Imagine: for your birthday, your boyfriend—the one who you grew up with you, who endured 1,000 miles of long distance between Radford, VA and Lincoln, NE with you throughout college, who now shares your home and adorable dog child, the one who is undoubtedly the love of your life—gifts you the best present you could ever possibly imagine. WAIT. PAUSE. I know what you’re all thinking. Obviously it was an engagement ring, Steph, this is a post about Arlene and Cody’s engagement, of course. Au contraire, my dear friends. You see, it wasn’t an engagement ring at all, but a pair of tickets to the New England Patriot’s home opener in Boston, where they would be raising their new Super Bowl Champions banner and where Arlene would get to see the other love of her life, one Mr. Tom Brady.

PAUSE AGAIN. I still know what you’re thinking. Not the engagement, ring? What on earth was Cody thinking?! Well, I’ll tell you what he was thinking. He was thinking that he knows Arlene better than anyone, and that she would treasure this once-in-a-lifetime experience to go see her beloved Patriots even more than she would love to slide a sparkly ring on her finger. After all, the girl DID name her sweet puppy, Brady, after her quarterback crush! But the story doesn’t end there. (Plot twist!) Here’s the part that Arlene never saw coming: she never expected to be flying home from Boston without a boyfriend. How could she? She had no way of knowing that by the end of the weekend, she’d be calling Cody “fiancé” instead!

I just absolutely adore these two, and not because they are outrageously down-to-earth, sweet, and fun to boot. I love them because when you arrive to an engagement session location and the late afternoon winter light is perfectly bathing the hillside and river front in smooth golden light—but it’s 18 degrees outside; when you get to photograph a new love story at one of your favorite, most naturally beautiful venues in the area—but it’s 18 degrees outside; when your fun and extremely photogenic couple and their adorably sweet pup make your job simple by being natural pro’s in front of the camera—but it’s 18 degrees outside… that’s when you pray for a couple like Arlene and Cody. Honestly, as I culled these blog images, I was blown away by how joyous and comfortable A+C look, when it would have been beyond understandable for them to be huddled together, shivering, shooting me death stares for asking them to stand in the cold and be lovey. Arlene and Cody’s go-with-the-flow vibe shows me why they are so darn good together, and why they are gonna take on this wild world hand-in-hand, one wave at a time.

Enough rambling, time for y’all to fall in love with A+C, too! Can’t WAIT to photograph these two say, “I do” this fall in what will hopefully be some slightly warmer weather 😉