*sigh*

Oh my goodness.  Do you ever have one of those moments where life just seems too good to be true? You know, where you think, “This can’t be happening to me.”  Sometimes we get lucky and things really are so good that they’re surprisingly true.  Julie and Robert’s destination engagement shoot was one of those moments.  It really hit me as I drove across the Golden Gate Bridge (for my first time ever!), completely overwhelmed with the beauty surrounding me and the realization of: “Holy cow.. this really happening.  I’m really in San Francisco for not a destination wedding, but a destination engagement shoot with one of the most incredible couples ever.”

Julie and Robert have such a great story… A great story.. hah.. It’s a story only God could have scripted. It’s more than great.  As Julie’s friend Bryan said after these two got engaged, “Something was made more right than it was the day before.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.  Several years ago, Julie appeared on a DVD series that compliments John and Stasi Eldredge’s book Captivating.  For those of you unfamiliar with Captivating, in a nutshell, it’s a Christian book about unveiling the heart of a woman and her desires. Just beautiful. Read it long ago.  And actually viewed the DVD series before I ever met or heard of Julie.  Every little girl has a dream of being a princess and playing the leading role in a romantic fairytale.  On this DVD series, Julie was so beautifully vulnerable as she shared the depths of her heart to a group of women – depths that are often mysteries to men and depths that only women can understand.  Depths like, as the back cover of Captivating states: to be romanced, to play an irreplaceable role in a grand adventure, and to unveil beauty.

Fast forward a couple of years after the completion of the DVD project: YouTube was born.  Fast forward a little bit more and GodTube was created. GodTube: a place to find all videos with a Christian message.  Little did Julie know, someone had posted the Captivating DVD series to GodTube.  She didn’t even know GodTube existed.  It was just another day at work when Julie received a letter.  A letter from a man… a man who stumbled upon these intended-for-women videos on GodTube.  A man who lives on the other side of the country, who laid eyes on Julie, heard her heart,and knew right then, “THAT is the woman I’m supposed to marry.”  A man who bypassed the system and not knowing a thing about her marital status, where she lived, or where she worked wrote the company that created the video series (which happened to be Julie’s place of employment) in hopes that his letter would be not only be well-received, but received period.

I would say the letter was more than well-received…

Engaged: Julie and Robert.

We started our shoot at the beautiful campus of Stanford University: 

Love. Faith. Hope.  See it?

We then headed into the city to grab some shots of the stunning Golden Gate.  We didn’t just head to the city… we headed to the city and climbed a mountain to get these views.  Good photography doesn’t come easy. 

One of my all time favorites. Who am I kidding?  Every image in this post is my favorite.

I truly do believe in fairytales and prince charmings… Proof:

*sigh*  I told you.  Too good to be true, right?  I am so blessed to know these people.  I have gained some wonderful, dear friends.  More images from our trip into the city coming up in Part II.  Stand by! P.S. What do you think of the white borders?  I totally dig ’em!