If engagement stories had to be put into categories most would be romance, some non-fiction (and a few fiction to make up for it), and a very few number would be dramas. Chris + Molly’s story is the latter and while it could be written into a page turner the long and short is that when the ring arrived in the mail at Chris’s desk, the box was empty. After many phone calls, and fear that it was stolen, hours later the jeweler was able to confirm that whoever shipping the ring forgot to put it in the box. The roller coaster of events drained Chris of all his energy, and he tried to cancel the evening plans but Molly insisted they go to her favorite orchard. Instead, he waited until the ring arrived and on a regular evening – albeit interrupting Gray’s Anatomy – he asked Molly to marry him. She, of course, said yes.

I met Molly and Chris for the first time at the Winterthur Estate + Museum, which is located just over the Pennsylvania border in Delaware. It was the home of Henry Francis du Pont and is surrounded by 1,000 beautiful acres filled with gardens, woods, trails, and a vast home with 175 rooms. As I was in the Philadelphia area for two other different sessions it was an easy drive for me and Molly and Chris came up from Washington, DC. We captured their Winterthur engagement session in the gardens and I had a great time photographing them and cannot wait to join them for their wedding day in the Cape!