Natalie & Phill

A very fun engagement shoot today from one of my favourite US Photographers A Bryan Photo. What makes this shoot so special is one half is Australia- yes! Phil hails from Australia while Natalie is Bryan’s sister in law!

I love this shoot- yes it’s a picnic, which is common these days, but this looks like a picnic I would have with Mr P, although we’re probably a little lazy to light candles and use real glasses, we should change that though don’t you think? Bare feet, green grass…bliss!

Natalie shared how the American and Aussie came to be! “I have lived in Birmingham, Alabama for close to 10 years now. I moved here to earn my Undergraduate degree at Samford University and have been living and working here as a Dietitian since. Phil grew up in Sydney, Australia and was living and working as an Engineer in Sydney until he felt called to ministry. Through a series of events and friendships, he was led here to Birmingham in January of 2009 to attend Seminary at Beeson Divinity School.

Phil and I met just a few days after he moved here at a “Coming to America” party held for him by a mutual friend of ours. It wasn’t until November of 2009 that we started to spend more time together. It was then that we began building a strong friendship, one that turned into something unexpected in March of this year. We both knew pretty quickly that there was something different about this relationship and in no time at all we both knew we’d found the person we wanted to spend the rest of our lives with.

On May 11th, after I returned from a 4-day vacation to the beach with my family, Phil picked me up to take me to a casual dinner at one of our favorite Greek restaurants. We had a typical meal together, with great conversations and lots of laughing as always…nothing out of the ordinary. He was completely calm and his usual self, so I didn’t suspect anything was unusual. We left dinner as the sun was starting to go down but it was still dusk with just a bit of daylight left. We drove through a charming park nearby on our way to where I thought we were getting dessert. He soon pulled over to point out a candlelit path leading to a picnic table in the woods. My heart dropped and I realized that this must be that moment, as surreal as it felt. He asked me to hold onto a card that had my name on it and took my hand to lead me to the table. There were candles and pink roses, champagne and chocolate.  We sat on the bench while I read the card. When I finished, he got down on one knee, opened up a box that held a gorgeous cushion-cut solitaire diamond ring and asked me to be his wife. With a huge grin and eyes filled with tears, I excitedly said yes!  We toasted with champagne in the darkness by candlelight as I admired my beautiful new jewelry and incredible fiance’ 🙂

We are getting married in just 12 days and it couldn’t come any sooner. We both feel that our expectations for a spouse have been far exceeded beyond what we could have ever hoped for!”

Photos by A Bryan Photo.