Bear Mountain State Park Engagement Session in Peekskill, NY | Carley & Shawn

AN ENGAGEMENT SESSION AT BEAR MOUNTAIN STATE PARK

I first spoke with Carley and Shawn on a FaceTime call last October. They were so sweet and excited to share the details about the wedding day they were planning together. I knew they would be a fantastic couple to work with, which made me even more excited to finally meet them at their engagement session last week at Bear Mountain State Park in Peekskill, New York! Arturo and I had never been to Bear Mountain before, but Carley spent plenty of time there in high school, so it was wonderful to explore the area together.

We started off with portraits outside the Bear Mountain Inn before making our way down to the nearby lake. The scenery within the Hudson Valley is always stunning and served as a beautiful backdrop to Shawn and Carley’s engagement photos. We ended their session down at a pier on the Hudson River with views of the Bear Mountain Bridge as the sun slowly dipped behind the mountain!

THE PROPOSAL STORY

Shawn and Carley live near Lake Washington in Seattle, and last summer they would often take their boat out on the lake after work for mini sunset happy hour cruises. In the second week of September, Shawn had asked Carley if she wanted to go out on the boat for a happy hour. She agreed but they hadn't picked an exact day.

September 11th arrived that week and Carley was feeling a bit down remembering the loss our country had faced in 2001. She thought spending time with Shawn out on the boat would be a good antidote to the heaviness of that day, so Carley texted him to see if he’d be up for an evening on the lake. The two had a great happy hour cruise, laughing together and enjoying the water!

As it turns out, Shawn was planning to propose on the boat that night, but he forgot the ring in his truck! That didn’t stop him from popping the question though. After he and Carley had pulled the boat out of the water, Shawn asked her to marry him!! By then it was dark and they weren’t able to take any photos to share with family and friends, so they decided to keep their engagement a secret for an entire day. The next evening Carley and Shawn went back out on the lake and took pictures as they cruised around on the water. The two video chatted with Carley’s parents in New York before stopping at Shawn’s parents’ house to share the exciting news!

These two are having a lovely summer wedding next August at The Briarcliff Manor, and we cannot wait to see their day come to life! Congratulations Carley and Shawn!

When did you know you'd found "the one"?

Carley: “Shawn and I met when I was on vacation in Seattle in 2011 visiting a good friend from college. We met at a Sounders game (Shawn has season tickets and now we both go to all of the games). We hung out a few times during that trip but then I went back home to the East Coast. Shortly after, I moved from New York to Washington, D.C. for grad school. He ended up texting me every Friday for a year before we decided he should come to D.C. to visit. I then went back to Seattle to visit him a couple of months later on my spring break. From then on we were together and had a long-distance relationship for 3 years before I moved to Seattle. We would fly back and forth often or meet in a city in between. It was an adventure. I'm not sure exactly when I knew he was the one, but I always had this feeling of trusting him and that doing the long-distance relationship was worth it.”

Shawn: “The day we broke down on the road trip across the country, after spending several hours in a McDonald’s trying to figure out what to do. We formulated a plan and carried it out. Never was there any point where I felt like we weren't going to get through this issue. After this, I knew there was nothing that could ever be so great that it would drive us apart.”

What's one thing you love about your partner?

Carley: “Shawn is so kind and generous. He treats the people in his life that he cares about extremely well.”

Shawn: “I love how we complement each other. There are several things we enjoy doing together and at the same time, we have our own talents that allow us to be individuals while still sharing our talents in our relationship.”

Besides getting married, what is one thing you're looking forward to on your wedding day?

Carley: “If I answered this question in the fall all I would have said I was most excited about is having my family and friends as well as Shawn's family and friends together in one place. It's not something that happens often since they’re on different coasts. Now with COVID, we are unsure who will be able to make it; it’s disappointing but we are trying to be ok with whatever happens on that day.”

Shawn: “I can’t wait to celebrate the beginning of our marriage with all of our friends and family that can make it to New York, and then celebrate later with the friends that had to stay in Washington.”

What's one thing you're looking forward to about marriage?

Carley: “Having that lifetime commitment official for all to know! Also, continuing to adventure together and starting a family.”

Shawn: “Spending the rest of my life with a partner that I get along with and can see a complete life with. I look forward to all of the stages of the rest of our life together.”

I hope you enjoyed this summer engagement session at Bear Mountain State Park!  Do you know Carley and Shawn?  Show them some love by commenting below!


ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHERS

Shaina Lee Photography is a husband and wife photography team serving Connecticut, New York, and beyond.  We specialize in timeless, elegant, and romantic weddings while celebrating all couples in love. 

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