I met Denise several years ago at Micaela + Chris’ wedding at the DC temple where she was one of Micaela’s beautiful bridesmaids. Her and I remained Facebook friends ever since then, and I was pumped when she reached out to me for engagement photos! Denise and Stephen met over 4 years ago while Denise was working at Penn Sate University and Stephen was going to Penn State’s law school. They dated for about a year, but then parted ways. They remained friends, and just this past year saw each other once again in Utah and realized that nothing had changed in their feelings towards each other.

Denise and Stephen currently have a long-distance relationship with Denise in Colorado and Stephen in Utah. She had no idea that Stephen was planning on proposing as soon as he did, but he was able to coordinate the surprise with some friends of Denise’s that were visiting her in Boulder. They were eating dinner at a restaurant when she heard a singing group walking towards them – and that’s when she saw that it was Stephen and an acapella group he had hired. They were singing “For the Longest Time” by Billy Joel. Denise says, “He is a great singer and it was amazing. I have never been so surprised or happy in my whole life. After the song was finished he got down on one knee and said, ‘I don’t just want to marry you for the longest time, I want to marry you for time and all eternity.’ It was so sweet. I never thought about a proposal in my life but I don’t think I could have even dreamed up something more perfect.'”

These two really are the perfect match for each other. In the short time we were together, I could sense that they were the ying to each other’s yang, balancing out one another and making one another complete. For example, as you will see in the photos, Denise wanted photos with greenery and the Colorado River, while Stephen was hoping for more of the red rocks that are typical of Moab. So we made sure to get a good mix of both! They also couldn’t resist bringing along some of their Geek Gear: Star Wars shirts and light sabers.

Although the weather was showing the potential to pour on us, it drizzled just enough to bring us one of the most magnificent, full, double-rainbows I think I have ever experienced. This desert rain brought brilliant cotton-candy skies and warm, rich colors. I am so happy we had such a colorful session for these two, and I can’t wait to return to southern Utah for their wedding!