Vote for your favorite couple... ROUND 2!

*VOTING IS NOW CLOSED.*
We will tabulate the votes in the poll and the individual emails sent to us by those who had trouble with the poll and then announce the winners by Wednesday, March 25.

If you voted in the previous poll, feel free to vote again - we're featuring two new couples and one returning!...




*If you have trouble voting, please leave a comment on this blog post and I will count your vote manually! Thanks!*

Couple #1

I live up near Nashville and my fiance Brian lives in Signal Mountain. We have had a long distance relationship for almost 3 years and have talked about marriage for a while. He came up to visit me one weekend with his two children, 8 and 4 years old, and we decided to go out for dinner at Olive Garden. When we got our food there was a new entree on the menu that Brian decided to order. Our meal went on as normal and then his daughter had to use the restroom. I took her and this is when he Brian went into motion. He placed my ring in the open box by my plate and waited for me to return so I could be surprised. His son was in on it with him and when I got back to the table his son was bouncing up and down in his chair with a huge grin on his face and clapping his hands together.

His excitement distracted me so I never noticed the ring when I sat back down. All I could think of was that he tried his dad's pasta and he really liked it. I asked him if he thought it was good and he said, "Yeah yeah really good!" I couldn't understand why he would be that excited. I told him, "Your face is priceless!" Then Brian leaned over and grabbed the box with the ring and said to me, "so is yours!" My eyes got huge and I said, "Oh my God!" The kids were so excited that everyone in our area of the restaurant noticed and said congratulations. It was the most wonderful night.


Couple #2

I met my fiance on a website called singlesnet.com. We chatted on there for awhile and then started talking on the phone, when we finally met each other it was an instant attraction, we had so much in common it was unreal. Even our birthdays are close his is Oct 15th and mine is Oct 18th. The next weekend he proposed to me in the living room of his apartment. He got down on his knees in front of me and talked about how we felt that we were drawn together by God and then he said he he had something for me and he got his key ring. While he was talking he was taking something off his key ring, what I thought was a key to his apartment but it was not when he got it off his key ring he had the most beautiful antique diamond ring I had ever seen and he ask me to marry him. We have been inseperatable ever since. I have since lost my job due to the cut backs in the workforce in the area and he has been so supportive of me in my search for work. I would love to be able to win the engagement session for us so that I could repay a little of the love and kindness he has shown to me in the short time we have known each other.


Couple #3

For my marriage proposal, my fiance made me truly feel like a princess. We took a short trip to Disney during January and I had been insisting that we had to watch the fireworks at least once while we were there. Though he completely did not want to watch the fireworks, I was not going to let him have his way on this one because there is just something magical about them there. Come to find out, the theme of the fireworks show right now is wishes. So once they had talked about a dream is a wish your heart makes, my fiance looked over at me to ask me what my wish was. I told him that I couldn't tell him or it might not come true. He looked over at me and told me that he could make it come true and got down on one knee! I didn't believe him at first, but when he pulled out the ring it couldn't be mistaken! I was so surprised! We got congratulated by the people around us, and I know believe that the fireworks truly are "magical". I completely felt like a Disney Princess that night!!

Vote & Help Someone Win a Free Engagement Session!

*****VOTING IS NOW CLOSED*************

Here are the submissions for story of proposal/reason why you love your fiancee! The winner will receive a free engagement session!

Couple #1:

"I met my fiancé John on December 6, 2007 on a blind date. He had long hair and a fabulous smile and turned out to be the love of my life. I had been divorced since 1992 and he had been divorced since 1989. When I brought him home to meet my family my dad wasn't too sure of him because of the long hair and also because my dad and I have always been best buddies. I always loved helping him with his yard work and helping him work on the house. When I was little I used to climb under the cars with him to help him work on the cars. I have 3 other sisters and none of them were into these things. So when I brought John home dad just wasn't too sure about him. Needless to say John and I fell madly in love and he asked my parents if he had their permission to ask me to marry him right before Easter, 2008. Mom said yes right away but dad said he couldn't stand to lose me so he said he would have to think about it. In the meantime, John had been helping dad do some things around the house because Dads health was getting worse and they had become closer. On Easter Sunday my whole family was there (and I have a huge family) and my mom looked at John and said "John if you are going to do anything you need to hurry because people are going to start leaving". John told her that he couldn't propose because he was still waiting on something, which was my dad's permission. I was out of the room at the time and dad looked at John and told him that he could go ahead that he had his permission. So when I came back John got down on his knee and said that he thought he knew what love was until he met me and then he whipped out this big old ring and I said yes and everyone at the table was crying and I looked at my dad and he said he didn't want to lose me and I told him he wasn't losing me he was gaining the son he never had. In June, 2008 we found out that my dad had lung cancer and it had already spread to his lymph nodes. John was with us when we found out and he was my backbone!! When dad was in the hospital John was there. When dad had chemo treatments, John was there wheeling him from one doctor's office to another. One of the main things I was praying for during this time was that the Lord would please let my dad still be here when John and I got married on March 29th. I wanted my dad to be able to introduce his son-in-law to our friends and family.

