“Apparently we were in the same middle school newspaper staff, but I have no recollection of this. Eighth graders were clearly too cool to pay attention to 7th graders,” he said. She added, “My junior year–his senior–we started hanging out and became good friends.”

Not a lot of people can remember the specific date they knew they were going to spend their life with the other person, but Brad does. “May 10th, 2010. I was visiting Caitlin in Iowa City and we decided to go see a movie. The movie had a late start time so we got coffee and drove around town for an hour or so talking. After the movie, we were at the stop light turning out of the theatre parking lot and I looked over and she had this giant smile on her face. Right then, I knew that I would marry her.”

Caitlin says it was when they had been dating almost two years. “I was visiting Brad in Ames for the weekend and we were cleaning up his kitchen while listening to music and dancing around. I was standing at the sink washing dishes when he came up behind me and gave me a hug and whispered how lucky he was to have me. I think it’s because it was such an ordinary moment that I could all of a sudden see five, ten, twenty years into the future and I wanted to spend all my ordinary moments with him.”
They were back in town for Iowa’s Homecoming so we met for their stunning Kent Park engagement session. The colors had just started to peak and the light was absolutely delicious. We couldn’t have picked a better night if we had tried.

This was actually the first time for us all to meet in person, but I instantly fell in love with them. They have such an ease with each other and we spent a good portion of the session laughing because we were all having so much fun.
Brad proposed last November in Myrtle Beach. Caitlin never saw it coming because, “[We] had talked about getting married and our future plans, but I still joked with my girlfriends that the man had no idea how to even buy a ring. I was convinced I would know when he was going to propose because we’re not very good at keeping secrets from each other.

“We went to Myrtle Beach for a 3-day weekend, but I was sure he wasn’t going to propose because there had been no ‘signs’. He was acting a little strange at the beginning of the trip–acting very concerned about which overhead container his carry-on was in on the plane and rambling about deep sea fishing during lunch–but I didn’t think too much of it.”

“I was a nervous wreck,” he said. “I couldn’t begin to form cohesive sentences and kept bringing up random talking points like, ‘So…have you ever gone deep sea fishing?'”

Caitlin continued, “We visited Brookgreen Gardens, a beautiful sculpture garden with gorgeous swamp oaks, statues, fountains, and flowers. As we were walking, I commented that the day was absolutely perfect and that if this were the highlight of the trip, I would be happy. Little did I know!”

“I kept saying we should check out this cool scenic outlook I heard about,” Brad said. “When we got to the path that lead to the outlook, there was a large sign that read: ‘Warning: alligators and snakes’. Caitlin’s first response was, ‘Nope, not going that way.’ She has a strong fear of snakes. Perfect.

“After some convincing, she reluctantly agreed to follow the path and said, ‘This outlook better be good.’ Once we traverse the snake/alligator path, we got to the outlook that perches over a river in the forest. As she was looking around and taking a picture, I scrambled and pulled the ring from my back pocket that I had stuffed with tissues to avoid detection. As she was still looking around, I got down on one knee and prepped myself for the speech I had practiced in the shower, on solo road trips, in my head countless of times over several years. As she turned around and looked at me with her eyes wide open, I opened my mouth to begin my speech. 

“Nothing. No words came out. We just stared at each other for several seconds.”

“Like deer in headlights,” she interjected.

“As I tried to muster any type of noise to break the silence, the only words I could throw out in a rushed, slurred manner were, ‘Will you marry me?'”

“Of course I said yes!” Caitlin added. “After the initial surprise wore off, he confessed that he had prepared a whole speech, but just got too nervous in the moment, which I found adorable. I made him give me the speech later that night and it was as perfect as the proposal.”

They told me multiple times how they often dance in the kitchen. I said, “Awesome. You’re gonna dance right here in the middle of the park.” It was amazing.

I think this next shot looks like something out of a Disney movie. That light!!! It’s very Cinderella-ish.

Caitlin’s makeup and hair were absolutely amazing! Kailee of Hair & Makeup by Kailee did her makeup and I immediately asked what color lipstick it was because #musthave. Caitlin did her own hair and I swear, she resembles Kate Middleton a bit.

This was the final image I took that night and it may be my very favorite one. I think it deserves to be a canvas as large as possible.