As wedding photographers, one of the best parts of interacting with so many couples is hearing their stories. Each engaged couple has such a unique journey that’s brought them to where they are, and it’s one of the first questions we usually ask when we sit down to talk wedding photography with new couples. If you follow our blog, you know that we love to share stories as we show off images from our sessions – both our clients’ stories and stories from our time together.

However, it occurred to us this fall that the story that’s featured the least on our blog and social media is our own! Now that the cold weather is settling in and we won’t be shooting sessions three times a week, we finally have space on our blogging calendar to tell our own love story! As high school sweethearts, it’s a long one, but we hope you’ll join us each Saturday this winter as we share our story.

On our second dating anniversary, Hunter gave me a photobook filled with pictures, ticket stubs, and other trinkets that we had collected since we had begun dating. He called the album, “Remember that Time?” and it was filled with little reminders of fun dates and adventures we had had. Unbeknownst to me, just a few months into our relationship he had been making small notes on his phone anytime we went somewhere new or had a fun adventure with friends so that he could one day give me that book. When we sat down this fall to talk about this blog series, we couldn’t think of a title that was more true to us than “Remember that Time?”

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Episode 5: Remember that Time… You Moved to Charlottesville??

My freshman year at Christopher Newport flew by, and before I knew it I was back home for the summer. Although Hunter had briefly considered attending CNU so we could be together, he knew he wanted to study engineering which ruled CNU out from the start. Plus, that Spring he had gotten into the University of Virginia and almost immediately committed to their engineering school for the fall.

Right after I came home for the summer, we celebrated Hunter’s 18th birthday with his family at an awesome little Cuban restaurant in Richmond, and he graduated from high school a few weeks later. That summer together was wonderful – full of day-trips to the beach with friends and lots of quality time with each other’s families. But beneath the surface I felt some trepidation, just like Hunter did when I went off to college. Sure, we had been together for almost two years now, but what would this new distance mean for our relationship?

August arrived before we knew it, and suddenly we were on our way to Charlottesville. Neither of us realized it at the time, but that drive was the first of literally dozens of drives between Newport News and C’ville – and one of the only ones we took together. Your parents and I helped you move in to your closet-sized dorm room, just like you had done for me the year before.

Then, we said goodbye. We didn’t know if it would be a few days or a couple months before we were able to see each other again. But we said goodbye, snapped one final picture together, then I climbed into your parents burgundy Ford Explorer, and the your mom and I cried all the way home.

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Check out the rest of our story below!

• Episode 1: Remember that Time… We First Met?
• Episode 2: Remember that Time… I Asked You Out?
• Episode 3: Remember that Time… You Took Me to Prom?
• Episode 4: Remember that Time… You Left For College?
• Episode 6: Remember that Time… Our Relationship Changed Forever?
• Episode 7: Remember that Time… We Did Our First Practice Shoot?
• Episode 8: Remember that Time… I Decided I Was Going to Marry You?
• Episode 9: Remember that Time… I Took a Chance on Us?
• Episode 10: Remember that Time… I Asked You to Marry Me?
• Episode 11: Remember that Time… We Almost Missed Our Engagement Session?
• Episode 12: Remember that Time… We Said “I Do”?