Liz and Andrew's Dreamy, Antique West Bottoms Engagement Shoot
Long live the rule-breakers, the trailblazers. Those who forge their resilience out of the hot coals of adversity, whose trials soften them with wisdom and gratitude.
Long live those who don’t allow the institutions of tradition to blur their vision of who they are and what they want.
Love live those who grow like wildflowers.
This is Liz, Andrew, and their love.
Even in the short time I’ve known these two, their uniqueness has not gone unnoticed. As it would turn out, their journey has been equally unique.
Though this was their engagement shoot, if you look closely, you’ll notice that these two are both wearing rings already.
One of my absolute favorite parts of being a proposal, engagement, and wedding photographer is that it’s my job to learn a love story. As Liz and Andrew began to teach me theirs, they recounted stories of fear and triumph, surprises good and bad, as Andrew was diagnosed and fought arduously late-stage cancer.
Stories that echoed the longing to hold on to a loved one that our favorite bard wrote centuries ago:
“That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang…
..This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.”
Shakespeare's words so effortlessly capture this feeling, when all your love for somebody becomes delightfully and unbearably tangible with the realization that their presence is a gift, and our ability to love them as a part of our everyday lives, simply, tragically, won't last forever.
That same feeling that makes you hold somebody a little tighter, closer, longer than maybe you did before.
I imagine this was just a fraction of what these two were feeling when confronted with Andrew's difficult cancer prognosis. Whatever that combination of emotions may have been, Liz & Andrew decided, each without the other knowing, to propose to each other in the same weekend.
Committed "to love that well which thou must leave ere long,” Liz & Andrew knew they wanted to be together, to be married, no matter what.
And so, Liz & Andrew's engagement photos are unique in that they both are wearing rings. Clearly enough, these two are effortlessly on the same page.
Still yet, Liz & Andrew incorporated another unique idea into their engagement photos: to have them taken in the same place where they will say, "I do" at The Oliver Building.
Just one year from when these photos were taken, these two will be laughing, dancing, and, in their words, being "delinquents" together as husband and wife.
Liz & Andrew's wedding day simply can't come soon enough.
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