I was so happy to finally meet Susan and Daniel and their happy fur babies in person! Bowie (their dog) surprised us all by wanting to face the opposite way most of the time, and Winnie (the cat) was happy to face front. And well, Mamba reluctantly donned the incredible floral lei Susan had made and cooperated beautifully. Not only did I thoroughly enjoy getting to know the whole crew, but I also had the most incredible experience being surrounded by over a dozen horses during the second half of their Fall engagement session! It was a calming, joy-filled experience.

I love how Susan and Daniel go together like PB&J and so I’d love to share a few fun things about them as a couple that they shared with me!

“We both love books and writing and actually met when Susan was on an interview panel that interviewed Daniel for a job where she worked at a small hybrid publishing company. He got the job and everyone in the office thought we were dating within a year, ha! We were not, but we did date (mostly) secretly for the last year we both worked there. Susan left first, and everyone was not surprised when Bowie, who frequently came to work with Susan, came into the office with Daniel. Other than that, we are pretty goofy and will probably be laughing a lot for this shoot. Susan is the biggest animal lover and plays polo and soccer, and Daniel plays D&D and has recently gotten into painting Warhammer figures to then use in games with his friends. We both love the Lord of the Rings, and we plan to go to New Zealand for our honeymoon!” – Susan and Daniel

Without delay, here is their proposal story from Susan’s perspective:

“Daniel did not have it easy when it came to his proposal! His plans to have my best friend (and soon-to-be Matron of Honor!) come up were sent awry when her husband got COVID a few days before. I knew that she was supposed to come visit but now couldn’t, but I didn’t know what Daniel was now trying to frantically re-plan. On the day he proposed, we were just hanging out at home and I could tell he was a little distracted. I was ready to do something with the day and was asking about our plans, which is when Daniel suggested we go hiking in a local state forest with our dog Bowie. ‘Great, let’s go,’ I thought, ready to get out of the house.

Hiking or walking with Bowie is definitely not an unusual activity for us, so I wasn’t remotely suspicious about what was about to unfold as I layered up for the cold in my old barn jacket. When Daniel got down on one knee in the meadow, I was very much surprised and so was Bowie, ha! I of course said yes and we took a few quick photos with Bowie to document the moment. I was excited to share everything with my family, so I was very happy when Daniel said we were going to see my parents that night at their house. Of course they were in on it and my brother and his family even came to help celebrate with a cake and all!”

And from Daniel’s perspective:

“To say that my proposal to Susan didn’t exactly go as planned would be an understatement! I had always been planning to do it in December since Christmas is her favorite time of year and had asked her best friend if she’d be willing to come up from North Carolina to help on the day. The original plan was for her friend to take Susan out shopping during the day and then bring her out for a Christmas light walk that night. However, two days before it was supposed to go down, her friend’s husband tested positive for COVID and she had to cancel her trip! Without any plan at all now, I had to make something up on the fly. I decided instead to take Susan out for a hike with our dog Bowie at a local state forest that we’ve gone to a couple of times in the past. I knew there was a spot where the trail opened up into a meadow and decided to ask her there. When I got down on one knee, Bowie was so excited he nearly pulled Susan over! Though it wasn’t at how I had planned it, she still said yes so I count it as a success!”

Keep scrolling for highlights from their Fauquier County engagement session…

Michelle with Lieb Photographic is a Northern Virginia Wedding Photographer, a Charlottesville Wedding Photographer and photographs destinations worldwide. To see more weddings and engagement sessions in the Washington DC area, view the Washington DC Wedding Venues page. If you’d like to explore some more of my favorite wedding venues in the Virginia and Washington D.C. areas, view the Wedding Venues page.