Dara & Andy / Engaged

Can I just say that I am in love with how this engagement session with Dara and Andy turned out. Ohh the lighting, that setting and those two... so perfect.

When I meet with Dara and Andy to discuss ideas we came up with a "Sunday After Church Picnic" theme for our shoot and chose the "Super Dreamy Tall Wispy Grass" location. It was set. We showed up on a Sunday afternoon with bags full of, dare I say it after my last blog post, props. We had two picnic baskets, 3 vintage board games, two felt hearts, a wooden letter J, a wooden Love sign, some glass bottle cokes, and of course my trusty ole quilt. But then as we were walking across the grass, weighted down with all our props, Dara pulls a bible out of her bag. "This is the bible I am going to carry down the aisle. It was my grandmothers." It wasn't just some random felt heart that I picked up on sale at Michaels after Valentines Day. This piece told a unique and personal story. My eyes widened. And voila, our shoot began. Then something else happened. We got caught up in the experience, chasing around the glorious late afternoon light, wandering through the whimsical wispy grass, pausing in an unexpected brilliant green patch, laughing over misinterpreted art directing cues. And before we knew it the bag of props was pushed completely out of the frame. Sure we pulled out the quilt and game of scrabble (because I had a tip that these two liked games), which I thought turned out to be quite adorable. And at the end of the shoot, as the sun was just about to dip below the horizon we threw in a few pics with the wooden letters and felt hearts and such. But as I looked over the images from the session it was those moments caught in between when it was just the two of them, alone in the frame of my lens, that truly took my breath away.

Dara and Andy I loved getting to know the two of you and can't wait to be a part of continuing to tell your love story on your wedding day!











For this shoot I had my dear and lovely cousin Angie on hand as my photo assistant (not to be confused with a "prop girl"). Angie, you were fantastic! Thanks!