We met up with Samantha and Steven for a fun-filled evening full of laughter and smiles! These two are quite the pair! We loved their adorable goofy sides that quickly made an appearance during the session! Steven had Samantha cracking up the majority of the evening and it was the sweetest thing to see. We ventured around one of our favorite parks for the beginning of the session before heading downtown to finish the session! Capen Park has so much to offer and it really comes to life in the fall! The temperatures were a bit cooler than we were used to so it made for the perfect snuggly portraits of this darling duo! Samantha and Steven are adorable as can be and when we say these two are models, we mean just that! All evening long, they impressed us with their modeling skills. They truly shined and their love for one another came to life in front of the camera!
It was overcast and chilly for the large part of their session! Then, just as we needed it to, the sun began to peek out from behind the clouds! This is the time during sessions when magic happens! We headed up to the top of a parking garage where we were met with beautiful vibrant rays of sun shiny light! And it was oh so perfect! Samantha and Steven were dressed to perfection and their outfits really complemented the urban parking structure. We couldn’t get enough of these two and as the light began to fade below the horizon, we were sad that our time with Samantha and Steven was coming to a close! It just makes us that much more excited to have them back in front of our cameras for their wedding day! We have no doubt their special day will be nothing short of amazing!
Their Love Story
Sam and Steven went to small schools and had known that one another existed, but never officially met in person until a junior high basketball tournament would bring them together. It was 2012 and Steven was a senior and Sam was a sophomore. The tournament was being held at Sam’s school and both she and Steven had younger siblings playing in the event! Steven was visiting with some guys from Sam’s school near the concession stand and that is where the two officially met. Steven got Sam’s phone number later that night and the rest is history!
Their first date was in late November of 2012 and Steven was anxious because he had been told how protective Sam’s father was of his daughters. Her dad was old fashioned and wanted to meet Steven before he let him take Sam anywhere. Steven remembers walking up to the house and being greeted by Sam’s dad at the sliding glass door with a firm handshake and a few threatening looks. Sam was excited for this day because she never had a boyfriend or a guy willing to come over and hangout because the guys always knew how protective her dad was. Sam was also anxious that her dad would run Steven off before he even got in the door. Once Steven got past Sam’s dad, they spent the rest of the night at Sam’s house watching movies and learning more about each other.
Steven was immediately intrigued by Sam that night and he couldn’t wait to see her again and spend more time with her! The two began dating in early December of 2012. Over the years, they went to different colleges and stuck together through the highs and lows. They both knew that if they could get through doing long distance for so many years, they would get through anything together!
How He Asked
After nearly six years of dating, Steven bought an engagement ring early in the fall of 2018. Steven went hunting and shot his biggest buck to date the day he bought Sam’s ring. He had Sam’s dad help look for the deer with him the next morning. On the trip home after finding the deer, Steven told Sam’s dad that he had bought a ring for her and asked for Sam’s Dad’s blessing to marry her.
On Christmas morning, Steven opened all his gifts from Sam and he asked her to close her eyes because he had a present he had to go get. He quickly went upstairs and returned with Sam’s special gift. Sam’s parents had their cameras ready to capture the big moment. Her eyes were still closed as Steven got down on one knee. He told Sam to open her eyes and began to confess how much he loved her and told her just how much she meant to him! After he expressed his heartfelt endearments to Sam, he asked for her hand in marriage. With tears streaming down her face, she said YES! Sam thought she was getting a puppy, but Steven surprised her with something as she says, “much better!” What a perfect Christmas proposal!
Enjoy some of our very favorites from our time with this sweet pair! It was so hard to narrow down portraits for this post, because I mean look at these two… they are an absolutely beautiful couple! We are now counting down the days until we see these two for their wedding day!
