Wes and Courtney: College sweethearts. They met at a freshman orientation and Wes was completely smitten with Courtney when she displayed knowledge of Halo. I mean… what could be more attractive to an adorably nerdy biology guy than a gorgeous girl who knows about gaming? It took Wes until his Senior year to finally ask Courtney out. Their relationship weathered Courtney being in China for three entire years and Wes actually proposed to Courtney while in China visiting her. They now teach at the same charter school. Even though this couple showed me quite a bit of PDA during this engagement shoot, I’ve been assured that they are nothing but professional at school. In fact, they’ve volunteered to team teach the PDA talk to the Middle Schoolers when they needed it.

We returned to Wes and Courtney’s alma mater for their engagement session. The couple needed little to no posing coaching from me. I just followed them around and captured them being cute. No joke! Sadly, St. Joseph College is going to be closed next year, but hopes to reopen again in the future. I hope they do, because the campus is incredibly picturesque.

Instead of telling you about Wes and Courtney, let me show you. Look at these beautiful people in this beautiful place!

The chapel at St. Joseph is incredible. What a backdrop!!

Courtney, an English major, spent a lot of time in this library reading things like Dracula. She LOVES books. It was fun to watch her eyes light up as she browsed through the titles. They lit up almost as much as they do around Wes. Almost…

Check out the view of the chapel from the library! I loved this little corner of the building.

The St. Joe campus has a lovely grotto in the center of the property. We ducked into what’s affectionately called “the Jesus cave” for a couple of photos. Courtney told me that many amateur photographers have tried and failed to get good photos in this dark space. (It’s so simple! All it takes is a couple flashes, stands, radio triggers, and magmod filters, and all your gear set to manual, ya’ll! No big deal.) I kid, I kid! I get it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to toss my iPhone off a cliff because I got frustrated with the limitations of the camera. Spaces like this are tough without a ton of gear and training. I love that the difficulty of the space made for such a unique setting for Wes and Courtney.

The exterior of the grotto is just as fantastic as the interior!

It’s nice to see signs of Spring in February. I love these fuzzy buds.

Congratulations, Wes and Courtney! I can’t wait to be part of your wedding this Summer. You two have waited so patiently for the big day. I know it’ll be fantastic!