I had so much fun strolling around Jefferson City last week with Lauren and Dalton as we documented their engagement portraits! Lauren and Dalton warmed up to the camera almost instantly and made my job so easy with every click of the shutter. They have an adorable connection that is evident in all of the portraits!
Downtown Jefferson City was the perfect backdrop for our first set of locations. We even stopped at the walkway area behind the Missouri capitol where Dalton proposed to Lauren in April! Though it was a hot and humid evening, Lauren and Dalton handled the temperatures like champions. For our final location, we traveled to the Runge Nature area. The beautiful golden hour light was showing off. It cast such perfect rays of light in all of the portraits. It was truly one fun night with these two. I cannot wait for their big day next year!
How They Met
Dalton and Lauren both went to Catholic grade schools in Jefferson City. Jefferson City is the type of town where everyone knows everyone, so they knew each other even though they went to different grade schools! Lauren and Dalton never really spoke until their high school years, which is when the two started dating!
Their first date is one that Lauren will never forget! She was a sophomore and Dalton was a junior in high school. Dalton asked Lauren to go play 18 holes of golf at Oak Hills in Jefferson City, even though Lauren had never in her life played a round of golf. Naturally, Lauren was incredibly nervous on top of the normal nerves that come with a first date! Not a great pick on Dalton’s end, but Lauren wanted to be a good sport and just try to have fun 😉 !!! The date went really well even though Lauren was slightly humiliated about the amount of times she missed the ball trying to play!
Dalton and Lauren started dating in September of 2015, so they were really young. Since they have been together for almost 8 years, Dalton has without a doubt seen every side of Lauren and has loved her through it all. To Lauren, Dalton feels like home and makes her feel safe – wherever he is is where she want to be! Dalton knew that Lauren was the one in college. They both went to different colleges. Despite Dalton being at Missouri State and Lauren being at Mizzou, they always made time for each other and made their relationship a priority!
How He Asked
Dalton proposed on April Fools Day – what a perfect day for an engagement!!! Dalton told Lauren that they were going to dinner with friends that night at Madison’s so she wanted to wear a cute outfit. As Dalton and Lauren were on their way to dinner, Dalton told her that their friends were running late and that they needed to kill some time before going to Madison’s. To “kill time”, Dalton took Laurene to the walkway behind the Capitol that leads down to the river . As they turned the corner, Lauren saw a little table with roses and light up letters that spelled out “Marry Me”. As soon as Lauren saw that, Dalton got down on one knee and popped the question! Easily one of the happiest and most special moments for the happy couple!
