Jeannie and Josh met me out at Dickson Azalea Park in the heart of Orlando for their outdoorsy engagement along with their adorable pup Baylor. I just love how personal their shoot was in including their pup and their love of books at the end of our session!
College sweethearts, Jeanne and Josh’s story began through their mutual friend Emily raving about Josh to Jeanne. At first Jeanne didn’t pay much attention to her friend talking about Josh until she insisted that she add him on Facebook. As Jeanne remembers it, “our first conversation online was weird, funny, and involved him giving me a “warning” about how weird he was.” Jeanne was intrigued by how silly and different he was and wanted to meet him in person. It was somewhat a blind date at first, because Josh didn’t have any pictures online. Jeanne, Josh, Josh’s friend, and Emily met up for somewhat of a group date at a zombie walk. In full zombie makeup and garb, Josh walked up to the Jeanne and Emily to reveal a full red headed beard and sweet eyes. Josh stuck close by Jeanne that day to get to know her a little better. The two connected well over their conversations at the zombie walk and endless laughter. Josh proposed to Jeanne for the two of them to go on a real date – of course without the zombie makeup – which of course Jeanne said yes to!
Josh loves the way how Jeanne just ‘gets him.’ “She understands me in a way no one else can or probably ever will. We don’t even need to say anything and we both have an understanding of each other. I can say something really strange or bizarre and not only does she accept it, but she gets where it’s coming from, which I’ve never had anyone else do before.” Jeanne loves how Josh is the most genuine person she has ever met. He can always make her laugh from how he plays little tricks on their friends to his ‘silver tongue’ in his witty comments. As Jeanne endearingly explains, “he is the first person I trust completely. Just being himself he is the most kind, loving, and funny person I have ever met. He can completely change my mood just by being himself. I can go from completely upset and crying to almost wetting my pants laughing because of something he said.”
It is incredible to feel so connected to another person when they ‘just get you,’ It does not always happen in life that you can meet your soul mate who knows how you feel and what you are thinking without having to say it. Josh knew that Jeanne was the one and started planning out his proposal with the help of their best friends. Proposal day started off Josh taking Jeanne out in the morning for a fun round of laser tag. To her surprise, her best friend Aileen who lives in Melbourne was there. After a few fun rounds the two headed back to their place to get dolled up for a nicer dinner. At dinner, Josh told Jeanne of a love story concept he had. Just a side note that Josh is a Dungeon Master (DB), who is responsible for creating stories about dragons and dungeons – essentially a term for someone who “runs the game,” so it was a treat to hear him speak of a love story. The story began about a man who had lost the ability to find color in the world and a girl who brought it back to him. The story unfolded with how over time she brought light and color into his world giving him back the ability to see the beauty in all. At the end of the story, Josh bent down on one knee and told Jeanne that she is that girl. She is the one who brings the color and light into his world, makes it beautiful, makes it fun, and makes him want to share his life with her. Holding her hand, he asked for hand in marriage and of course she said “yes!” The two headed off after their proposal to celebrate with their friends and family, which Josh had also planned out with Jeanne’s bestie.
You may notice a little furry friend in Jeanne and Josh’s engagement. Baylor is an 11 year old Shiba Inu mix that Jeanne found after scouring online for a no kill shelter. After Baylor’s previous owner passed away, he found his way to the shelter with another pup who was adopted a few months after arriving. Baylor unfortunately was not as lucky and spent six years of his life waiting for his forever family. Being a shelter pup can be very hard and I can only imagine the heartache Baylor must have felt wanting a family, a couch to snuggle on, and someone to call his own. Jeanne fell in love with Baylor and his story, but Josh wasn’t ready for a pup quite yet. While Josh wasn’t sold, Jeanne was and went out to adopt him. However, those puppy dog eyes stole Josh’s heart and within one week Baylor went from Jeanne’s dog to Josh’s dog. Whenever Josh comes home, Baylor lights up and runs up to him for hugs and kisses. Truly my sweethearts brought the light and color back in Baylor’s life as much as Jeanne brought it in Josh’s own soul.
I am so looking forward to celebrating with these two as the tie the knot at…. it’s a secret, but there are some clues in our photos from Jeanne’s dress to Baylor’s squeaky toy!
Venue: Dickson Azalea Park
