Virginia Engagement Session | Lieb Photographic | Alli and Jacob

Engagements

Feb 2, 2018

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When a couple tells you that they have access to private property along the Potomac River for their Virginia Engagement session, you definitely make that happen!  For Alli and Jacob, it wasn’t easy scheduling around Jacob’s police academy.  So after it didn’t work out for them to have a November engagement session, we scheduled for the end of January!  Crazy, right? January on  the river?!  And yes, it was pretty cold toward the end, but these two were such TROOPERS!  No police pun intended…much.

  This property had it all…a barn still adorned with a Christmas wreath, a beautiful field with a strong bare tree and a full, leafy magnolia tree…not to mention the river at sunset!  You seriously couldn’t ask for much more for a January session in Virginia!

It was windy by the barn and the tree and we expected it to be just as windy by the river but surprisingly, it wasn’t!  It was actually calm and just lovely.  We took some photographs by the road down to the river and then drove on down to explore.

By the river, there were shells and sea glass everywhere, undisturbed by tourists.  The water was calm and the sunset was warm.  Alli’s taupe tulle skirt, the warmth of the sand and the mid-winter sunset created a lot of lovely neutrals offset by the complementary blue tones in the water.

It was so much fun getting to know these two more…and what an amazing time it was! What a beautiful session with a couple who truly know LOVE.

So I’m sure you want to hear more about their love story.  So in Alli’s words…

“Jacob and I were in high school when we first met. He was a sophomore playing varsity baseball and I was a freshmen on the junior varsity softball team. The first time he saw me he thought, ‘Wow. She is a very pretty girl’ but we just remained casual friends. Over the years we crossed each other’s paths, I saw some of his baseball games, and we had a few conversations here and there…but nothing serious happened until the summer of 2014.

I had just graduated high school and was ready to head off to college. I had about two weeks left of summer, so I went out to dinner with some of my girlfriends before we parted ways for a while. I got home around 10:00 p.m., hopped into bed and was asleep around 11:00. At exactly 11:31 p.m. on August 6th, Jacob Neal sent me the simplest message, ‘Hey! How have you been?’…And it was that message that change our lives forever, for the better. I responded the next morning and that very next day, August 7th, we had our first date. We got ice cream from Carl’s, went fishing and ended the night underneath the stars sitting on the hood of his truck. We knew we liked each other, a lot, and we knew that night we just HAD to be together, so we sealed it with a kiss. The next few days we spent as much time together as we could. We got to know more and more about one another and we met each other’s families. Jacob and I were on cloud 9!

On August 13th Jacob took me out for a nice dinner and I knew just why. A little ways into the dinner Jacob looked at me and asked me to be his girlfriend. Without hesitation, I said ‘Yes! I would love to be your girlfriend’ and so we began our journey together. From the beginning, Jacob was a gentleman to me, so much that the next morning he asked both my mom and dad if they would be okay with us dating…and of course they said yes. I soon left for college and so did he. Our goodbye was not easy and over the years we went through both good and hard times, but thanks to our faith in God our love grew strong. We both know if it wasn’t for The Lord, we wouldn’t be here today and we wouldn’t have each other. Because of that, we are grateful every day for His love that brought us together. Jacob and I cannot wait to spend the rest of our lives together as husband and wife, and although we may have struggles we believe fully that we serve a God who is greater than any struggle we may face. Because we know the unconditional love of Jesus Christ, Jacob and I will always have the perfect example of how to truly love one another, every single day.”

All the heart eyes for their story!!!

So how did Jacob propose?

“This past June, we went on vacation with my family to Cody, Wyoming. We rented a big, beautiful log cabin on a ranch in the mountains to stay at for the week. It was breath taking! June 1st was our first full day there. We spent the day with my family enjoying the land and getting to know the area. The two of us love the outdoors, so we couldn’t get enough of it.

Later on that day, Jacob and I went on a walk down by the river where we admired the beautiful surroundings and fed the horses that stayed on the ranch. Just as we were feeding the horses we realized a storm was coming in, so we quickly ran back inside, just in time for dinner. During dinner, Jacob kept trying to talk me into going on another walk with him, for some reason. I told him that as long as the rain let up we could…and that’s just about when the rain got worse! The wind was blowing and it didn’t look like a walk would happen that evening, so after dinner we played a board game with my family. Jacob kept asking me to go on a walk, and even though the rain had let up, I just wanted to get ready for bed. So that’s what I did. I went in my room and put my night gown on.

Meanwhile, Jacob was talking to my family asking them what he should do because he couldn’t convince me to go on this romantic walk, so that he could propose. They all told him he should just do it…or in the words of my brother ‘pull the trigger.’ A few minutes later, Jacob knocked on my door and asked to come in. I told him he could and he began to help me put away my clothes.

Although he was trying to be helpful, he was putting my clothes in the wrong draws, plus he was being loud and my nephew was asleep next door. So I fussed at him saying, ‘You’re doing it wrong’ and ‘Shut up! Josiah is sleeping.’ It was then that Jacob walked me over to the bed and sat me down. He began reach into his pocket and say ‘I talked to your Dad and I had it all planned out. I wanted to go on a romantic walk in the mountains, but it rained and you wouldn’t go. I know things don’t always work out perfect like you plan. And we are going to go through some really good times and some hard times, but there is no one else I want by my side for the rest of my life. I love you so much, so will you marry me?’ At that moment with my family standing outside the door and with tears running down my face I said ‘yes’ to spending the rest of my life with my best friend!”

Wow!  And so no, without further ado, I present, Alli and Jacob!!

  1. Mary Frame says:

    Great Pics Love them all. Such a great story that God has put together. Praise God

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