These two are getting married TOMORROW! I'm so excited that I get to be part of their wedding celebration.
Rachel + Price - West Tennessee Engagement
Rachel has been one of my best friends for a long time now. I remember first meeting her through mutual friends (who ended up being in my wedding). She eventually was the props manager for a theatre production I was acting in and she had to make me little fake blood capsules every night - and that's where it started. We liked each other's sense of humor and began talking more and more. After that we soon became friends and she's been a part of my life ever since. A little over a year ago she started dating this nice guy who makes her super happy and now they're getting married! Watch out for photos of that one - I'll be the bridesmaid standing next to her. :)
Becca + Nick - Cincinnati, Ohio Engagement
I don't think it has EVER taken me this long to get a blog post up after a session, but the last two months have been absolutely INSANE. My apologies to Becca and Nick for the wait!
Becca and Nick's engagement session was my very last stop on the crazy train that was this fall. October was jam packed with long distance travel, tons of sessions, and a really unpleasant dose of chronic car trouble.
Two of my lovely best friends got married on November 5 in Ohio, and months ago I scheduled this engagement session to be perfectly timed with that trip for their wedding. I don't often just drop by Ohio, so timing was pretty important here. I knew I would be making my way down from northern Ohio on Sunday after the wedding and have to pass through Cincinnati to get home. The plan was to time my trip from Canton so that I arrived in Cincinnati exactly on time for this session. Meet this amazing couple, shoot some pretty pictures, drive on home.
While in Canton for my friend's wedding my car started acting bananas. I was busy being a bridesmaid all day on Saturday and couldn't do a thing about it until Sunday morning at the earliest. I had a friend take my car in Saturday so it could be looked at, and called back first thing Sunday morning. I needed to leave Canton at a very specific time in order to be able to make it to this session and spent a good portion of Saturday night/Sunday morning being panicked that this wouldn't be possible.
By some amazing chance of fate my car was able to be repaired on Sunday morning at the EXACT time I needed to leave town. (Thanks again to the wonderful Dennis and Kathryne for driving me to get my car and making sure I got home safely.)
This, again, was one of the prime examples of how amazing my clients are. I'd had a pretty stressful 24 hours. I spend most of it wondering if my car would be able to get me home and if I would have to call at the last second and cancel this engagement session. There's, of course, no way Becca could have known this, but still. When I arrived for our session she had CUPCAKES for me! RIGHT!? And they were delicious. The whole way home after the session I listened to my most recent podcast discovery and ate cupcakes and thought about how lucky I am to work with awesome people.
Nick, if all of her baked creations taste like those cupcakes, you're a lucky dude.
It was important to Becca and Nick that we include his guitar in some of the photos, which naturally I was all for. This guy pulls out the guitar and starts playing... you guessed it... The Avett Brothers. Only my favorite ever. Thumbs up for Nick.
These are some of my favorites!
Tiffany + Jacob - Nashville, TN Engagement
It was so much fun working with Tiffany and Jacob! We met at Sharp Springs Park, which turned out to be a wonderful spot for fall engagement photos. These two were sweet and cuddly and made taking great photos so easy. I'm so excited I got the chance to work with them!
This ring, though...
Carmen + Paul - Fall Creek Falls Engagement Spencer, TN
You know when things just work out perfectly? Carmen and Paul are one of those things for me. I know that sounds weird - stick with me.
Back in April I was having a really scary time in my business (quitting your job and going in to business for yourself is tough sometimes). I was worried constantly and doing everything I knew how to bring business through the door. One of the things I did was confide in my friend Hannah. There's more to this story, and it's really cool, but the short version is that we started talking about something, which led to something else, which led to something else, each topic more fortuitous than the last. We made some awesome discoveries in the course of this conversation, which went on for the better part of a day total. At the very end of all of it, after every topic had been exhausted Hannah mentioned Carmen.
I was looking for clients who are like Hannah's sister Rachel. Running a business involves identifying your "ideal client". So far, Rachel is mine. Hannah said she knew someone kind of like Rachel with similar hobbies and personality. Her name was Carmen and she'd just gotten engaged. Hannah and Rachel talked, and in the end Rachel mentioned me to Carmen.
During this period of time where my business was super scary I spent tons of time in prayer asking for something (someone) to show up. I'm sorry to say I don't always dedicate much time to prayer but I REALLY did during this time. It was all I did.
Then I got an email. It was Carmen. Within the week Carmen and Paul had hired me.
These two are adventurers! They love to hike and even got engaged up on a mountain. I knew we had to do something cool for their engagement session and Carmen wanted mountains. I did some research, she did some research, and in the end I decided Fall Creek Falls was our best bet for an awesome shoot. I looked up the park and realized that traveling here would put me 4 hour away from home! I didn't really want to get a hotel room and then like a lightning bolt I remembered that my friends had planned a camping trip for that weekend. I tried to remember where they said they were going. Phone call. Where are you guys camping again? Fall Creek Falls.
Perfect. I'll see you there.
YES, that IS a butterfly to the right of the photo. Totally real - promise. How magical is that?
I love this view off the edge of the waterfall! I want to shoot in locations like this all the time. All. The. Time. Someone hire me for photos and go adventuring with me?
The second half of our shoot was quite the adventure. We knew where we wanted to end up and had rough directions for how to get there. Getting to the look out involved about a half mile hike both directions. I LOVED working with Paul and Carmen because I said "mile hike" and they said "ok". It's not every day you get clients who don't mind a sweaty walk to get their photos.
This is the happy couple and their precious dog Indi right as we set out for our hike.
After a bit of hiking we thought we had arrived at this lookout point, but then discovered we were not in the right place. We kept hiking, turning off on random trails that we thought would lead to the lookout. Only to discover after three false trails that we had been originally right the first time and needed to turn around. I promise we're not dumb, it's just honestly not that easy to tell.
So, we finally found the correct trail leading to the lookout. Getting to this point involved a wardrobe change in the woods, climbing down into the rocks then back up while holding camera gear (me), or a dog (Paul), or wearing skinny jeans (Carmen). Not your typical mountain experience. We deserve props for even attempting this.
I think the view was totally worth it.
Thanks for being willing to do all the ridiculous things I asked of you guys. I loved working with you and I can't wait to see you again for your October wedding!