Today, we’re sharing these knockout springtime Austin engagement photos when Grace and Samuel road trip down from Houston to spend a little quality time with me! Grace grew up in Plano and Samuel grew up in Sugar Land. They met in college at Washington University in St. Louis when Grace was a senior and Samuel was a freshman. They didn’t really interact the first semester outside of two small meet-cutes, but throughout that first semester, Grace was impressed by how Samuel always found ways to serve and help others, even though he was a freshman. She barely talked to him, but through hearing from my friends, seeing the fruit of his words and actions, it was clear to me how much he loved Jesus, serving people and helping others grow in their spiritual journey. It was clear she needed to get to know him better…(Story continued below!!)

Grace graduated long before Samuel and started medical school in Houston, but they still kept in touch as friends. He came home for one of his school breaks and that’s when their love story began. They’ve been long distance their entire relationship, but *drum roll pleaseeee* Grace is moving to New Jersey to do her residency as an OB/GYN and they FINALLY get to live in the same city just as they are getting married!! He surprised Grace by proposing at McGovern Centennial Gardens in Houston in October (she totally thought he was in NYC and that I was just going to dinner with my friends after our last test of medical school) and now they’re planning their summer Houston wedding!

 Grace told me, “We’ve definitely have had our ups and downs due to the distance and just how different we are by nature, but through it all, we’ve learned so much on how to communicate and set expectations, how to forgive and love one another through disappointments and misunderstandings. We’ve learned to lean so much on Christ and to look to Him as our example for how to love. I am so thankful for Samuel‘s patience and attention.” *insert Paige sobbing here* There was one moment early in their friendship when Grace “forced” Samuel to come out with a few friends to McDonald’s at 4am – easy to say, Samuel was less than thrilled, but agreed to go. They got to McDonald’s and they were only serving breakfast, but Samuel’s one condition was that they would be able to order the a chicken sandwich…Grace was able to sweet-talk the workers to make us a large batch of nuggets instead. I love that they brought nuggets to their session. How fun is that?!

Special thanks to our friends at Houndstooth Coffee for letting us take a few photos in their cute new eastside shop! If you loved this session on the east side, then you will also love Alyssa and Eric’s Austin engagement photos, too – check them out here!