Carly & Dave | Shenandoah National park Engagement Session

If you know anything about Jeremiah and I by now, it's probably that we're photographers, and we love traveling. We especially love traveling for engagement sessions. One of the reasons being, when we get the opportunity to come to our couples where they live anywhere in this country, we get to see a whole new perspective and understand a giant piece of who they are. This is exactly what happened with Carly & Dave, on one of my favorite adventures we've ever taken part in.

We drove to Virginia, and met up with Carly and Dave at a local pizzeria called District of Pi. Carly and I went to church together when we were younger, but hadn't seen each other in years. It was so nice to reunite, and finally meet her fiancé Dave.

We all clicked immediately. All of us spent much time swapping stories about high school, college, and Jeremiah and I listened intently for hours on all the exciting details of their love story. It's one of the greatest stories I've ever heard, one piece that sticks out to me is when Dave was talking about the proposal. He sent flowers to Carly often, and the week before he proposed he sent them every day. He's bought flowers so much, he now has his own personal florist named Nancy. 

Their relationship started one winter break in college, with an eventful road trip with a few other friends to Tennessee. Shortly after, Carly got a job in Washington DC and had to move, which started a difficult time in their relationship where they were long distance. Dave was determined, and eventually also found a job in DC and was able to make the move to be closer to Carly.

In these past months, they've grown into a comfortable routine. It consists of him coming to see her at work, them wandering around the docks of Oldtown, getting coffee, and going grocery shopping. We felt so lucky to be included in that. One day, they took us to all their usual spots and showed up what an average day for them looked like. It was beautiful, perfect I'd say. The life these two have built together so far is anyone's dream, and I'm so thrilled we were able to capture the memories of this special stage in their lives.

Next, we took a small road trip together to Shenandoah National Park. Shenandoah was absolutely enchanting, we experienced so many different kinds of weather in one day. On the drive up, the fog was thick and the green tones from the plants on the sides of the road complemented the mood perfectly. At one point we reached a tunnel, and as we entered I prayed out loud that there would be a place to pull off once we exited, because I had a vision for how to use this tunnel. Sure enough, there was a perfect spot to pull over just beyond the tunnel. The pictures I took here are some of my absolute favorite I've ever taken.

We continued the drive up, saw not one, but TWO bears, and hiked to the highest point in the park, Hawksbill peak. Here we saw the clouds move around us, at times covering our sight completely, and then moving to give us the perfect view. All of us had a great time in Shenandoah, but one subject became the main point of our conversation; chipotle.

We ended this incredible weekend with more conversations over satisfying our post hike hunger with burritos. I'll never forget the amazing time we had with these two, and are looking forward to their wedding in just a few months!

Now sit back, drink some coffee, and get to know Carly & Dave.