My freshmen year of college I found myself all the way out in Tennessee at the University of Tennessee, Martin from Fort Worth, Texas. As most freshmen are, I was anxiously anticipating being in a new state and making new friends. Right off of the bat though, I met Elizabeth and I knew that we would be fast friends. We met during rush and we ended up both going Chi Omega. She is the embodiment of the Chi O symphony… “to speak kindly, to act sincerely… to be womanly always… to be loyal under and all circumstances…”. If there is someone you want to be friends with, it is Elizabeth!

Fast forward a few years and we have graduated college, me from Oklahoma State and Elizabeth from UTM, and Elizabeth is engaged to her high school sweetheart, Tyler. Tyler had found himself in working in Kansas so Elizabeth made the trip to see him and then they drove down to Stillwater, Oklahoma to visit me and take their engagement pictures!

I chose Perry, Oklahoma as the perfect backdrop for Elizabeth and Tyler because it had the same charming small town feel as Martin did. And after all, Martin, Tennessee played a huge role in Elizabeth and Tyler’s love story! Having met at the Sonic in Martin her senior year of high school, Tyler and Elizabeth had an instant connection. If you ask Elizabeth, she knew from the moment she met him that “without a doubt, there was a reason [I] met him and he would play some sort of roll in [my] life”.

If you are familiar with Martin, they have a Soybean Festival every year and let me just tell you… it is a BIG deal! I remember thinking “how big of a deal could it be? This town is pretty small” but we packed the square to see Lee Brice perform live! While the Soybean Festival holds a special place in my heart because it was the first outing I remember hanging out with many of my soon-to-be closest friends, it also holds a special place in Elizabeth and Tyler’s relationship. This was the night where they decided to stay in touch and keep exploring this spark that was between them.

Soon after, Elizabeth asked Tyler a big question. With Tyler being a freshmen in college already, Elizabeth was worried about asking him to her senior prom. But, she says that she knew she had found a good one when he didn’t hesitate for a moment and said “Well, yeah!”.

And after many good years of dating, Elizabeth knew Tyler was the one when he told her he got his dream job but had to move to Kansas. Elizabeth was so publicly upset by the news that the cashier at Sammie’s (a local sandwich shop) gave her a free cookie! And she knew then and there that Tyler was the one and she wasn’t going to be able to live without him. And let me tell ya, Elizabeth is not the kind of girl to start crying hysterically in a sandwich shop! So she knew that she would be completely heartbroken if this was where their story ended.

Thankfully, Tyler felt the same way and proposed shortly after!! I, selfishly, was pleased that Tyler found himself in Kansas because that meant that Elizabeth would be making a trip! And with me being in Stillwater, it was just a short drive to stop by, say “hello”, and get their engagement pictures taken!

So, naturally, I was ecstatic and honored! After doing some thinking about locations that would be the best to represent my friends and their story, we settled on Perry. A fun twist to our downtown Perry shoot was a visit to a local buffalo ranch where we concluded the second half of the session.

I will always be thankful for the friendship that Elizabeth showed me freshmen year and even more thankful that we have kept in touch over the years even with miles and miles between us.

Elizabeth and Tyler, I can’t wait to see what the next chapter has in store for you both! I wish the world for you two.