Michaela and Brandon’s love story began when Michaela moved into her dorm room at UW-Whitewater freshman year. Brandon lived across the hall from her. Talk about meant to be! It was so easy to tell these two were made for each other during their engagement session. If they were uneasy at all about someone taking their pictures for a few hours, they didn’t give it away! They were so comfortable with each other that I could take pictures from far away (and way up above them at one point!), and I didn’t have to shout a single prompt.
Brandon could make Michaela laugh with the simplest of “silly” faces, or even the simplest of jokes. I asked him to come up with a joke — something I feel slightly bad asking considering I can’t come up with a single joke, even with time to think! — and he managed: “What did the ocean say to the other ocean? Nothing, they just waved!” I’m not sure if Michaela was laughing more at the joke or of Brandon’s sincere delivery, but either way, it worked.
The day before their engagement session, Michaela went dress shopping. She said she’s searching for a simple, yet elegant dress — and I can already see it on her! Her ring she picked out with Brandon is exactly that — simple, sophisticated and absolutely gorgeous. Brandon got the ring a week after they picked it out, but he told Michaela it wasn’t coming for six weeks. So when he proposed on a walk through Olbrich Gardens, she didn’t see it coming.
In some ways, I was a fly on the wall while they enjoyed their time together at the very spot they got engaged. I couldn’t image a more perfect setting for a proposal than Olbrich Gardens, and it made for one heck of an engagement session back drop! We got a beautiful day, but boy was it humid! The sun hadn’t set yet, but the mosquitoes were out in full force and we were pretty sweaty within a few minutes, but you would never know it by looking at their pictures. Not a single complaint!
