stephen + shelley | Penn State Arboretum wedding portraits

 So I’m slightly in love with these! It could be because the couple is gorgeous, OR that it was an AMAZING venue ……… but I think the real reason is that since they chose to do a “first look”, they were able to schedule amble time BEFORE their ceremony to wander around and do portraits without feeling rushed to get to dinner. I always feel like I’m punishing the bridal party when I have to keep them after the ceremony to take their portraits when everyone else gets to go to cocktail hour….I’m a believer that you should be at cocktail hour with your guests……especially for friends and family that have traveled quite a distance to spend the day with you. <3

Tell us about the proposal:
“The proposal didn’t go as planned. Steve was going to propose on our one year anniversary and then we were supposed to go out and celebrate at a really nice restaurant. I, of course, didn’t know this so I accidentally canceled my proposal. He told me a few days prior that we were going to celebrate our one year anniversary by going to this fancy restaurant. Being super frugal and budget conscious, about two days before our anniversary, I told him we had gone out to eat the past two nights and we shouldn’t really be spending any more money on an expensive restaurant right now. Oops. So he was secretly crushed and quickly came up with a new plan.

I had made a big deal about our Christmas tree the week before because I wanted to start a new tradition. We went to a tree farm and searched and searched for the perfect tree. Needless to say, after searching in the freezing cold for an hour, we finally found the perfect tree. A few days later, we decorated the tree and we were watching the Steelers vs. Ravens game. Steve is somehow a Ravens fan and I am a Steelers fan. I left the room and when I came back, he had turned off the tv. I started yelling at him asking what he was doing and he said that he had to do something he had been waiting all day to do. Poor guy had the ring in his pocket all day waiting for the perfect time. So he did it in front of our perfect, first Christmas tree together. So now I will always have that special memory every Christmas when we get our tree.” -Shelley

I LOOOOVE this one! It’s so romantic!!!

“Steve said “I love you” for the first time one night when we were falling asleep. Very simple and sweet 🙂 ” – Shelley

“We are a pretty calm couple that just enjoys being together and relaxing. She’s become my best friend and I feel more comfortable with her than anyone else. We have a lot of the same ambitions and goals in life. We like to be active by working out and doing outdoor things and we love our pets.” – Stephen

“I know how to make her smile in almost any circumstance. Her smile is energetic and warms my heart (all corniness aside) so I try to do it a lot.” – Stephen

They are SOOOO cute!!

Shelley + Steve….thanks for being so AMAZING and making my job OHHHH so EASY!! <3