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This winter has been extraordinarily cold and has already brought more snow than I have seen in a long time! As I’ve said before though, I love the snow and the calm it brings with it. I am so thankful that Catie and Elliott, the first engagement session of the year, were flexible when it came to a winter storm interfering with our original session date!

Thankfully we only had to postpone our session by a few days and we still had a substantial amount of snow on the ground. I just knew that it would make for a romantic (albeit cold) engagement session, and Catie and Elliott were willing to trust me with the vision. They suggested Manassas Battlefield and I was so excited to shoot in a new place! When we arrived, it dawned on me that the battlefield was a national park and the government was shut down…however, we found a parking lot that led us straight to one of the open battlefield areas, so the crisis was averted!

A little more on Catie and Elliott’s background though…Catie and Elliott met while working together after college. She was the boss’s daughter, and a little off limits, but they were immediately drawn to each other. While she was there working in the marketing department, she was tasked with writing resumes for some of the employees. She made a ploy to speak with Elliott about his resume, when really she just wanted to talk to him. They began hanging out a little more often, but kept their relationship under the radar. No one knew but the two of them! Eventually their love grew and it couldn’t be hidden anymore. The boss found out that Elliott was in love with his daughter!

They bought a house in the spring of last year, but waited to have a housewarming party when both of their families could attend. The day of the housewarming party, they all planned to go to a local winery, Barrel Oak Winery. There were some celebrations the night beforehand too, so Catie wasn’t feeling well and wanted to skip the winery trip. Elliott insisted she “get it together” so they could go. She had no idea he was planning to propose with both their families as witnesses! Catie “got it together” and as they were posing for a scenic winery photo, he dropped to his knee and asked her to be his wife. She enthusiastically said yes, and they are now deep into the wedding planning process!

While shooting their engagement, you could see that Elliott always has Catie’s best interest at heart. Whether it was checking to see if her feet were frozen, wearing exactly what she requested, or trekking through the snow to take engagement photos, he was willing to do it if it made Catie happy. They also made my job SO easy…I mean, look at them. Model material!! I loved seeing their love (and their love for their cute pup, Theo, who also made an appearance!), and cannot wait to document their wedding day in August of this year at the Evergreen Country Club!

P.S. Shout out to Catie’s mother who accompanied us throughout our snowy adventure. She not only kept track of Theo, but she also offered to carry my camera bag because I had Huxley strapped to me as well! She was the real MVP!!