to find the perfect spot. It crossed my mind that it was a little strange how concerned Lance was but I figured he really wanted me to be happy with the photos as I can be a little picky. Test shot after test shot, and we finally found the spot we would take our best photos yet. I passed off my camera to my brother as Lance took my hand.
I felt clumsy as he twirled me around but he insisted on having this fun photo. A few spins around and then the the final turn, I see him down on one knee.
He had a small box in his hands with my ring! I was in complete shock! I don’t even know what exactly he said but I knew he was asking me to be his forever. I managed to do nothing more than shake my head yes. I couldn’t even get that one word out but he knew there would never be another answer. After my few nods, he placed the ring on my finger ad hopped up to give me a big hug and kiss. I buried my head into him, as I took in the fact that we were engaged. I could finally call him my fiance. We were congratulated by my brother and girlfriend as well as some of our best friends who snuck in last minute to watch the whole thing happen. I couldn’t be more thankful for such an amazing husband to be and the fact that I have this amazing moment captured. I look forward to making a million more memories with my forever guy.
Photos by Paige Michelle Photography