It was a couple of days before Christmas and she had just gotten off a night shift at the hospital and he convinced her to change out of her scrubs and shower before they drove the few hours to his parents’ house.  She thought nothing of it because he told her that they would be having lunch with them.  What she didn’t remember was that she had mentioned before that she didn’t want to be proposed to “post-call and in scrubs”.  So she slept in the car while he drove and as they got closer to Greenville, he let her know that they would be making a quick stop at Furman University where his mom graduated because he and his brother had decided to get her a brick with her name and graduation date inscribed on it.  It had slipped their minds, so he wanted to stop and get a photo of it to give to her on Christmas day.

As they parked – far from where she thought they were going – Andrew ended up having to almost tackle her to get her to stop because Rachel was walking right past where he wanted her to actually stop.  As he wrapped his arms around her from behind to slow her down, he turned her towards him to tell her how much he loved her and that this was the spot where his parents had gotten engaged and he had always wanted to propose in the same spot.  So he got down on one knee and asked her to marry him.  His parents had started their life together in that spot and he wanted to do the same with Rachel.

Even though they were engaged in Greenville, they live and will be getting married in Charleston.  So I’m thankful it worked out for me to go down to hang out with them and capture their life where they live!  I love when couples want to make their engagement session all their own, when we go and shoot in places that have meaning, and we do things they typically do together.  They’d mentioned that one of their favorite things to do was to enjoy a good beer or glass of wine together and just talk.  Or read.  Or hang out with friends.  As long as they were together!  So, I met them at the Bay Street Biergarten to start their session.  It was such a beautiful evening so we started outside in some of the most amazing light!

Their laughter filled most of our session.  I loved it.

We walked inside for a few photos and an entire section was empty because there was going to be a rehearsal dinner there later that evening.  So we had it all to ourselves!

November weddings are SO much fun!

Oh my goodness, how beautiful is her ring??

Rachel had mentioned a couple of times that Up is one of her favorite movies.  So we just HAD to get balloons before heading downtown.

I love this one!!

It was all made even more perfect by the fact that Andrew wore a suit and bowtie to go with the balloons!

Gah!  Love!

Everyone looking at these photos HAS to be smiling at these two by now!

Rachel – that blue dress and yellow necklace were just stunning on you!!

The Harbour Club, where their wedding reception will be, was just around the corner, so we stopped in to take a look around.
Little did we realize that the rooftop would be empty and that we would be able to see SUCH a beautiful sunset!  We had officially finished their session, but they jumped right back into posing when I asked if we could take a few more on this rooftop.

And oh my heavens… I’m so thankful they trusted me!  This might be my most favorite photo from an engagement session EVER.

Congrats again, you guys.  I can’t wait until November!