Shyla + Shawn
A Romantic Winter Engagement Session in Leavenworth, WA
When I think of Shyla and Shawn I think of that magic spark that exists between two people when you combine all the elements of the best friendship you could ask for and that sweet romance of new love! When around these two beautiful people it is truly impossible not to laugh constantly and revel in the conversation that flows effortlessly between them. Communication has always come easy to these two, as their fellow graduate program students in Australia can attest to! Consistently Shyla and Shawn’s evening chats would last well into the night and even ebb over into the wee hours of the morning, forging their friendship and giving them a solid foundation from which a romantic love bloomed and eventually blossomed.
When I first met Shyla, we’d been chatting a bit back and forth by e-mail and I was surprised how much her and Shawn’s story mirrored Dom and my own. Shyla and Shawn met while they both were traveling abroad and Shawn even spent the majority of his youth growing up in Dubai, a country only 4 hours from where Dom himself was raised! Shyla and Shawn were studying marine biology in Australia when they met, and eventually Shawn decided to pursue further education in the states and moved to the PNW where he and Shyla continued to date. Shyla is an avid hiker and has also been introducing Shawn to Pacific Northwest hiking in exchange for all his cooking and surfing lessons he gave her back in Australia, although the jury is still out whether Shawn will end up falling in love with hiking to the same degree that he loves food!
Shyla and Shawn are also avid travel lovers and we chatted about many of their adventures through India and Tazmania as we walked through the snow during their engagement session.
True to their spontaneous and adventurous spirits, the week of the Valentine’s Day storm Shyla sent me a text asking if I’d be down for a impromptu trip to Washington for their engagement adventure while the snow was still fresh in the adorable Bavarian town of Leavenworth. This kind of thing is right up my ally so quickly saying YES! we threw together a plan and early Friday morning I found myself driving through torrential rain in the Gorge on my way to the snowy enchantment of the Cascades.
Leavenworth is a town that holds a special place in Shyla and Shawn’s relationship as it was in the main town square that Shawn proposed, strumming a song he wrote on his ukulele while serenading Shyla in the solemn serenity of a chilly November morning last year.
Revisiting this little town in all its snowy splendor was amazing as even though it was nearing the end of February- the Christmas lights were still draped over every tree, bush and balcony, and the city was alive with children sledding, clydesdale horses pulling brightly decorated carriages, and shoppers merrily sipping hot ciders as they bar-hopped from brauhaus to schnitzel stand.
I met up with Shyla, Shawn and their gorgeous dog Chase in the town center and we enjoyed snapping a few photos while Chase attempted to lick the camera in excitement.
Shyla’s mom came to take Chase after our first round of portraits was complete and we trekked off to the waterfront to play by the river.
Very quickly I realized that Shyla and Shawn are that rare type of couple that need little to no direction and whose affinity for each other just bursts forth for the camera to capture. Shawn had also done his homework and had read my posing tips blog, so after the first basic instruction literally all I had to say was “Oh! Here’s a good spot….” and boom! Adorable photos galore!
Walking around with Shyla and Shawn was almost like catching up with long-lost friends who’d been off galavanting around the world and who have finally returned home, excited to catch up and reconnect. We swapped stories of getting deli-belly and surviving crazy long car rides in India, and Shyla and I compared notes on various levels of hiking difficulty of the Volcanic Peaks of the PNW.
Shawn also told me the COOLEST story of an evening of pure magic in their early relationship. Back in Austrailia, one evening while the two of them were hanging out Shyla was in another room and Shawn was suddenly struck by the idea of writing a single number down on a card, and then stowing that card elsewhere. When Shyla returned, Shawn told her to pick a number between 1 and 50 and she picked the exact number he’d written on the card! Directing her to find the card stashed behind a cushion across the room, it was truly magic and a sign of just how connected these two were!
After exploring Leavenworth’s waterfront, Shyla and Shawn changed into their more formal outfits and we all piled into my jeep to head up Icicle Road toward the mountain range that encircles the famous Enchantment Lakes. Although the road to Colchuck lake was closed for winter, we had a blast using one of the pull-outs to do every pose in the book from epic dips to two different kinds of lifts to hands-free piggy backs- in a DRESS! (when I say these two are up for anything I mean it! )
Looping back toward town we revisited the waterfront one last time, and Shyla and Shawn even tip-toed out to the middle of a little side-eddy in the river, rock hoping along snow-caped river stones and nearly giving me a heart attack when Shyla almost lost her balance!
Wrapping up the evening, we met up with Chase, Ann (Shyla’s parent’s dog), and Shyla’s Mom and Dad to sip hot chocolate and enjoy a meat and cheese platter by the twinkling lights of the Leavenworth main street. It was an absolutely wonderful day filled with laughter, adventure, beauty, friendship and love and I cannot WAIT until Shawn and Shyla’s wedding this July. Truth be told, I’m probably not even going to wait all the way until July to hang with these two again, as by the end of the night we were already scheming about how we could do a couple’s hike (or dinner, right Shawn!) this spring.
Check out the beautiful images we captured on Shyla and Shawn’s Snowy Winter Engagement Session below and leave some love for these two in the comments!
