on being weird, geocaching & getting married
A desk in between them, he was shy and she was "that cute girl" in the college classroom. Although it wasn't love at first sight, they certainly became best friends in a hurry. In 20 short days, Amber and Chris will be married! They have been best friends for six years now (dating for three of them), so August 18th cannot come soon enough. Chad and I have loved getting to know these two and are inspired by their solid, true-love relationship. Learn more about what makes them tick as you check out some of our favorite moments from their engagement shoot...
Even thinking back to their very first conversation, Amber and Chris admit they are......weird. And they embrace it! :) They say it is one of the reasons their relationship stays alive—well, that and their solid friendship. But "weird" is definitely a main factor. Ha!
There is nothing these two DON'T enjoy doing together. Other than just hanging out, they love being outside, geocaching and going on fun (sometimes surprise!) dates.
One of their favorite recent memories was their summer vacation to Door County, WI. They soaked in every minute together, especially kayaking at sunset. How romantic!
When I asked Amber what her favorite thing about Chris was, she responded, "His heart, which encompasses his love for Christ, his unfailing support of me, and his willingness to love those around him."
She remembers, "The first walk back to the dorms that we shared consisted of Chris describing his much enjoyed obligation of making waffles for all of the guys on his floor. He was an RA at the time, and claimed that the guys loved them. I thought it was very strange. I didn’t know it then, but it was just one of many examples of Chris doing whatever it takes to make the people around him happy."
Chad and I agree that they certainly make each other happy! During our shoot in the woods at Hawthorn Hollow in Kenosha, we loved watching them interact with each other. We didn't need to do any prompting at all to make them look cozy with one another—it just bubbled over from their obvious friendship and love.
We couldn't help but notice that Chris is also a brave preventer of potential spider encounters with Amber! (Every girl's dream...)
The proposal story from Amber's point-of-view: Like I mentioned, we like to geocache. We hid our own cache awhile back, and it was filled with little paper stars with quotes on them. Since a lot of people had been finding it, Chris said we should go check to see if we needed to refill it. We met at the cache, and Chris announced that since I had given him an early Christmas present, I was to open one of mine early. So, he handed me a present and I proceeded to open it and find an empty cardboard box that would normally fit a ring box inside of it. I looked a bit confused I’m sure, and Chris went to look around in the bigger box as if something had maybe fallen into it. As I was watching him, he got down on one knee, in the sand, with the cold December wind coming off of Lake Michigan and asked me to marry him as he pulled the ring from his pocket.
Amber and Chris are looking forward to their fairly big wedding in Racine, WI on August 18th. They are doing it up "DIY" style without the help of a planner and Amber is very grateful for Chris’ desire to help and be involved. Overall, they are pretty chill about it... well, Amber is at least. ;)
Regarding their honeymoon, Amber told me, "We’re going to Belize and Guatemala two days after the wedding. We are going to ‘hang out’ in a tree house for the first three days, go zip-lining and cave tubing, then spend the next four days doing nothing on the beach. The last two days will be in Guatemala visiting friends that I lived with during my time there."
Amber and Chris are SO looking forward to marriage. They talked about their excitement of growing closer to God and each other and being able to spend time together without having to ‘plan’ it. Because they’ve been long-distance basically the whole time they have been dating, they look forward to finally being under the same roof!
We asked these two love birds what advice they had for other couples. They said, "Don’t be afraid to talk to each other. Like, really talk to each other...about things that matter. Communication is so important in a relationship, and oftentimes your partner has the same concerns you do. On a lighter note, stay fun and do things that you enjoy doing together, but also take time to do things separately."
Congratulations, you two! We're so excited to see you in 20 days, on your wedding day!