Elizabeth and Ryan’s gorgeous summer engagement session at Marblegate Farm in Friendsville, Tennessee. I’ve known Elizabeth for nearly 20 years now, and it was so much fun to take engagement photos at their wedding venue, where we’ll be celebrating in a little over a year! I asked Ryan and Elizabeth a few questions about their story and their excitement for the wedding, which you can read below.

Here are a few of my favorites from Marblegate Farm! If you’re planning a Knoxville wedding and haven’t visited this venue yet, you may be missing out!

Planning a wedding or ready to book a session? Get in touch here!

How did you choose your venue?

We originally found it online as we were looking for options, and it was the first place we went to visit. We fell in love with it immediately because of the beautiful grounds and friendly staff. We still went and visited a few more places, but none of them had the same appeal as Marblegate.

 

How did you meet?

We met through swimming. Senior year of high school, I (Elizabeth) joined a club team that Ryan was on. Even though we had both been involved in swimming in Knoxville for years, we did not know each other, and actually went to rival high schools. We like to joke that I fell in love at first sight when I saw him working out in the weight room. But for real, I definitely had a major crush on him from the beginning. I needed a ride to practice one day and thought I would see if he could take me to practice. After that we began talking and I convinced him to go to homecoming with me. We started dating, not really knowing what would happen since it was senior year and we would be going to different colleges in different states, but here we are seven years later! 

 

Any good failed date stories?

We haven’t had any date fails, but we did have a failed proposal due to a last minute cancellation of the beach trip we were planning to go on. I had to scramble to cancel reservations and had to hide the ring for another 4 months before I had a chance to pop the question.