All You Need Is Love Contest Top Three | Raleigh Engagement and Couples Photographer

This has been hard. Really hard. I had a committee to help with the selection process...and it was still hard. After much deliberation, we have decided on the top three contestants as listed below in alphabetical order (by first name of the applicant). Please enjoy their stories and vote on your favorite!

Remember, voting ends on February 21 at 5pm EST. Here's what's at stake:

-One lucky couple will win a FREE photo session and three high resolution digital files. Digital files are normally only sold as a full set for $1200, so this is a value of $1350!!!
-2nd Place Prize: FREE photo session ($150 value)
-3rd Place Prize: 50% off session fee ($75 value)

Jessica and Joe Lieb

Our paths crossed many times over the course of 5 years before we actually met. We'd attended the same youth group, I'd seen his band perform, had many common friends but it wasn't until one Sunday morning after church (V21) that we were formally introduced to each other. Our first date was awkward as we were the only people dining in a Chinese restaurant the day after Thanksgiving. However, we immediately knew there was something special developing. He was my first kiss. I was 25.

We were engaged on Good Friday and married in September. Our wedding cake was topped with a lego Han Solo and Princess Leia. We honeymooned in England and had a baby 9 months later. We are big goofs with bizarre senses of humor, but we totally get each other.

Kelly and Michael Chi

In 2001, as a graduate student in neuroscience, Michael hired me to work as his assistant. Every morning, we put on our lab coats and fed mice, recorded data and did analyses over coffee. He began to bring muffins, and I would linger in the lab and tell him my aspirations to get into grad school. Do you know that person who you can't wait to tell the funny or sad story? He became that person to me.

I'm not sure if I was drunk on delicious muffins, but one day in the lab I told Michael I loved him. At the time we were dating, but it was early in the relationship. He told me that he loved me back. In 2005, he proposed to me at a neuroscience conference. Fitting, right?

In the past decade, Michael has been my mentor, my friend, my husband and soulmate. Now we spend our free time scoping out bargains at the grocery store, bickering about scientific studies and taking our pets to the vet. We hug and kiss each other, but these moments are never captured on film. Please choose us—the perpetual, fun-loving geeks — for the photoshoot!

Michael Clayton and Victoria Wood

More than likely, if you were to see us out on a date, you would think to yourself “hmm interesting.” Without going into too much detail, Victoria has four citizenships, she has lived in four countries, she is directly related to two men who were knighted by the Queen (that’s right, they have the title “Sir” permanently in front of their name), and her family in New Zealand has a lengthy Wikipedia page concerning them. I was born and raised in Wilson, NC. The end.

She came to NC State to study Fashion design (she has the prettiest, best sense of style) and I came to study Natural Resources Management (I wear plaid). Victoria and I enjoy going for walks around Lake Johnson together; we enjoy cooking dinner together, and making each other laugh. She took me whitewater rafting for my birthday, I gave her pretty things on hers, and I am taking her to go see Cinderella at the Carolina Ballet for Valentine’s Day (Shh, don’t tell her). Our relationship is beautiful in that we give to each other sacrificially in time, love, and laughter; it is this continuous giving to each other that makes life without each other unimaginable.

Best of luck to everyone!