Oxley Nature Center Engagement Photos || Tulsa OK || Jessica and Anthony

Oxley Nature Center:

Located in the beautiful Mohawk Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Oxley Nature Center & Park is an adventure that must be experienced. From their Monarch Butterfly Nursery, to the many trails, to the observation point overlooking Lake Sherry, there is no shortage of places to explore or things to see! Filled with wildlife from exotic birds to deer who run up next to you, Oxley Nature Center provides an outdoors environment perfect for that Rustic Engagement Theme. Even after the sun had started to set, we still would’ve loved to have a few more hours to find more places to shoot!

See our article about where we recommend having your Engagement Session for more information: HERE

Jessica & Anthony:

What can we say about Jessica & Anthony? We have the honor of working with amazing couples & we get the chance to capture their love as the story or their wedding unfolds, but sometimes our couples blow us away! Jessica & Anthony are one such couple! There are those times when you don’t feel like you’re on a photo shoot, but witnessing something greater! Jessica & Anthony are the fairytale couple who almost didn’t find each other!

Jessica tells the story in her own excited words, “I was hired as a Pre-K teacher at Glenpool a couple of weeks before school started in 2015. That didn’t give me a whole lot of time to prepare for the school year, or to meet parents before school started. I was wearing jeans & was about to walk down the hall to change into more professional clothes to meet all of my new students when Anthony walked in the room. He was the very first parent that I met & (to my dismay) he was about 20 minutes early! The second he walked in the room, I noticed that he was very attractive. I had no idea if he was in a relationship or not, so I pushed it aside & went on the beginning of my teaching career. That was, however, after I mentioned to my mom, my friends, my coworkers, & anyone else who would listen that one of my students had a very attractive dad. I honestly never thought anything would come from it because I didn’t think he had any interest in me. What I didn’t know at the time, was that the second he left that day he called his mom & told her that his daughter’s teacher was very nice looking. I may have had a huge crush on him but I treated him as I would any other parent & kept all contact strictly professional. In October, I got a pet hedgehog, & while that may seem irrelevant, I had learned from Amelia, his daugher, that it was oddly enough her dad’s favorite animal. He told me at parent teacher conferences that he had always wanted one & asked me questions about where I got mine. We made easy conversation, even though we were both extremely nervous at the time. When he left, however, I was still convinced that he was not interested in me.”

“After some of my coworkers & some of his coworkers did some meddling, Anthony found out I was not only single, but that I liked him as well. He contacted me, as nervous as ever, a few days later & asked me on our first date. We originally planned to stay just friends while Amelia was in my class but that didn’t last too long. We realized we couldn’t stop talking to each other & didn’t want to stay just friends, so we decided to wait until the last day of school was over to tell Amelia we were dating.”

Proposal:

“Anthony had been planning the proposal for 3 months & I was completely surprised by it! Whenever we talked about the future, though, Anthony joked & always said that it would happen in 2 to 3 years, so I wasn’t expecting anything anytime soon. He decided to ask me on Christmas because he knew I wanted my whole family to be there to celebrate with me. After everyone had opened all of their presents, Anthony said there was one more. He had taken Amelia into another room to ask her if it would be okay with her if he asked me to marry him. She said yes & was so excited! Anthony showed her the ring & then showed her an ornament his mother had made. Inside the ornament was written ‘Jessica, will you marry me?’ He told Amelia to go give me the present with the ornament in it & say, ‘This is from me & my daddy.’ She did just that & more. She got everyone’s attention & yelled that there was one more present. She was very eager for me to open it! I still didn’t suspect anything (possibly because it was Anthony’s idea to have a $20 limit to spend on each other’s Christmas presents this year). When I opened the box & saw the ornament, I was completely shocked & immediately starting crying. I almost didn’t believe that it was real. He asked me to stand up & he got down on one knee, with my whole family there, & told me how much he loved me & how much I meant to him & Amelia. He asked me to marry him & without hesitation I said yes!”

Information:

Stay tuned for Jessica & Anthony’s gorgeous wedding at the beautiful Vesica Piscis Chapel coming soon!

For more information about capturing your engagement portraits at Oxley Nature Park or to reach out to us with questions about your day, Click HERE