Hearing Leigh and Dave tell the story of how they started dating is something everyone should experience. Watching the redhead re-enact how she strolled right up to the shy guy that she was eyeing her during their NOAA Corps Officer training three years ago and introduced herself while Dave stands there blushing is both sweet and entertaining. The couple started out as friends and kept in touch as they went their separate ways – Leigh stationed in Alaska cruising around on ships and Dave stationed as a pilot in Florida. Several years later Leigh moved to Florida, but still over six hours away from her sweet friend Dave. The two reunited and after some time decided to become more than friends. Despite the distance and their busy schedules, these two travelers did what any couple in love would do – they hit the road and drove back and forth to see one another.

I met Leigh after she and Dave had been dating only a few months. You could see it in their eyes – you just knew that they were going to make it. It was obvious their love had no bounds… And that neither distance or circumstance would ever keep them apart again.

When my phone beeped last February and revealed a photo of a shiny ring and the text “We’re engaged!”, I have to admit that I wasn’t overly surprised. My husband and I did a happy dance (I did, he smiled) and then shortly after I squealed when she messaged me about engagement pictures. I knew I had the perfect idea for them… One that I have been keeping in my back pocket for a while.

For Leigh and Dave’s engagement session we aimed to capture the essence of their traveling spirits as well as their spunk, so we headed somewhere they were very familiar with – the airport. We are incredibly grateful to my parents for helping us out with this photo shoot – my father in particular. His plane was the model for it and he came out early on the weekend to drag it around the tarmac for us. When we were discussing concepts we had both thought of a travel theme and then we came to find out Dave had been trained on the same type of plane that we used for the photos, a Piper Cherokee Arrow, which made this session extra cool to all of us.

As we got ready to start shooting the storm clouds swirled around us, threatening to open up at any moment. We worked quickly and kept our fingers crossed that the weather would hold. Fortunately it did, and just as we wrapped up the clouds rained down upon us. Fortunately during the shoot the stormy skies gave us some neat colors for the photos and helped keep us cool as well.

Without further ado, here are some of our favorite pictures from their session. Enjoy!

 

 

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