nicole + brandon | raystown lake wedding portraits | 1966 VW bug

I mean she told me there was going to be an old car to take photos with….but I had no idea how adorably cute it was going to be! I mean it had luggage!! If you know Greg and I personally, you know that we love old cars-as a matter of fact, Greg specializes in buying old pre-70 cars. He buys them, fixes them and then sells them….so we both can appreciate a classic car! If I could figure out how to make it a requirement- I would: must have antique car on your wedding day! haha! Kidding, Kidding-kinda! haha!

So tell us………how’d ya meet?!
“Brandon and I originally started hanging out through mutual friends. We went to the same High School, but he graduated 3 years ahead of me so we knew a lot of the same people. I would see him often at a local hang out called the Hometown and thought that he was super funny! There is one night in particular that I remember watching him from across the room tell a story (I was sitting at a table by myself) and I laughed out loud at the story he was telling. That same night I discovered the “spin-and-drop” this is Brandon’s signature dance move that won me over! You have to see it in person, but it/s pretty self explanatory…there is no doubt that he will be breaking it on our wedding day!! From that night on we started hanging out more and more on our own and the rest is history! :)”- Nicole
What do you love to do together?
“Brandon and I spent A LOT of time in the beginning of our relationship at Lake Raystown, he had a Baja speed boat so we would spend our time camping and boating. We enjoyed and still enjoy going on quad rides. One of our favorite things to do before we moved into our new home was to take the quad to “our spot.” We had a place that we would ride to and we would sit and talk and listen to music for hours! We had some of our best conversations up there and that is how we got to know each other so well. We also love to go on long rides, he looks for ducks and geese and I take my camera to take some outdoor pictures (one of my favorite hobbies!). We love spending time with Dakota, our black lab. We also enjoy having bon fires in our backyard (we would live off of mountain pies if we could!) and going for walks on our property. “- Nicole
Can you tell us about the proposal?
“The proposal was AMAZING!!! It was the first time in my whole life that I was genuinely surprised. Brandon celebrated his 30th birthday September 26th of last year. I had planned a surprise party for him with our closest friends and family. My brother was also turning 30 that November, so he thought he was coming to a party for him. The party was great and Brandon’s closest friends from out of town were able to make it in, so it was special. Around the time the party should have been wrapping up everyone was sticking around and I was a little annoyed because it was a Friday, I had worked all day, and I was ready to head back to Brandon’s mom’s house where we were going to spend the night (we live a good distance from where the party was and didn’t want to have to drive home, we were also planning to take a quad ride to “our spot” since it had been a while since we were there). Brandon approached me and asked me to come up to the front so he could thank everyone for coming. Welllll I am not one for attention and I didn’t want to go in front of everyone! So, I gave him a hard time and kept saying its YOUR party YOU go up and thank them. haha! What a jerk I can be sometimes! So after some coaxing and convincing I hesitantly walked up to the front with Brandon. As he started to thank me for putting his party together, he started to then thank me for everything that we have gone through the past three years, then said I know tonight was a surprise for me, but I have a surprise for you…when suddenly I realized THIS IS IT, HE IS PROPOSING TO ME!!! So there he did it, he kept it short and sweet and did it in front of our closest friends and family at HIS surprise birthday party. Well, everyone knew that he was going to do it, which is why no one was leaving haha. I got on one knee too (embarrassing) and asked him two times if he was sure. It was really really special and we got it on film, which is awesome! Everyone was cheering and crying and it was really just awesome. I watch it all the time and cry just as much as the first. He was planning to ask me that night at our spot but once he realized that everyone was together in one room, he decided to do it there. It was really sweet and I know that our friends and families are grateful that they got to be apart of it. “- Nicole

Who said I love you first?!
“This is too good not to share. I (Nicole) was the first one to say “I love you” on our FIRST date. hahaha He asked me to dinner and took me to one of my favorite places. We decided to get a few drinks afterwards. I was nervous, it was our first date after all…conveniently there was a special on Long Island Iced Teas?! (honestly, I don’t even know if I had ever had one before this night). So for whatever reason (Nerves…it was the nerves?) I decided to order one, then two, and then three, and then I think even four, yikes! WHAT WAS I THINKING?! To make a long story short, I will leave out most of the embarrassing details…Brandon took very good care of me, and when I felt the time was right (or clearly wrong and inappropriate) I looked right at him and said (“I love you”). I was obviously mortified when he reminded me the following day that I confessed my love for him on our first date, but I will say he handled it very well. Most guys (rightfully so!) would run scared…but he knew loved me too he just didn’t say it 😉 so he stuck around. THANK GOD things went well after that and well here we are today getting married.

I vowed to myself that I would not be the one to say it after that embarrassing episode, so we didn’t say it again until a trip to Atlantic City that he and I took for my birthday. It was one of the best birthdays that I have ever celebrated and this time Brandon was the one to tell me that he loved me (no long island iced teas were involved)… we have been saying it ever since. :)”- Nicole

“Our relationship 20 years from now will hopefully be a lot like our relationship is today. We hope to still be living where we live now- in our dream home on lots of land. We will hopefully be blessed with children (two would be ideal). We both will most likely still be working and spending our free time together exactly how we spend it now.”- NicoleTell us a funny story about you two:
“I stuck my phone outside of the bathroom door and recorded Brandon singing in the shower. It was New Year’s Eve and we were getting ready to spend the holiday at his moms house. He hopped in the shower and started singing like he normally does, so I grabbed my phone and stuck it outside of the door. I caught him singing the country song “Let me show you how country feels” by Randy Houser. It is absolutely hilarious and I made sure that I shared it with our families as we rung in the New Year. I still have it on my phone and break it out every once in a while just to get a good laugh!”- NicoleTell us a few random facts about each other:
Brandon- loves Labrador retrievers, sings in the shower and hates to fly but loves to travel.
Nicole- My favorite food in the entire world is pickles (dill only, I hate sweet), I played the Viola through most of middle school/all of high school and still to this day around Christmas (I’m terrible!), I LOVE to cook but hate cleaning up the mess.