The season of engagement sessions is upon us and I just LOVE it!!! I had the opportunity to work with Samantha and Austen last week and my heart was just melting during their entire shoot. They are the SWEETEST couple and they snuggled and giggled the entire time I was shooting, whether I posed them or not!! That’s a photographers dream right there  You can see how much they love each other in every photo I took!

Samantha and Austen requested that their engagement photos be taken in the same place that they had their first date, and the same place where Austen proposed. That place is the absolutely breathtaking McCrory Gardens in Brookings, South Dakota. Let me tell you, I am SO glad they did! I thought the wind was going to overpower our session but it actually ended up being a BEAUTIFUL fall evening and we didn’t feel the wind at all! Enjoy some of my faovirtes from Samantha + Austen’s engagement shoot and leave them some love! I can’t WAIT for their fall wedding next year!

 

Tell me about your first date!

Samantha: “For our first date, we first walked to McCrory Gardens. At McCrory Gardens, Austen sang the song A Sky Full of Stars to me and he held me during the song. At the Herb Garden, where Austen sang to me on our first date is where he proposed. After McCrory Gardens we went to Dairy Queen and got ice cream together.”

What things do you love the most about her?

Austen: “She is the most caring person I know. She is always there for me. She is funny and loving.”

How did he propose?

Samantha told me the story of how Austen proposed to her. She told me that he started with a scavenger hunt that began with him asking her to meet him at his apartment, but instead of finding him there, she found a note instead. That note led her to her best friend Lindsey’s dorm, where her friend was waiting with another hint for Samantha. That hint led her to the SDSU Dairy Bar, where her friend Alyssa was waiting with the last note. Samantha recalls, “[The last note said] ‘Do you remember what happened later that night? Do you remember the stars? Do you remember where I held you? Do you remember how I sang to you? Go to the place where I sang to you under a night sky full of stars.’ The last place that I went to was McCrory Gardens. At McCrory Gardens, Austen proposed to me in the exact same place where he sang to me and where we went on our first date together.”

What things do you love the most about him?

Samantha: “Loving, caring, supportive, honest, trustworthy, respectful, kind, has been there for me through everything. Austen is encouraging and tells me if its something that I want to do, to go for it and do it. He has been my rock. He is my world.”