Robert and Courtney grew up in the same small town and went to high school together, but it wasn’t until years later when they reconnected at Courtney’s brother’s wedding that they started dating. I love this aspect of their story – I’m a firm believer in timing being *nearly everything, and sometimes the delay can allow for us to do other big, important things in the meantime – like live in a different area, and dive deep into our jobs or projects, and grow and learn and work on becoming the people we need and want to be. Courtney was living in Lincoln Park and Robert was in Plainfield when they reconnected, so they spent 1.5 years of dating visiting one another in the other’s neighborhood.
Since they’ll be getting married in Plainfield next year, they decided to do their engagement session in Lincoln Park, the other area where they’ve spent a lot of time together. We truly had the most beautiful end-of-summer evening for it – though it was the end of August, we ended up snagging a mid-70s afternoon that was perfect for roaming around the city. Robert and Courtney brought their pup Rey along for the session, which is always one of my favorite things for a couple to do – few things allow people to relax more than petting and playing with their pet during a sesh, and watching these two with Rey was no exception.
We ended their session with a stop at Replay, an arcade bar they went to for one of their first dates. Robert ordered us a round of beers, and we chatted and sipped and they played some pinball as they told me about their early dates and laughed about how competitive Courtney is. As we were nearing the end of our beers, Courtney said she had one more idea, and Robert’s eyes lit up as she suggested they do a shot of Malort together. They explained to me how Robert had always tried to get Courtney to take one with him and she had always declined, so I loved every second of him excitedly ordering his fiance’s first Malort shot. They threw them back and laughed and chatted as they sat together at the bar, and it felt like the perfect way to end our time hanging together.
