Freedom Park Way Bridge Engagement – Sharon Theresa Wheaton

Ashlyn + Peter | Atlanta Engagement Photography| Freedom Parkway Bridge | Olmsted Linear Park

Greetings! We would like to introduce you to Ashlyn + Peter. This lovely couple comes to us from past clients Lindsey + Patrick! We’ve had the pleasure of photographing Lindsey + Patrick’s wedding a few years ago and a recent portrait session at Serenbe.

We are thankful that our clients chat about us to their friends. We like to get to know people. Let’s get to know Ashlyn + Peter.

(S) Ashlyn and Peter, tell us a little about you and Peter:

(A+P) Ashlyn grew up in Snellville with her younger brother Ryan, and her folks and both sets of grandparents still live close by. After graduating from UGA, she got her Master’s in Public Health at Mercer and now kicks butt with her work as an in-house consultant at Northside. She is an avid tennis player, runner, loves to cook and travel, but above all loves spending time with her family and friends.

Peter’s family moved to Georgia when he was 7, but thanks to his parents being from Iowa his southern accent pretty much stops and starts with “y’all”. He’s the third of four kids, and growing up in an entrepreneurial household caused him to gravitate to working in sales at a tech startup. He is getting too old to play soccer as well as he used to and enjoys Ashlyn’s cooking very much, but above all he loves spending time with his family and friends.

(S) How did you guys meet?

(A+P) This is a very controversial subject, as recollections differ tremendously. The first time we truly spent some time together, though, was on a big group getaway set up by a mutual friend (thanks, Paul) over a weekend in the mountains.

(S) Tell us a little about your first date.

(A+P) After mountain weekend, Peter got Ashlyn’s number and asked her out for a first official date. We went to an awesome restaurant called P’cheen, and spent the next three and half hours(!) laughing and realizing how much we had in common. Needless to say, it was the perfect last first date anyone could ask for.

(S) Was there a defining moment your knew relationship was taking the step towards marriage?

(A+P) This one’s a little tricky, because having instant chemistry with someone can make it seem like it was headed there all along. Pete remembers raving to my friends extremely early on about how great Ashlyn was, and brought her to meet his family about a month after the first date. Luckily she wasn’t scared off, and the overwhelming consensus from everyone was that she was an absolute keeper. When you meet someone who’s beautiful, smart, funny, and kind enough to laugh at your dumb jokes, well- you hold onto her.

(S) Peter, how did you pop “The Question?”

(A+P) Since our birthdays, anniversary, and Valentine’s Day are all within a couple weeks of each other, we try to do a fun trip every year to celebrate. Peter’s family has a lake house in Northern Michigan that they’ve gone to for years, and it was the location of one of the first real “couple’s trip” we went on when we started dating. Although sub zero temperatures are not typically what comes to mind when most people think of a fun excursion, we decided to live a little and head up there for a few days at the end of January. We were out snowshoeing along the lake one afternoon, decided to stop and take a picture to document the fact that people still, in fact, snowshoed, and Peter set up the camera to try out the self timer feature. After proclaiming “it didn’t work” after the first attempt, he secretly turned it to video mode and hustled back over to try again…except when he got back to Ashlyn, he dropped to to a knee and popped the question. Months of throwing her off the trail (Peter’s note: be careful trying that at home) made the proposal a true surprise, and the fact that we got engaged in such a special place meant a lot to both of us.

(S) Sneaky job Peter. I love how it came together so naturally and he still captured the actual moment.

We are so excited to share Ashlyn + Peter’s engagement session with all of you. We showered the Freedom Parkway Bridge with cheap champagne. It was awesome.

Bowie and I are thrilled to be apart of Ashlyn + Peter’s wedding and can’t wait for Atlanta in the fall. Enjoy!