Christen + Chris | Blacksburg Engagement Photographer

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Christen + Chris | Blacksburg Engagement Photographer

SO.MUCH.FUN!

From an outsider’s perspective we must have looked pretty crazy! Christen, Chris, and I met up at Nellies Cave Park in Blacksburg this past Saturday for their engagement session. It is an understatement to say there weren’t many people out that day. The high was maybe 20 degrees although it felt even colder! Despite those frigid temperatures, we had a lot of fun!

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Christen and Chris (and yes, their matching names are pretty darn adorable!) brought some hot chocolate to start their session off right! Bundled up in warm blankets and overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains that surround beautiful Blacksburg was a perfect way to begin what was a super fun session! They even brought me a hot chocolate so I could enjoy the treat and some warmth too! How super sweet was that??!!!

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I asked Christen to tell me how she and Chris first met. She told me, “Chris and I met online, through OKCupid. Chris had been active online for awhile and had decided to try one more time with a larger radius before getting offline and try to meet someone the old-fashioned way. I had only been on for about a week when I received a message from Chris. We started chatting online which turned into texts which turned into phone calls. After about a week, we decided to go on a date which lasted 12 hours where we didn’t stop talking. We have been together ever since.” And the chemistry is obvious! These two enjoy each other’s company so much and it was just wonderful to be able to document that for them!

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Christen’s story about how Chris popped the question was even more adorable! “I’ve always wanted to go on a hot air balloon ride and it’s something I’ve talked about with Chris while we have been dating. My birthday is in September and this past one, he surprised me with a voucher to go on a ride in the Shenandoah Valley in October. I was super excited! I knew he was going to ask at some point but wasn’t sure when. We are really big into camping and rock climbing and had planned a trip for a weekend in October with the hot air balloon ride the weekend after. I thought for sure he was going to propose on our camping trip. I was kind of disappointed when he didn’t but knew we had the balloon ride coming up and thought maybe he would propose then. The morning of our ride, we woke up at 4:30 to get to Luray where we met with our pilot about 6:30. Once we helped the pilot get the balloon ready, we were in the air watching the sunrise come over the mountains and just enjoying the ride. We were almost to the end when Chris told me my ring finger was empty and he wanted to be the one to put the ring on that finger. He then asked if I would marry him. Even though I knew it was coming at some point, I was in shock and said “mmmhmmm” instead of yes right away!” Awwww!!! Isn’t that story the absolute best??!!!

They have many things they love to do together and they enjoy being outdoors and active. They both rock climb and “prefer to boulder over top-roping.” They love to go to Grayson Highlands for camping and hiking trips. Christen told me that they try to get a few camping trips in with friends as well during the year. “We love getting together with our friends and are pretty close with a quite few couples both in Charlottesville and Blacksburg.”

Now that they are engaged, they are most excited to actually live in the same place! Throughout their dating they have lived over two and a half hours apart and take frequent trips to be together. “We are also hoping to move once Chris finishes his PhD at VT and we are really excited and looking forward to where God will place us. It’s just another adventure we can’t wait for!”

I asked both of them to write something awesome about each other so I could share it with you all! Here are their responses:

Christen: “I think the most awesome thing about Chris is his ability to make me laugh in any situation and his unwavering faith. We have had our tough times like every couple does but his faith that God will always work things out has been an inspiration to me throughout our life together. I am definitely an over-thinker and can get pretty anxious about things. Chris, with his ability to make me laugh, always calms me down and gets me to not be so stressed or uptight about things.”

Chris: “What makes Christen awesome is that she can put up with my jokes! I love that she likes to joke around and can be playful but she is also serious when she needs to be. She is great at planning things and keeps us scheduled while I like to be more spontaneous. We definitely have great balance in our relationship.”

Aren’t they the perfect pair!! I think so! Okay! Enough from me! How about more photos from this COLD but awesome day!!

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Blacksburg Engagement Photographer