Kayla & Tom | Engagement Session at The White Barn at Lucas Farm

Fall Engagement Photos at The White Barn at Lucas Farm in Oakland, MD

It’s currently 2021 (yep, just in case you’ve lost your place & space in time – it’s still 2021).
And I feel like, 8/10 couples that I meet with to chat about their weddings tell me that they met each other online. Sure, there are exceptions: meeting in college, meeting in the military, meeting because you’re next door neighbors – but for the most part, it’s super common for couples to meet each other online.

You know when it wasn’t common though?
Back in 2012.
Meeting people online almost a decade ago was still new & shiny & a bit looked down upon (and let’s be honest: slightly terrifying).
But, that’s how Kayla & Tom met – yep, way back in 2012.

At the time, Kayla was going to college in North Carolina & had come home to south-western Pennsylvania for the summer. She wasn’t really looking for a relationship, but instead was simply looking to meet people & find friends. That’s when she stumbled across Tom’s profile online & she decided to reach out to him.

They began chatting back & forth, an easy-going friendship quickly & easily growing.
There was just one problem: Tom wasn’t from the area Kayla was living. In fact, he lived over an hour away.

Kayla was a bit bummed out when she found this out, after all, she was really enjoying getting to know this guy. But he was never going to drive such a long distance to come meet her in person.
Or would he?

After chatting back & forth, Tom suggested meeting in person. He assured Kayla that he didn’t mind the drive & asked when they could get together. The 101st annual Our Lady of Mount Carmel Festival was taking place in Crabtree right around the corner & Kayla suggested it (in the back of her mind rationalizing that it would be a good, safe, public place to meet & she could bring her cousin along as backup – just in case “Tom” ended up being a crazy person).

Thankfully, Tom turned out to be completely normal. And they had such a great time at the Festival that they extended their evening to include a stop at McDonalds for ice cream afterwards.

Tom continued to make the 60+ minute drive to come see Kayla – driving over almost every single weekend thru the rest of July & beginning of August so they could spend time together. By mid-August, things were official & Kayla went back to college, having found not just any friend, but a boyfriend.

Fast forward a few years – Tom & Kayla are now engaged & planning their wedding for next summer! They are getting married at The White Barn at Lucas Farm in Oakland, Maryland (at Deep Creek Lake!) and one of the perks of getting married there, is you can have your engagement session there as well. We specifically waited until October, hoping to have some beautiful fall colors (the leaves up in the mountains of Maryland change a few weeks ahead of the leaves changing here outside of Pittsburgh) but – fall this year was a bit late (and weird), so we did our best to take advantage of the three orange leaves we found (no joke) & made the best of it!

Traipsing around White Barn with Tom & Kayla made me SO excited for next summer – their wedding is going to be incredible, I just know it!