Lauren & Daniel

When Lauren and Daniel wanted to capture their engagement they wanted something different. With a wedding planned by the sea, the pair left it up to their photographer Karen Gilvear Photography – a stunning forest setting, smoke flares and a few outfit changes all gave rise to these modern Penrose State Forest engagement photos.

Lauren and Daniel have such a gorgeous “how they came to be”. Lauren sharing “Daniel and I socialised with the same circle of friends. He knew them through playing Rugby Union, where I knew them through school. Eventually, we were introduced by a mutual friend. That led to lots of chatting and texting each other as well as a number of visits from Daniel to my touch football games and work for lunch.
We spent many nights out chatting in my parent’s backyard on the lounge until 2am or getting chocolate sundaes from McDonald’s. On the 20/1/2013 Daniel came over to my parent’s place after watching me play touch football. We were wrestling and mucking around when Daniel hugged me and asked me to be his girlfriend. This was a couple of months prior to him going away to Europe. He jokes now that he wanted to lock me in, in case he lost me while he was away!”

You know how all couples have those stories that they tell time and time again? These two have a favourite! Lauren explains “Our funniest relationship story is probably our second date. Daniel took me to Freshwater Beach as we both love the beach. It was a hot summer’s day so the beach was packed. We ended up driving around the streets of Freshwater for 45 minutes trying to find a car spot. it seemed every time Daniel had found a spot, someone came out of nowhere and got it just before us. I could not stop laughing. Daniel kept joking how this was the perfect date he had planned and that we weren’t actually going to the beach but just driving past it all day. We did eventually find a spot and enjoyed the day at the beach. Until the sunburn set in on Daniel!!!!!”

On what they love about one another, Lauren tells “Daniel and I are very similar in many ways. We are both very family orientated, passionate about sports and love to have a good time whether it be with friends or just one another. Our personalities do differ at times, Daniel is calm and relaxed whilst I tend to stress over things, so we balance each other out.” Adding “There have been many times in our relationship that I decided we should make a present for someone or make creative table pieces. I love that I come up with the grand ideas but Daniel always seems to have to help me finish the task as he is the creative one and wants to ensure it is perfect for me.”

The groom proposed on the beach, the bride to be remembering “Daniel proposed on the 26th March 2016 at One Mile Beach, Forster. We were in Forster for the Easter long weekend visiting his sister’s family.
We were preparing to go out for dinner when Daniel said let’s go for a walk on the beach whilst we wait for the others to get ready” she tells. Continuing “Whilst we were walking on the beach Daniel dropped to one knee and asked me to marry him. It was perfect. Little did I know that the whole thing was caught on camera too. Daniel had also organised for my parents and his family to come to Forster to celebrate. It was wonderful to see them all coming down to congratulate us.”