She was set up. It was a classic case of friends wanting to hook her up, but Jamie wasn’t having any of it. Not uh, no way. And, besides, Jared was a Marine and the last thing Jamie wanted to deal with was fatigues—both of the physical and camouflaged kind.

While having dinner at a friend’s house, the doorbell rang and there Jared stood. With his blue eyes gleaming, Jamie wasn’t having any of it. Jared was kind, caring and gentle, but he couldn’t get Jamie’s attention, so he relented and decided to let this opportunity pass him. Until a week later, when Jamie called and asked him on a date. Apparently, fatigues have a whole new appeal when worn by a blue-eyed, muscular boy.

They dated four weeks until Jared was deployed to Iraq, where they corresponded via email and phone calls. After his tour, Jared returned home and discussed marriage with Jamie, but they agreed the time wasn’t quite right. When he was deployed for his second tour of Iraq, the emails and video chats resumed. Late one night, while Jamie was completing work for nursing school and video-chatting with Jared, he couldn’t bear the idea of waiting, so in a dry and dusty land far away, he typed: WILL YOU MARRY ME? Shocked, Jamie scribbled on her notepad and held her response to her computer’s video camera: YES!!!!!!

While Jamie and Jared suspect others consider their love unconditional, there’s no denying that their love is genuine, beautiful, and sacrificing. Jared returns to Iraq in a week to complete his tour and while the wedding date has yet to be solidified, I hope I’m blessed enough to work with this amazing couple again! 😉

We met in San Clemente for their engagement session at one of Jamie's favorite surf stores…while there, we found an alley that I just couldn't get enough of!

Jamie and Jared brought along these awesome hats…I LOVED it! It's fun to see how something so small can really show off their personalities and love! 🙂

Just a stone's throw away was the beautiful beach and boardwalk, so we finished the session along the coast…

To see more of their engagement session, CLICK HERE for a slideshow!