My dad got progressively worse and Hospice was called in. John was there all the time. He could move dad without hurting him. John could get him up out of the recliner and back to bed even better than the nurses and dad felt sooo secure when John was there because he knew if he fell or couldn't get up that John could do it for him. My dad passed away on January 14th and John was there with the rest of the family. I told my sister afterwards that I wanted dad to be able to introduce John as his son-in-law and my sister told me that he did...when the nurses were at the house and John was there he would introduce John as his son-in-law and when John would take him to the doctor he would introduce him as his son-in-law. John has been such a blessing to me and my family and he truly is the love of my life and is exactly what my dad would have wanted for me."

Couple #2:

"I live up near Nashville and my fiance Brian lives in Signal Mountain. We have had a long distance relationship for almost 3 years and have talked about marriage for a while. He came up to visit me one weekend with his two children, 8 and 4 years old, and we decided to go out for dinner at Olive Garden. When we got our food there was a new entree on the menu that Brian decided to order. Our meal went on as normal and then his daughter had to use the restroom. I took her and this is when he Brian went into motion. He placed my ring in the open box by my plate and waited for me to return so I could be surprised.

His son was in on it with him and when I got back to the table his son was bouncing up and down in his chair with a huge grin on his face and clapping his hands together. His excitement distracted me so I never noticed the ring when I sat back down. All I could think of was that he tried his dad's pasta and he really liked it. I asked him if he thought it was good and he said, "Yeah yeah really good!" I couldn't understand why he would be that excited. I told him, "Your face is priceless!" Then Brian leaned over and grabbed the box with the ring and said to me, "so is yours!" My eyes got huge and I said, "Oh my God!" The kids were so excited that everyone in our area of the restaurant noticed and said congratulations. It was the most wonderful night."

Couple #3

"Friday the 13th, 4 years and 6 months from the day we met, Heath Pendergraft asked me to marry him at Tony's Restaurant in the Art District. The night began with him picking me up and the exchanging of our Valentine gifts; however, there was no ring in sight. After the exchange we proceeded to the restaurant and had a wonderful meal, while waiting on the bill to come a smile appears on his face as a bouquet of flowers is set on the table. That smile is soon replaced with concern as he questions the location of the card that is supposed to go with it. I being nosy want to look and smell the beautiful flowers that are sitting in front of me, but I am quickly told not to look at them.

The card arrives, he prompts me to open it and my eyes begin to tear as I read the words "To my Fiancé". I quickly flip open the card not even reading the words and there lies the most important ones of all "Will You Marry Me"! I gaze up at him sitting across from me (he had the ring wrapped up in the bow around the flowers), he stands up, walks to my side, kneels down, and says those 4 wonderful words again! However, this time those words are muffled as a women to the back left of me screams out "he is gonna propose!" He does and everyone starts clapping as he stands up and returns to his seat. Once the tears stop I return back to the card to read the most beautiful words that I skipped over earlier in my excitement. I still can not fathom that such a wonderful man was able to find me 4 years and 6 months ago."

Couple #4

"I met Aaron through a friend on myspace and it started out just silly conversation and then he came to visit me in May of 2007 the 25th - to be exact we had talked on the phone the night before for 7 hours without any breaks. He came that weekend from north carolina to see me, he was based at camp lejune marine corp base at the time. We decided to give it a shot that night and have been together ever since. I never really thought that I would find somebody who loves everything about life as much as I do. He has been an amazing person throughout this whole experience. He treats my daughter as if she were his own. He spoils me so to speak! I truly believe that God has a person for everyone and that he is my better half and without him nothing would make since. He proposed a week before valentines day to throw me off. And told me that he had never felt this way about someone and that he couldnt wait to marry me and we were gonna wait about a year to get married. But I wanted a fall wedding in Sept and he told me to do what makes me happy. He has put in so much effort for anything that I want for this wedding and helped out money wise whenever he could.I can not wait for that day to call him my husband and I know that I am the luckiest girl alive to have a man like him in my life."

Thanks for voting!

Natalie and Lonnie - Engagement Session

Lonnie & Natalie were a blast to work with! We had fun taking images of them having fun! The location was downtown Knoxville, however I'm sure this session would have been just as fabulous at any location because of their love for each other! We loved their willingness to forget that the camera was even there - enjoy!

Bridal Show Recap

We had a blast meeting you all at the bridal show - I hope you've had time to look through our packets and are ready for a consultation! Remember, you must book a consultation by March 10 to receive the free $100 print credit if you book a wedding package.

Our fabulous booth was built by Daniel - he has SO many talents. But, boy, the walls were heavy! :)





WINNERS OF THE FREE ENGAGEMENT SESSION ARE...

Well, there were tons of you who signed up for a free e-session! Many of you told me "I never win anything. I have such bad luck." For that reason, I've decided to take luck out of the equation. Instead, simply send in 1)the story of your proposal, 2)why you love your fiance, OR 3)the sweetest thing your fiance has ever done for you! I'll then post them on the blog and let you ALL vote on your favorite. We might even give away several free engagement sessions according to the response.

Just email us your submissions (they can be as short or as long as you would like!) to daniel@danielhowellphotography.com

Even if you weren't at the bridal show, you're welcome to join in and submit your love story! Good luck! You have until March 1st to submit!