Rylee & Thomas absolutely blew me away at their session! They came dressed to impress in timeless black and white attire and they were immediately comfortable in front of the camera. Their giddiness and laughter filled the two hour session and became the highlight of the evening! I love the adorable connection Rylee and Thomas share. They can be serious and romantic one second and cracking up and letting their goofy sides show the next. These two were such natural models and made this session so easy to document. I enjoyed strolling around the Missouri Capitol with them as we documented this milestone time in their lives. We made our way over to the Governor’s Garden where they let their silly sides show! From playing tag, to spinning around, Rylee and Thomas were up for anything I threw their way.
To finish off the session, we ventured over to Noren River Access! What a grand finale of a location this was! The sky was showing off that night. It was painted with the prettiest hues of pinks, peaches, and purples- it was truly a magnificent sight to see! As Rylee and Thomas sat on the river rocks, it was such a picture perfect way to end the session! This was one of the most stunning sunsets I had seen in awhile.
How They Met
Rylee and Thomas first “met” on Instagram when he had followed her. Rylee saw he went to JC so she just followed him back not really thinking anything of it. A few months later, Rylee found herself looking at his profile and Thomas had his snapchat in his Instagram bio so she added him, he added Rylee back, and a few days later they started snapping back and forth! This eventually led to real texting, and their first date. Rylee and Thomas met in person for the first time on their first date about two weeks after they started talking and texting!
First Date
Rylee and Thomas’s first date was July 2, 2018. After they talked for maybe a week or so Thomas asked her to meet up and they decided to go see a movie. They ended up getting tickets to see Incredibles 2 even though Rylee had already seen it. Rylee just really wanted to meet this guy she had been talking to so they went to the movie. Thomas got out of his car as soon as Rylee pulled up next to him in the parking lot at the theater. Rylee had a black and white jacket on which they planned to use to sneak candy into the movie! As they started walking toward the front door, Rylee somehow dropped the candy. They both started laughing and scrambling to pickup the candy, but luckily no one noticed.
Rylee remembers thinking Thomas had a really great smile and was just so relieved that this guy from Instagram was real and standing in front of her. Thomas couldn’t help but thnink how much they clicked and how much Rylee made him laugh already within minutes of officially meeting in person! After the movie was over, Rylee and Thomas sat in his car talking for awhile! Eventually, they said goodnight. When Rylee got home, Thomas texted her to make sure she made it home safe and they ended up talking on the phone all night long! Thomas was so infatuated with Rylee, he wanted to see her again as soon as possible. During their phone chat, Rylee and Thomas planned their second date for the very next day! Rylee remembers being really excited about exploring her relationship with Thomas!
The One
RYLEE “I think I knew from the beginning that there was something special about Thomas and I together. From the start he showed me so much care. He came to all of my softball and basketball games. He took the time to learn softball and basketball so he could be involved in that part of my life. And through high school and college he was always my biggest cheerleader and the loudest in the stands. He also wasn’t’t afraid to meet my family and he very quickly became accepted by everyone. Everything was just so easy with us from the beginning, it never felt like work, we always had fun together, never ran out of things to talk about or do together, and that feeling has never faded.”
THOMAS: ”It was my Junior year of college and her sophomore year. We both lived on campus but on opposite ends, but we did everything besides school and sports together. We’d study at our apartments or in the library, cook, eat, sleep, and just goof off. It was always together. It wasn’t until she had to move back home and I stayed in Springfield for work that summer that I realized how much I missed just being together and how I never wanted that to end. So that summer I talked with my parents, brother, and close friends about how I wanted to marry her they all agreed I’d be stupid not too.”
How He Asked
Once Thomas landed his first full time job, he immediately started doing research on engagement rings. He kept asking Rylee vague questions and they even went to a jewelry store in Springfield just to see what she liked. Once Thomas nailed down the details, he went to the local jewelry store, the same one his dad bought his mom’s ring, and started shopping around. Thomas ended up making a custom ring with a diamond they had found for him and the setting and band he liked.
The whole time during the ring shopping, Rylee and Thomas were planning a trip to the Grand Canyon and he knew that would be when he popped the question. Thomas asked basically Rylee’s whole family for permission and they all were excited and said yes!! Rylee and ThomasI had always talked about roadtripping to the Grand Canyon because it was on their bucket list…They had talked about it for maybe 2 years and finally decided they were going to do it over her Christmas break her senior year at Drury. Rylee and Thomas left the day after Christmas and drove all the way to Arizona. The real challenge was driving to Arizona and not talking about the one thing Thomas wanted to talk about which was the ring that he had snuck into his work bag.
Rylee and Thomas were at the Grand Canyon for 3 days doing a lot of hiking before he proposed. They had decided that one day before they left, December 31st, they were going to get up early and find a lookout spot to watch the sunrise because Rylee had mentioned weeks before that it was one thing she wanted to do while they were there. Thomas was so excited for the day ahead, that he woke Rylee up way to early at 4AM to go watch the sunrise. Rylee thought it was odd because the sun didn’t rise until almost 7AM and they were staying right outside the park
After exploring a few different look out points, Rylee remembers thinking they were here WAY too early because she was exhausted after all the hiking they had been doing and wondering why Thomas was so picky and concerned about which spot they sat at. They eventually stopped at Moran Point because Thomas deemed that one perfect for watching the sunrise. It wasn’t even 6AM yet…Rylee and Thomas sat in the pitch black car for what felt like an eternity in dead silence. Rylee just thought it was so weird that Thomas wasn’t talking to her at all but figured he was probably just really tired too.
They finally got out of the car just before the sun started to rise at the rim of the canyon and went and sat out on a rock ledge to wait. As the sun started coming up, they talked about all the rock layers and looked at the river below and it just felt so surreal to be in such a beautiful place together, and Rylee just didn’t want it to be over. Eventually, Thomas asked Rylee to stand up so they could set up the tripod to take some pictures in front of the sun rise. Rylee got up because she wanted to take some cool pictures so she set up her phone on the tripod. Rylee went back out to where Thomas standing to take the pictures when he just hugged her and they looked out to the canyon where the sun finally started to rise and Thomas asked Rylee to look at him and she actually remembers thinking “not yet…” she wasn’t ready for this amazing moment to be over but she knew exactly what was coming next and immediately started tearing up.
When Rylee finally turned, she saw Thomas reach in his pocket and start getting down on his knee and she couldn’t even tell you what Thomas said because they were both just crying the happiest tears ever! She couldn’t believe it. Thomas was so amped he can’t even remember what he said either. All he knows is Rylee said yes and he was so happy to slide that ring on her finger! It was funny though because Rylee was confident on her ring size and it turned out to be completely wrong and way too big.
After things calmed a bit Rylee and Thomas realized how cold they were and got back in the car to warm up. After that, they went back to their hotel and changed to go get breakfast where they debriefed the whole proposal process. Rylee loved hearing how much planning and detail Thomas had put into it. She was so so proud of Thomas!
