Their Session: Cross Estate Gardens
I love Cross Estate Gardens as a NJ session location! The grounds are absolutely beautiful any time of year, but especially with the golden fall colors that were showing off last week! I was so pumped to take Melissa & Andrew’s engagement photos here!!
These two are a BLAST! Not to mention their pup, Nala, who was the star of the show! 😉 I loved spending an evening hanging out with Melissa & Andrew, and photographing their love. These two are so filled with joy, it’s completely contagious. They’re so much fun, and so in love – I couldn’t dream up a better session for this sweet couple!
Before we dive into some of my faves from Melissa & Andrew’s session, let me tell you a little more about their story!
Their Love Story
I asked Melissa & Andrew to share with me one thing they each love about each other. Melissa said, “I love how passionate he is about the issues/topics/activities he cares about,” Andrew said, “The love she portrays for all animals (but not all humans).”
Anyone else love a date night home hanging with their pup?! (Count me in!) Melissa and Andrew’s typical date night consists of hanging out at home with their dog, Nala, ordering food, and watching a good movie. <3
How They Met
I love this story of how Melissa & Andrew met! As Melissa tells it, “I had just recently graduated college and was in need of a temporary job as I was still looking for something within my career field. The person I was dating at the time had a friend that was opening up a Kosher sports bar/restaurant in Suffern, NY and was looking for employees. I eventually took the hostess position at the restaurant, and little did I know, there would be a very cute bartender, Andrew. Andrew is best friends with the mutual friend that opened the restaurant, which is how he ended up there bartending as a side gig. I remember seeing him for the first time across the room and instantly knew there was something truly special about him, and I remember him coming up to me while I was at the hostess stand and making conversation and I got to see how funny and outgoing he was.”
The Proposal
Okay this is a good one! 🙂 Andrew crushed it with this proposal! I’ll let Melissa’s words tell the story, “As a kid, Andrew had visited this little historic village located in Galloway, NJ called Smithville. It’s adorable and all of the shops and restaurants are within buildings dating back to the 1700/1800s. A couple years ago, we had visited together for the first time and I fell in love with the place as well (and ironically enough, a couple had gotten engaged the day we were there). We had planned a little “vacation” to Wildwood, NJ for the weekend (since COVID ruined more elaborate travel plans) and Andrew suggested we head up to Smithville while we were in that area for the weekend. We went Saturday evening, shopped around for a bit, and eventually had dinner at this cute tavern. Leading up to this night though, I have to admit I did have some suspicions that something might be happening proposal-wise in the near future, so I was extremely nervous at dinner and could barely eat, but at the same time I was thinking to myself, it’s getting late, there’s no way it’s happening or he would have done it by now. After dinner we walked over to this gazebo that overlooks the little lake that sits in the center of the village, and Andrew suggested we get someone to take our picture since everything was all lit up and looked so pretty. He recruits a busboy from the restaurant we had eaten at, and little did I know he had told the guy that he was about to propose and to just keep taking pictures. He started taking a few and Andrew pulled away from me and opened with “I can’t promise you riches, but I can promise that I’ll love you and take care of you” and I lost my mind after that, I was in complete shock! After me freaking out a little bit he eventually got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I couldn’t have asked for a better proposal.” Seriously, how sweet is that??
Melissa & Andrew
You two are the best! I had so much fun taking your engagement photos and exploring all the gorgeous grounds at Cross Estate! Cheers to being engaged to the love of your life, and all the fun that lies ahead with planning your big day! Soak in all the sweet moments of being fiances! xoxo
