Jessica and Cameron are one of my 2018 couples that are getting married! It was a chilly, windy day at the end of October when Jessica, Cameron and I met up for their engagement session. We decided to meet in the middle of where we both live. We met in Redfield, South Dakota, an area that neither of us are very familiar with! I had my husband, Jon, hop on the handy-dandy Google Maps and scout out some potentially cool locations to shoot at. What we ended up with was a very sweet city park with a beautiful white walking bridge, an old lumber warehouse, and a campground near a lake! (Way to go, Jon!) With a couple this evidently in love, you just can’t go wrong. Jessica and Cameron have been together for six years, so of course they absolutely nailed their engagement session. I am so excited to be sharing their love story. And just wait until you read later about how he proposed!
What things do you love the most about him?
Jessica: “Cameron is literally the nicest guy you will ever meet, to everyone. He is SO hard-working, ambitious, and ingenuitive. (He has a full-time job, is a part-time student, is in the National Guard, and owns his own business. I don’t know how he does it.) He is always patient, considerate, and beyond caring. I never have to second-guess how much he loves and cares about me.”
What’s your favorite go-to date?
Jessica & Cameron: “We are obsessed with Pounders, a local Aberdeen restaurant. (Seriously, the best if you’re ever in town.) So that is absolutely our go-to! We’re pretty low-key people but both love a good meal, so it’s perfect. Half-price wings every Wednesday has become a tradition for us :)”
What things do you love the most about her?
Cameron: “I love her caring heart, her sense of humor, sense of adventure, and the commonalities we share on almost everything.”
Do you have any pets?
Jessica and Cameron: “YES!!! We have a coonhound named Otis that we adopted almost a year ago already from the AAHS. He is the quirkiest little guy of all time. He smells everything, LOVES people and other animals, and he never stops moving! But, he does love a comfy bed and will settle down if he sees one.”
How did he propose?
Jessica: “Cam and I love adventure and seeing and doing new things. So for this past summer’s vacation, we decided to go to CO. We were gonna go to the Denver Zoo, see 2Cellos at Red Rocks, hike Hanging Lake and any other cool spots we could find, and overall, do tons of exploring. So, on Wednesday, the 26th of July, and the third day of our trip, hiking Hanging Lake was on our itinerary. I think we had agreed this was one of the things we were both most excited about! We got there, found a parking spot right away (which is next to impossible during the summer months), got ready, and headed up towards the “Hanging Lake”. It was a tough hike (gains 1,000 ft elevation in a little over a mile) but so beautiful along the way that we couldn’t wait to see what the lake looked like. We get to the top and are absolutely taken aback by how beautiful it really is (pictures don’t do it justice.) We spend a little time taking it all in, looking around, and watching a friendly little Steller’s Jay hop around. Eventually, we decided it was time to get some pictures and were scoping out a person to take them for us. (Little did I know, we were really finding someone to take pictures of Cam proposing:) We found a really nice couple who were more than willing to take a few for us. I gave them my phone and am standing there waiting for Cam when I noticed something apparently interesting in the water and lean over for a few seconds to look at it. (This is when Cameron very much surprises our impromptu photographer and tells him he’s about to propose and that he should take a lot of pictures.) So, I turn back around and see Cam setting up his Go-Pro which I thought was weird because we just found someone to take pictures of us, but I didn’t think too much about it. We pose for a couple pictures and just as I think we’re done, Cam says, “Wait, there’s one more thing.” I immediately knew what it was and don’t even remember what went through my mind because I couldn’t believe it was happening! He started to get down on one knee and with the shakiest hands I’ve ever seen asked me to marry him. (I started shaking my head “Yes” before he actually asked.) It was perfect and so very “us”. We were in a beautiful place doing something we both enjoy so much and it made for a moment we’ll never forget.”