“One of my favorite memories is when we were both in the honors fraternity at PSU. Any time we had meetings or events, we would coordinate where we would park so that we could walk to and from the meeting together. We would walk to our cars afterwards and stand there for hours just talking, since neither of us wanted to say goodbye…” Stephanie

I arrived early to walk around the gardens like I usually do, and began taking mental notes of locations that would work well for Stephanie and Chris’ engagement session. After arriving back at the front of the gardens I saw Stephanie and Chris walking down the stairs towards me just chatting away. I immediately fell in love with Stephanie’s dress, I mean who wouldn’t! I told Stephanie how much I loved it and how beautiful she looked in it. Not missing a beat, Chris, gazing at Stephanie, said “yeah, she does”. Oh my heart! I wish I had been taking pictures that very moment, because the genuine love Chris has for Stephanie was all over his face.

I absolutely love when engagement sessions begin and I can immediately see the love the bride and groom have for each other! If this weren’t a blog I would have already put 100 heart eye emojis in here… and if you follow me anywhere else on social media then you know I’m not joking LOL!

As we began our session through the garden I found out that the first time Chris saw Stephanie he thought she was a model! I mean, I 100% understand why, because she is gorgeous! Talk about love at first sight! Stephanie told me that they met at Penn State at an information session for the co-ed honors fraternity, phi sigma pi. Because she had been taking the bus, Chris offered to give her a ride home on the nights the fraternity met. She said that she would have accepted his offer under normal circumstances, but the truth was she made an exception since, “he was extremely cute and I wanted an excuse to talk to him more.” After that the rest was history, and there we were, now taking their engagement photos!

We continued on from one dreamy spot to the next, chatting the whole time. I loved getting to know them both better. In fact, I found out that they share a common interest with me and my husband. I explained to them how me and Caleb bonded over our dislike of horror movies and scary shows, and that our preferred entertainment was The Office and shows like it (we love a good laugh!). Wonderfully they love The Office too! In fact, they went on to tell me that they watch it every night before they go to bed… we do too!! So naturally we bonded over our common love of comedic sitcoms and mockumentaries.

Towards the end of our session we decided to pull out the champagne. Oh, didn’t I tell you there was champagne? Yes! Actually there were two bottles of champagne! Not for drinking, although there was a little of that, but for spraying! Let me tell y’all, I don’t think any of us knew exactly what we were doing. It was good that Stephanie had the wisdom and foresight to bring two bottles!

After the champagne we put a cork in the session and called it a night (see what I did there!). We walked away thrilled for the wedding and so pleased that we finally got to meet in person.

Stephanie and Chris,

Thank you sooo much for trusting me with such special memories. It was an absolute joy getting to know you both better, and it makes me all the more excited for your big day in June! You are both so beautiful inside and out, and I am honored to be your wedding photographer.

Warmest regards,

Sarah Bell