I love how laid back Faith and Chuck’s SCC Botanical Gardens engagement session was! It was all the things I like best in engagement photos – a fun couple, a pretty backdrop, and (of course) adorable pups!

Now Faith and Chuck are getting married this weekend (stay tuned for sneak peaks on my IG page!) and I can’t wait to see how much fun they have at the wedding.

As they were skating around the UNCW campus, Chuck looked over at Faith and thought, “Wow, she actually looks like her profile picture.” They had met on an app and now they were finally meeting up in person. After they finished skating, they talked for hours and hours and not long after Faith was certain that Chuck was going to be someone important in her life.

After a few months of seeing each other they had their first official date, a movie followed by dinner and a romantic moonlit walk on the beach.

The beach would also play a big part in Chuck’s proposal.

For weeks he painstakingly worked with Faith’s grandma to plan a proposal during her family’s annual trip to the beach. They usually booked a hotel room on an upper floor right by the beach, so he was going to arrange a little girl’s outing and while they were gone he was going to write “FAITH SPONAUGLE WILL YOU MARRY ME” in huge bold letters on the beach.

Then right before the trip he found out that they were deviating from the norm and booking a place off the beach. After some panic, the perfect idea hit him in the shower.

There are people at in Ocean City that do summer photography internships that walk around and take your picture and you have the option to buy or not. The year prior Faith and I did a couples shoot and the photographer had me get down on one knee and I said “woah im not ready for that yet” (in that i didn’t have a ring on me at the time). It understandably rubbed faith the wrong way at the time and she wasn’t too happy. Fast forward a year, i think to myself “it would be funny if I make this come full circle by getting a photographer to take pictures of us and when he asks me to get down on one knee and I pull out a ring.”

Somehow, Faith was still not expecting the proposal.

“Before we left for Ocean City, I did text my mom, “What if Chuck proposes in OC? :O” and then told myself he still probably hasn’t gotten a ring yet, haha. But the day of the proposal, when he told me his stomach wasn’t feeling good as we were walking to the beach, I felt really bad for him! And I tried to wait for him instead of finding a good spot on the beach, but my sisters encouraged me to keep walking. Then when the photographer came up, I saw my sister run back to our bags and grab her phone so I asked why she needed it. She said “uh… Pop told me to grab it,” so I said “Oh okay, makes sense then I guess,” even though it didn’t really make sense since we always do goofy poses and get all sandy for the pictures. Then during our couple photos, I noticed that everyone had their phones out, and I was like “Awwww, that’s so nice of them to take videos of us,” still not connecting any dots, and then I looked over at Chuck and saw him reach into his pocket and then I kinda knew what was going on. I don’t know how I didn’t piece it together until that moment! It was really cool; he did a good job.

I have a set of questions that I ask all of my couples to help get to know them better and the answers to this question from both Faith and Chuck prior to their SCC Botanical Gardens engagement session were both so cute that I just had to share!

Where and when do you feel most comfortable and in love with your fiancé?  Is it a place, an activity?

– groom: I feel most in love with faith when we do anything together outside of our daily routine. Whenever we are driving somewhere, even if its not particularly special, i look over and think “wow, i get to do this for the rest of my life with this person

-Bride: I feel the most in love with Chuck when I catch him being himself and being in his own little world. A feeling of love and awe pours over me when I notice those moments. 

Are you getting engaged or married soon?

I’d love to chat about photographing your wedding! Email me or shoot me a message on IG to get started!