Sweet Raleigh Engagement Session

A sweet Raleigh engagement session.

Annika and William’s love story began at a homecoming event for North Carolina Central University back in 2018. They were introduced by mutual friends and instantly were attracted to one another. “It is funny because we never met while we were in college nor when we both were at my sorority sister’s wedding. When we did meet, it was at the right time for both of us,” says Annika. It just goes to show, your significant other can be right there in the same room with you, but it’s not until the time is right when a true love connection will be made.

Scroll on to read their sweet love story and see more photos from this Raleigh engagement session.

Couple: Annika Barnett and William Webb
Occupations: Pediatric Anesthesiologist and Chief of Business Enterprise for The State of North Carolina
Wedding date: April 3, 2021
Wedding location: Park Alumni Center in Raleigh, NC
Location of Engagement shoot: Several locations in Raleigh, NC (Dorothea Dix Park, Downtown Raleigh, Renaissance Raleigh North Hills Hotel)

How did you meet?

We met at our college’s (North Carolina Central University) homecoming in November 2018. I was hanging out with my sorority sisters and he was hanging out with his friends. My sorority sister is married to one of his friends so we were all kind of hanging out together at one point. My sorority sister formally introduced us and he later asked her for my phone number. It is funny because we never met while we were in college nor when we both were at my sorority sister’s wedding. When we did meet, it was at the right time for both of us.

Tell us your proposal story:

William surprised me with a proposal in the spot where we met. He got my mother to get me to the campus with a crazy story about some event that I needed to go to. When we were walking across the campus, I saw William standing down at the bottom of the “Greek Bowl” and I just started bawling. He got down on one knee and proposed where our love story started. It was perfect. He even had a photographer there to capture the moment.

Describe your engagement session. Did you have a theme?

We wanted to have an engagement session that expressed our personalities. We are both pretty laid back and like to have fun so we wanted to have a casual component in our session. I love to craft, so I made the shirts that we wore in the park which made it more special and personal. We also love to get dressed up, which we have not had a chance to do over the past few months since the pandemic started, so we also wanted to have a more dressy and fashionable side to the shoot.

What did you do on your first date?

We went to brunch on our first date and then did a little shopping.

What’s your favorite thing to do as a couple?

We love to go to wine tastings, new restaurants, and travel. We also love to watch reality television shows together, like Married at First Sight.

How has wedding planning been so far?

Wedding planning has been fairly painless. We hired a wedding planner early on. We are cautiously optimistic that everything will go as planned despite planning a wedding during a pandemic.