Amanda & Richard’s Farm Grove Engagement

It was a chilly January evening, and they sat around a table with their two closest friends, smiling across their plates over candlelight. Amanda and Richard were celebrating their anniversary with some of their favorite people, and the dinner was wonderful. She didn’t even notice the nerves he could feel welling up in his stomach, the pure excitement of what was to come after the main course. They finished eating, and the server set a large desert tray on the table in front of her. With the words “Happy Anniversary” beautifully written in swirly calligraphy, she smiled at the gorgeous spread of strawberries and truffles…and then she gasped. There, on the dessert plate, was a small white box wrapped in red ribbon, the shiny bow mimicking the color of the strawberries beside it. And as she excitedly opened the box, he asked her to marry him as their friends watched on in happiness from across the table. After knowing each other for 10 years, this was one of the biggest moments in their relationship, the flipping of a chapter that made them “fiancés” and changed their lives for the better, always together.

Amanda and Richard’s engagement session was not only SO much fun, but these two are the absolute sweetest and so easy to photograph! We explored so many cool corners of Barnone, laughing at the fact that these two are perfect models, even with tons of people around watching. Perhaps my favorite part inside was discovering all of the sweet wedding cards inside Prickly Pear Paper, because they fit so perfectly for our shoot! They even got to play a few games of cactus tic tac toe! As we ventured around outside, we caught golden light through the yellow-green leaves and jumped through high grass, even seeing Richard show off his hero skills by pulling a bee out of Amanda’s hair and managing for neither of them to get stung! I was shocked and relieved to say the least (that little guy got way in there), and Amanda carried on as if it was nothing. You go girl. All joking aside, this day was so incredible and I can’t wait for their wedding next year. These two wonderful people deserve all the happiness in the world, and I can’t wait to see them experience it!