Their Session: Cross Estate Gardens
Cross Estate Gardens is such a beautiful location, and I love shooting sessions there! Jill and Pete’s engagement session was so much fun, filled with so much laughter, and I love all the joy that radiates from the photos of these two. Their love and joy is so contagious, it was so much fun getting to photograph these two and document this special season of being engaged!! Before we dive into all the photos, first I gotta tell you about their love story.
Their Love Story
The way these two met sounds like the perfect plot for a a romance movie. Jill told me, “So Peter and I met almost 4 years ago when I was his patient at the physical therapy clinic where he was working as a student intern on his last affiliation before he graduated with his doctorate. When I first walked into the clinic for the first time I was immediately drawn to his smile and and his laugh, it was contagious. He remained professional throughout my time there but I totally knew that he liked me! What typically should have been a 30 minute appointment easily turned into a 2 hour appointment because we loved talking to one another. We bonded over the fact that I was about to go back to school for Physical Therapy and would soon be in his shoes as a student intern. On his last day of his internship he said, “ I could probably get kicked out of school for this but can I get your number? I would love to take you out some time.” And I definitely turned bright red but was thrilled that he asked and gave him my number. He waited one full week to text me and that week felt like the longest week of my life. Our first date was a week later at a BYOB sushi place in Ridgewood.”
And believe it or not, their story gets even sweeter…”Pete proposed in Co. Wicklow Ireland on September 5th, 2019! We were in Dublin first, to watch two of our good friends get married that weekend and decided to extend our stay. We wanted to go to a place where we could hike and be outdoors so we decided to spend a few nights near Wicklow National Park. We hiked on the cliffs, went to beautiful gardens, and had the most memorable bike ride along a gorgeous nature path behind our resort. As we were on our bike ride I noticed a photographer in the distance taking pictures of the trees by the river. He waved us down and asked our permission to take some photos with us in them that the resort had hoped to use for its marketing purposes. We agreed, and it should have been obvious then, but I was so caught up in the moment that it didn’t even cross my mind. We were walking along the river when I no longer felt Pete at my side and turned around to see where he was. When I turned he was on his knee, saying something romantic and sweet that I don’t remember at all because I was in complete shock, and he was holding the most gorgeous ring I have ever seen. It’s perfect. Everything about that day was magical and I couldn’t have asked for anything more thoughtful or more us than the way he chose to propose to me.”
Jill & Pete both told me their favorite things about being engaged. Jill said, “I love looking down at my hand, seeing my ring and being reminded of how amazing it is we are actually engaged and how our love has grown over the last several years. What I love most about being engaged is planning our future together, it is my favorite topic of conversation.” And Pete told me his favorite thing was “that I soon get to spend the rest of my life with my best friend.”
When I asked these two to share one thing the love about each other, Jill’s answer was, “Hard to just pick one thing! But I think I would say I love the way Pete loves my family. He has the biggest heart and immediately fit right into my large and loud family.” Pete said, “I love everything about Jill! But what I love most of all is her contagious smile and ability to make me laugh no matter what. She is the spark to my love.”
Jill & Pete
You two are so incredibly sweet together, and create so much joy and laughter around you. You two are a light, that becomes even brighter when you’re together. Thank you so much for having me capture this special season! I cannot wait to celebrate you two becoming husband and wife next year!!! Enjoy being fiances until then! Sending all my love! xoxo
If you loved this blog post, you may also love this Park Chateau wedding blog post!
