Rachel And Jordan's Winter Woodland Engagement Shoot

By Shannen Hofheimer | Photography by Taylor Clark Photography

For Rachel and Jordan, the mantra is true — absence makes the heart grow fonder. And for any of you who were wondering if a real life Noah Calhoun from that beloved tear-jerker The Notebook actually exists, he does. Separated from each other during the summer of 2014, Jordan wrote Rachel a love letter for every day she was away in Bolivia for two and a half weeks. Does it get any more swoon-worthy than that? Taylor Clark Photography beautifully captured this couple's unfaltering love in a gorgeous winter woodland setting for their engagement session.

The Love Story

Despite being introduced by mutual friends at a church event, social butterfly Rachel was busy mingling when she first met Jordan. “Truth be told, I pretty much ignored him most of the night because I wanted to socialize and not be stuck talking to one person. But about a week later, he asked me out to coffee and we sat talking in Starbucks for five hours. I knew I couldn't get rid of him after that!” That's quite the understatement, considering that Jordan and Rachel quickly became inseparable … even when they were separated. “Jordan spent the summer of 2014 in Muskoka teaching mountain biking and I went to Bolivia for two and a half weeks in the summer. We spent so much of the summer apart and only saw each other sporadically. We wrote letters to each other, and he would spend his one afternoon off a week driving four hours just to see me for a short time. At the end of the summer, we both knew we were going to get married. The separation from each other just made our love grow stronger. When I was in Bolivia, he wrote me a letter for every day. Reading each letter just made me miss him more and more each day. When I got home, I knew then that this relationship was going to be forever.”

The Engagement

After eight months of dating, Jordan proposed to his soul mate on November 24, 2014. “I walked out to my car after being at work all day, and when I unlocked it and opened my door, I saw a bouquet of roses sitting in my passenger seat. On top of the roses was a letter. In it described a place by the lake with a little path that leads to a secluded beach where Jordan and I spent a lot of time in the summer on his days off. So I began driving. When I got to THE lake, I saw a path that was lit up by Christmas lights. It looked absolutely beautiful. Jordan rounded the corner and opened my car door. With a lantern in hand, he walked me down the path to the beach which was aglow with lights, lanterns and candles. When we got to the beach, I saw a heart of pillared candles. Standing in the middle of the heart, he got down on one knee and asked me if I would marry him.” Rachel had no doubt in her mind that she was meant to spend the rest of her life with Jordan … she and her heart both screamed “Yes!”

The Ring

“On Jordan's parents' 25th wedding anniversary, his mother got a new ring. I have the privilege and honor of wearing her original, beautiful marquee diamond. Our jeweler set the diamond in a halo setting with a gold band. I wanted the ring to be unique and have a more antique feel to it, and it definitely does!”