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When Sam shared with me that he had bought a ring to propose to Olivia, I was so excited for them! Since this is their story, I figured it might be a nice change of pace to let Sam tell his view of their love story. Here is their beautiful love story:

How We Met:

“Olivia and I first met in high school. We occasionally talked to each other in the halls, during lunch, after school waiting for our rides home, or at school events. For the first two years of high school, we didn’t have any classes together, and never spent a lot of time together. Because we went to such a small high school, everyone knew everyone, and it was hard not to interact with anyone. We had similar friend groups but never really spent much time together. I liked Olivia very much from the time we first met, but always saw her as a friend and not much more. I always thought she was a sweet, smart, kind girl, but for a while I never really thought much else,

“During the first week of our junior year, we found out we had every class together. It was during that first week I snapped a picture of her that really made me see her in a much different way. As a photographer myself, I frequently carried my camera with me, even to school. I took a picture of Olivia while she was working on a class project and was pleasantly surprised by how beautiful I found her to be. From that point on, I was very much interested in Olivia and we ended up spending a lot more time together. We sat next to each other in almost every class, I joined the robotics team at school to spend more time with her, and we even ran for Student Council President and Vice President together (of course she was running for President). We literally did everything together. We had all the same friends, were involved in all the same clubs and school organizations, and took all the same classes just to spend more time with each other. Olivia and I became a team, and I relied on her for her support as she relied on me for the same. By December of our junior year of high school, we were dating. Asking her to be my girlfriend was easily the best decision I have ever made, because even if I didn’t know it then, I know now that I want to spend the rest of my life with her. Just over 4 years later, we attend the same college, have our own house, work for the same company, have all the same friends, and are currently engaged to be married. I couldn’t imagine my life without her now. She is my best friend, my whole world, and soon enough she will be my wife.”

How I asked:

“Olivia and I have this habit of window shopping for jewelry, specifically rings, whenever we are out together. We will stop at the different stores in the mall or around town just to take a peek at all the different options. Olivia always thought she was just window shopping while I was always planning ahead, taking note of her likes and dislikes. In high school, we stopped once so she could take a look at promise rings, just to see what was out there. She tried a couple on and settled on one that she really liked. We left that day, and she talked about how much she really liked that ring. So naturally, I went back the next day and bought it. Getting her engagement ring was absolutely no different. We had talked about marriage, getting engaged, trying to establish a timeline for our lives. I had long decided I was going to marry her, it was just a matter of when it was going to happen. While we were out one day, we stopped to take a look at rings. Olivia found one she really liked, the wonderful lady wrote down all the information for us, and I went back the very next day and bought it,

“I spent the next month or so meeting secretly with her best friends trying to figure out a plan for my proposal. We discussed many different options, but nothing stood out to me as overly exciting, or romantic, or surprising. A few weeks later we were hosting a birthday party for her best friend at our house, and it was at this party that all of our closest friends convinced me to propose. In the span of 20 minutes, her best friends distracted her by putting on makeup, while others ran to the nearest store to pick up over 100 tealight candles, roses, and secretly picked up my sister to come take pictures for us. We covered our backyard with the candles, covered the ground in rose petals, it looked absolutely perfect. I asked her to follow me outside, and she saw all the candles and roses and it was obvious that she had absolutely no idea what was going on. I began telling how much she means to me, how much I love her, and how much I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. I asked her to marry me in our backyard, surrounded by all of our best friends, and nothing has ever felt more perfect than that moment, and I wouldn’t change a single thing about that night.”

Here are some of my favorite photos from their engagement session!