Leah & Ian (Chester County Engagement Photographer)

My great friend Leah is getting married! AND, she is marrying my brother-in-law, Ian, so we will now forever be sisters. How cool is that?

Here's the engagement story.

One Friday morning in April, Leah woke up on her day off, went downstairs to have breakfast and saw a large bouquet of roses sitting on the counter. The card attached told her to get ready because Ian was coming to pick her up.
He arrived and they took a short drive to a Wendell August, a local forge.

She wasn't sure why they were there and when she asked, he told her that he had arranged for them to go on a tour. It seemed a little odd to her, but she followed him in (albeit with low expectations). Immediately she was impressed with the beautiful work that was displayed in their show room.

They started the tour and the guide showed them how they start with a raw piece of metal, one of their artists creates a design or lettering to be printed/etched in, then it is fired where it becomes soot black and finally it is cleaned and shined. They stopped at one point and the guide showed her a little plaque that had just been fired. Finally, the tour was over and as she began to turn and leave, the guide said, "Wait, let me show you what a finished piece looks like that has just been completed. This is the little soot covered plaque that you saw before."

She grabbed the plaque and this is what she saw.

When she looked over at Ian he was down on one knee.

He proposed and of course, she accepted.

But, that wasn't the end of the story.

Ian had the whole day planned out. Leah initially told him that she needed to call and cancel lunch with a friend and coming over to play with my kids, but those were set up beforehand just to throw her off.

They went to lunch at Simon Pearce on the Brandywine River, then they went to Chadds Ford Winery for a tasting and tour and that was followed by dinner at Harry's Savoy in Wilmington, where they first got together at my wedding.

As if that wasn't enough, when Leah got home there were roses in her room.

It was a day they will never forget!

For their engagement pictures we returned to Main Street Exton where Wendell-August is located. It was a beautiful day and that location is perfect for an array of great shots.

Congratulations Leah and Ian...can't wait for the big day!