My cousin Courtney came to visit with her fiancé, David! They live in Maryland and stopped in South Carolina on their way to Universal Studios. We set a date for spring engagement photos in the South Carolina Botanical Gardens and crossed our fingers that it wouldn’t rain in the short time that they were here.

Courtney and David met while David was studying abroad at a university near where Courtney lives. They kept a long-distance relationship while David finished school in the Netherlands. David came back to Maryland for graduate school and Courtney has visited the Netherlands with him twice now. They plan to be married next summer in Maryland, then have another reception with David’s family and friends in the Netherlands.

I had told Courtney that we’d find at least something in bloom by their engagement photos, since there’s such a variety of plants in the Botanical Gardens that bloom at different times. I like to think everything bloomed early here just for them. We were so excited when we left my neighborhood and saw a long row of white trees, which doesn’t normally happen this early in the spring. That meant that the gardens had to be full of color, and they were! There was so much pink to go with Courtney’s pink hair, lipstick, and dresses. It was cloudy most of the time we were there, but the temperature was perfect.

A few of my favorite things about this session include the design on Courtney’s nails (which you can see in some of the closeups), her Harry Potter dress in front of the caboose, and how amazing her hair and makeup looked—shoutout to Leigh and Meagan at Cotton Rouge for doing such an amazing job with that!

Check out all the pretty colors and laughter from Courtney and David’s engagement session!