When we first talked about their engagement session ideas, Ellie brought up the idea of doing a relaxed session in their home. “Many of our first dates centered around Joe’s (now our) kitchen – one of our favorite activities to this day is making dinner together. (Well..Joe cooks and I usually have a glass of wine or 2 and watch and talk.)
“When we think about these photos, I think we both really want something that captures this moment in time for us. We love the idea of showing our future children/grandchildren these photos, which represent such a special time for us in the earliest days of our relationship. I really love the idea of getting some photos of us cooking in the kitchen, playing a board game or nintendo, etc. Additionally, I think we’d both love to include our dog, Chief, in some of these, as he’s been a part of this from the start!”
I absolutely loved this idea so we scheduled for a day at the end of May, but then a few weeks ago, Ellie asked if there was any way we could move the date up. They had just accepted an offer on their home and will be moving in a few weeks. “While we’re really excited about this, we both envisioned these pictures being done in our current home, as this is where things really started for us.” March is traditionally a slower season in the Midwest so I was happy to be able to reschedule them and get their photos done before they move.
We had so much fun; it was relaxing, delicious (yes, they made a plate for me too!), funny, and full of the best variety of conversation. I genuinely just wanted to keep hanging out. We also had a big laugh at how Chief stole the show and basically made the entire session all about him. But seriously, how could he not? Look at that face.
Joe is an amazing cook and he also does a lot of hunting and fishing. On one of their earliest dates, Joe invited Ellie and some of his friends over for dinner. “He is a really great chef and makes excellent, specialty cocktails. This was really early on in our relationship; we had been on a few dates. At one point while he was cooking, he winked at me in passing and I melted – lol. Later, after everybody left, Joe and I stayed up talking until almost 4am before I remembered I had a dog at home that needed to be let out! Joe and I ended up spending the entire next day together, too.” This was the menu from that dinner and it includes duck, salmon, pheasant, deer, quail, alligator, walleye, rabbit, and black bear. (Raise your hand if you want an invite to an Ellie/Joe dinner party!)
In sticking with the food theme, Ellie and Joe first met at a dinner party their mutual friends hosted. “Caroline and I had been plotting ways for Joe and I to meet and so she and her husband, who worked with Joe, hosted their friends for an Italian dinner. It was the perfect opportunity for us to meet in a casual setting,” Ellie said.
“We talked a little, not much,” said Joe. “But we did like each other! A week or two after that we met for drinks for our first date. We spent hours together and really enjoyed our time. Right away, we knew we had a lot in common.”
Ellie said she knew “pretty much immediately, but was waiting on Joe to let me know he felt the same. One day we were in his kitchen and he said, ‘You know when you were little and your dad would make dinner and it’d be like…chicken nuggets and you’d be like, “Yes! Dad is making dinner!” If we ever have kid’s someday, it’s going to be the opposite. They’re going to be like, “Ugh, Dad’s making a fancy dinner again!”‘ Just hearing him mention the possibility of us having kids was so exciting and the first step in the direction of me being able to be more clear about what I wanted in our relationship.”
Joe proposed this past November. “He tricked me into thinking that we were going to grab drinks with some friends, then meet his brother and sister-in-law for dinner. Joe is from Michigan and had his siblings all coming into town for the Iowa/Michigan State football game. Little did I know, he’d also coordinated with his parents and my family to meet us for dinner after the proposal. Joe, who is very well-spoken, froze up and said the funniest possible thing he could have said during the proposal which was, (Colten was the friend we were supposedly meeting up with) ‘Did you know Colten’s wife is pregnant with twins? Should we have a baby? Should we get married?’ Then he got down on one knee. We crack up about this all the time!” (I also crack up about this at various times throughout the day.)
When it comes to their future, Joe said that the dreams they have are to “build a family and spend our time doing the things we love.” When it comes to their wedding day, he is looking forward “primarily, getting married to Ellie. But secondarily, seeing all our friends and celebrating.”
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