Rachell & Kory

Take a girl to the seaside and she’ll dream of magic, there’s a reason that the seaside is so alluring with its ever-changing tones and wild, rough raw style and it certainly makes for magic photographs.

Rachell & Kory spent the most beautiful afternoon with Courtney Laura Photography to capture the new phase of their lives together and with the rolling hills, high clifftops and white seaspray, there couldn’t have been a more beautiful setting. It was  a solid acknowledgment of a big step for these two who met through an app from opposite sides of the globe and fell head over heels

Rachell shares their story. “We first connected on a religious dating app for Latter-day Saints, called Mutual. I was in the U.S. and he was in Australia. From his first message to me, I knew he was different. We started facetiming after messaging for a few days and knew we wanted to meet in person within a few weeks, but my first break in school wasn’t until the Christmas holiday break. We met in person for the first time when I came to Australia for two weeks, during Christmas and New Years. Not only was it the vacation of a lifetime, but a two week date that neither of us wanted to end. From then on we started going back and forth between countries every 7-8 weeks. On his first visit to the U.S., we decided we wanted to get married. He proposed during his second visit in May of 2018. I was able to stay in Australia for a few months during the summer, but we can’t wait to share our lives, and live permanently in the same place, starting after we get married in March of 2019!”

It’s their teamwork that makes the dreams of these two work, shares Rachell. “Kory has told me several times, “We sure make a great team”, and I couldn’t agree more! Not only do we share what’s most important to us -our religion and values, but we also see the world in a very similar way, including our love of people and differing cultures and customs. Our career aspirations and personalities are very complementary and whenever we’re together, we have such blast – be it enjoying the outdoors, sport, or a night in of cooking. We’re best friends and each other’s favorite person. There’s never enough time in the day to spend with him. He’s the most selfless, caring, and service oriented person I know and makes me want to be better. Meeting and falling in love with him was like becoming whole when I didn’t even know I wasn’t complete.”

A romantic dinner for two set the scene as Kory popped the question. Rachell remembering “He made reservations at a beautiful restaurant overlooking the Phoenix, Arizona valley at sunset where we had dinner. Afterward, we came back to my house, where he had arranged to have the entrance lined with rose pedals, and candles and some of our favorite songs playing in the background. It was in my kitchen that I had given him an answer one night that I did want to marry him, 8 weeks before and it was there that he proposed.”

Shares the bride to be “Most of our first dates were to the beaches, islands, or coast of Victoria, so we wanted our engagement photos to reflect that. We also wanted Australia to somehow be a part of our wedding (as we’ll be married in the U.S.), so we were thrilled that Courtney suggested the Flinders cliffs. When I first saw how beautifully she captured the landscape and our love on camera, I almost cried.”