I am so excited to share this navy and mint engagement session with you today.  Laura is in full countdown mode to her wedding day and I have to say, I am just as excited for her!  It is such a joy to spend time with them, and I always leave laughing.  In Laura’s words, their romance is something out of a Nicholas Sparks novel and I would have to agree!

Laura met Jonathan while she was still in high school and he was attending Liberty University.  They met while both working at Applebee’s and started dating in 2005.  The next year when Laura went off to CNU and Jonathan moved back to North Carolina, they ended breaking up.  While the distance separated them, they still kept in touch and would occasionally text each other during major holidays to wish each other a “Merry Christmas” or “Happy 4th of July”.

In May of 2010 Laura graduated from CNU and started working in retail management but craved a change.  By 2012 she was planning to move to Italy and become an Au Pair.  Here is where it gets good ya’ll!

Out of the blue, Jonathan sent Laura a random text message asking how life was.  She excitedly told him about her travel plans to Italy and all the adventures she had planned.  Jonathan asked if he could visit with her once more before she left.  They hadn’t seen each other in 6 years and Laura didn’t think he would actually come to visit but he did.  Two weeks later, he showed up on her doorstep with flowers and poured his heart out to her.

He told Laura that he had always loved her and that she was the “one that got away” and that there was no way he could let her go to Italy without giving it one last shot.  It overwhelmed Laura a little as she explained that she was leaving the country and it really wasn’t a good time to start a relationship. Jon gracefully accepted her rejection, but asked if they could at least go to dinner–he had driven from North Carolina to see her, after all.

They went to dinner, talked about everything under the sun, and we laughed until they both had tears flowing. The next day, they went to the aquarium. Laura said she felt like a kid again–running from tank to tank, pointing out each new fish like a 5 year old. She had a blast, and Jonathan was right beside me doing the same. There was the comfort and ease of an old friend, but the butterflies and tingles of a new relationship. It was an unusual re-start, with so much time since we had last seen each other. The weekend ended, and as she watched him drive away, she felt a wave of sadness creep over her.

She knew that this would be something special, something different. There were a lot of factors that played into canceling Laura’s trip to Italy, but Jonathan definitely was one of the major reasons she stayed. They talked every day and she missed his company right away. He drove back up to Virginia almost every weekend for 11 months before relocating here. And here they are. A decade after their first first date… 3 years after their second first date… And she is head over heels with that college boy in her hometown, that she can now call her fiancé.

Engagement Photographer | Wedding Photographer