A Couple Did Their Engagement Shoot at Olive Garden, and the Pictures Landed Them an Italian Honeymoon The restaurant gave the couple a free trip to Italy as a result of the photos.
By Emily Rella
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This story originally appeared on Business Insider
- Carlsey Bibb and Caden Mills are getting married on October 15, 2022.
- They went viral for doing their engagement shoot at Olive Garden.
- The restaurant gave the couple a free trip to Italy as a result of the photos.
Newly engaged couple Carlsey Bibb and Caden Mills have been together since 2019.
Carlsey Bibb and Caden Mills. Hunter LaShea Photography
Bibb, 24, is a licensed aesthetician, and Mills, 22, is a fourth-grade teacher, as Bibb told Insider.
Bibb and Mills have known of each other since they were children, as they both grew up in Cookeville, Tennessee, and played basketball in the area.
But in 2019, Bibb caught Mills' eye in town. He messaged her on Instagram after seeing her, and they've been together ever since.
Mills popped the question on July 2, 2022.
The couple is engaged. Hunter LaShea Photography
As they started planning their wedding, they booked an engagement shoot with Shea Cravens of Hunter LaShea Photography, who is Bibb's longtime friend.
Bibb didn't want her and Mills' photos to look like every other engagement shoot.
They wanted a unique engagement shoot. Hunter LaShea Photography
"I knew that I wanted to do something different," she told Insider. "I feel like everyone here takes pictures in fields or at waterfalls and things like that."
"I knew Shea had a good eye for things like that, so I asked her if there was somewhere she had been wanting to shoot and hadn't gotten the chance to yet," Bibb said.
As it turned out, Cravens did have somewhere in mind: Olive Garden.
Shea Craven suggested Olive Garden as a location for the shoot. Hunter LaShea Photography
Cravens told Buzzfeed News she thought of the idea to use Olive Garden as a backdrop after having lunch with her mother at the restaurant, as it had an Italian feel.
Mills and Bibb were game to use the chain for their photos.
"I thought it was a strange idea, but I know Shea has a great creative eye and everything she's ever done has been great," Bibb said of her reaction to the suggestion. "So I knew that this would be too."
The photo shoot took place at sunrise.
Because people frequently come in and out of Olive Gardens, as they do any restaurant, the photo shoot had to take place early in the morning.
"I got up at 4 o'clock that morning, and we got to Olive Garden at 6," Bibb told Insider.
The early hour ensured diners weren't disturbed and that no one was in the couple's shots.
Bibb said it felt silly in a good way to take photos at Olive Garden.
The location relaxed them. Hunter LaShea Photography
Bibb said she, Mills, and Cravens found themselves laughing in disbelief throughout the shoot.
But the location and Cravens' attitude put Bibb and Mills at ease, as the bride-to-be told Insider.
"It was fun," she said. "Neither one of us is really comfortable in front of a camera, but Shea made us pretty comfortable."
Bibb said she was "blown away" by the photos.
"I knew they were going to be good, but I never imagined they would be that good," she said.
"We're not photogenic. That's the funny thing about it," she added. "It's an ongoing joke with our families that Caden can't keep his eyes open during pictures."
Much to Bibb and Mills' surprise, their shoot went viral on TikTok.
Cravens posted a behind-the-scenes TikTok of the shoot that has almost 270,000 views to date.
"We were shocked," Bibb said of how she and Mills' reacted to the attention.
But the shoot going viral wasn't the only surprise Bibb and Mills got.
During an appearance on "Good Morning America," Mills and Bibb found out the outlet and Olive Garden were giving them a free honeymoon to Italy. The duo also gave Cravens a trip to Italy.
"It was awesome," Bibb said of the surprise. "I've always wanted to go."
Bibb and Mills will say 'I do' on October 15, 2022.