Jill and Dave // Pennsylvania Engagement Photography

In college, I had a friend named Jill.  Jill is a sweet girl who I enjoyed talking with and having classes with.  I remember meeting her for coffee or sushi back when we were theater students (yes, I was one of them :-)), and she was a good friend to me.

However, as life happened, we grew apart to the ever-so-common "Facebook friend" status.  I followed Jill's life from time to time via status updates, and she was able to watch my kids grow through photos.  Then, sometime last year, I started seeing these SUPER sweet posts on Jill's wall from a guy named Dave.  I am not talking about typical "I love you, I miss you" posts.  I mean, poetry and affirmation and encouragement.  Jill obviously had a very special someone in her life, and they were getting serious.  Jill and Dave were in loooove and totally smitten with each other.  And it was totally obvious to a mere "Facebook friend."  And then in January of this year, I saw one other piece of awesome via Facebook; Jill and Dave were engaged, and now they are getting married.  And she wanted ME to photograph them!

We had a slight problem, though.  Jill live several hours away from me in Western PA.  Dave lives even FARTHER away in Missouri (more on that later).  And they only get to see each other for special visits about four times a year.  How in the world would an engagement shoot work out?  Well, God has a nice way of making things work together, and he arranged that Jill's sister's family (who lives in Massachusetts, mind you) found a sweet inn in Lancaster county PA for their joint family vacation.  And now several hours of a drive became something like 45 minutes, and Jill, Dave, and I were able to spend a couple of great hours celebrating their love.

On the day I was scheduled to come out, it was pouring.  Like torrential downpour raining.  These are the days that you reschedule engagement shoots.  But as Jill was only in town for a short while, we decided to give it a try anyway.  And low and behold, as soon as I pulled into the driveway, the rain stopped, and some perfect clouds filled the sky.  It was a great day for taking some pictures.

But in case I was worried, I don't think the rain would have put a damper on these two love heads.

Though you would not know it from Jill's bright smile, she suffers from a very serious and rare disorder called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy that causes extreme nerve pain all the time.  Simple things like typing or putting on makeup are very difficult and painful for her, and she has to lay low a lot.  So, since getting out was a tough thing for Jill to do regularly, Jill and Dave met on the internet.  But they did not have a typical chat room or dating site meeting.  Jill was on a website playing games to help deal with pain and mobility issues she has due to her RSD.  Dave was on the same game site because because his teenage daughters taught him how to play, and they connected with each other through the games.  At first, they just joked and played together, but then eventually their conversing moved to talking on yahoo, and then on the phone.  "After our first real phone conversation, I knew I wanted to marry her," Dave told me.  "It was 9 months to a year before I got to come see her. She was really sick at the time but it never bothered me and it didn't matter. I just wanted to be with her and take care of her."

Dave's care for her was obvious to me and to Jill from the beginning.  As we did our photoshoot, I noticed how gentle and tender he was with simple things like holding her hand or leading her down stairs.  Aside from being a perfect gentleman to Jill, Dave genuinely wants to make life better for her, caring for her pain, but not letting it define them.  Which is SO important when caring for someone who has a medical condition (I know from experience!)  Jill explained it best: "I was leery and afraid to get close and fall in love, and worried no one would accept me with my health problems, as was my past. But Dave was different; he loved taking care of me. He treated me normally like it didn't matter, but he was always very protective over me.

Fall in love they did!  Even though their relationship progressed quickly, they had only been able to see each other a handful of times.  Dave would come out to visit Jill when he was able, and they would spend sweet time just being together.  They knew very quickly that they were in love and wanted to get married, but distance and Jill's pain made it hard to figure out at first.  But sure enough, during a visit over New Years of this year, Dave got down on one knee and asked Jill to be his.  And she was more than happy to say yes!

I am so happy she said yes :-).  There love is almost tangible.  I just loved watching them play, dance, and even look at each other!  Even before we took photos, Dave was telling Jill how beautiful she was. In between poses, Jill kept telling me over and over how wonderful he is.  And from the looks in their eyes, it was not hard to believe!

And just in case you were wondering, it was a real chore getting these two to kiss.  I mean really.  Way to co-operate.

I just love it when a shoot location can provide SO many different photo opportunities.  So far, all of these photos were taken at the Smucker House in Gordonville, PA.  And aside from a few perfectly placed rain drops, the previously dreary weather continued to hold off for us.  And you know, Jill was so happy to be with her man, even the extra pain that the rain caused did not show for a second.

Jill's sweet nephews spied on us a little bit :-).

After a while, we moved on to a sweet little town in Strasburg, PA to take photos at a local creamery.  Jill enticed me to a new location with a milkshake.  Just twist my arm.

These two are even goony sweethearts while they drink a milkshake!

"Dave is my rock and my knight in shining armor! He rescued me from pain and allowed me to find myself again."

"Jill is he most beautiful woman/person/fiancée that you will ever meet, and I'm gonna marry her. Yay!!! I'm so excited!" 

Me too, Dave!  Congratulations to you both!