Girl chooses Maid of Honor

Girl moves to new city.
Girl has no friends.
Girl starts a new school.
Girl makes a friend.
Girl asks friend to be maid of honor.

We moved to a small town in Southern Oregon in the middle of my freshman year of high school. And suddenly we were in a whole new place, a whole new school, a whole new church... and I had no friends.

I slowly began making friends, but I had yet to really "click" with anyone. I had places to go and things to do and people to spend time with but I didn't have a best friend.

Then one day, Davene walked into our church. I didn't like her at first, because she seemed to be awfully close to the boy I liked at the time (oh high school)... but soon enough I found out that that boy was her cousin and she was pretty fantastic. Not long after that, she and her mom and sister moved into the house down the street... only a few houses away from me. We became inseparable. Every night we were at her house or my house... together.

The summer before my junior year of high school, I moved again. This time to Southern California... more than 14 hours away from Davene. I was devastated. I didn't want to leave my best friend. In the years that followed, we both had ups and downs.
New friends...
Broken hearts...
Drama...
Family struggles...
But in the midst of it all, Davene was always just a phone call away.

Over years and miles, she has remained my best friend. So many years later, and so many miles away, she is still only a phone call away. I am THRILLED to stand beside her on her wedding day next August, and just as thrilled that she'll be my maid of honor on my wedding day next November :)




Me and Davene with her baby boy!

Boy chooses Best Man

Boy has a cousin.
Boy and cousin make a deal.
Boy proposes to Girl.
Girl says yes.
Boy asks cousin to be best man.

J is Cuban.
His family came here from Cuba... together. And they have stayed close, not only physically (almost all of them live in the same neighborhood) but also as a family. They spend lots of time together and really are good friends. J's oldest cousin, Danny, has been his best friend since they were young. They're only a year apart, and living so close allowed them to grow up together.

When they were young, they became blood brothers (ew) and made a pact that they'd be each other's best man. Many years ago J stood beside Danny as his best man. And in a few months, Danny will stand beside J.

For some people, choosing a wedding party is hard. Either they have too many friends... or not enough. For others, it's easy.
For J, it was simple.
Literally a 5 minute conversation.
He knew he wanted his family...
He wanted people that not only would stand beside him on that day...
But that had already stood beside him throughout his life...
And would continue to do so long after we are married.

Can I just say how much I love this picture? I found it on Danny's facebook page. It's old... I can tell by J's facial hair... but I love it! I think it's fantastic. (J is on the left, Danny is on the right)

Boy and Girl take engagement pictures (part 1)

Boy proposes to Girl.
Girl says Yes.
Boy gets orders.
Girl wants pictures.

I became a photographer because I love pictures.
I have always been that girl with 10 million photos strewn around my room and hung on the wall in various frames; the girl who carries around her camera, says "PHOTO OP!" at every possible moment and snaps away.

So it is only natural that as J and I have dated and done fun things, there are always pictures. J on the other hand has never been the one to jump at the chance for a photo. But he has very quickly adjusted to my love of all things photo.

When I found out we had two weeks together before he deployed, I knew I wanted to try to take our engagement pictures during that time. I knew that we'd be getting married shortly after J got back, and I knew I'd be doing a lot of the planning while I was gone, so I wanted to be sure that I had photos to use as well.

So I asked my WONDERFULLY talented friend Jordana of Hazelnut Photography to do some photos for us. She was so amazing and flexible and worked with us and produced some AWESOME pictures! Like I am seriously soooo thrilled! As a photographer, choosing a photographer is a huge decision. Maybe one of the biggest. I knew I wanted Jordana to shoot some photos for us because I've seen her work and it's gorgeous. But I've also shot with her and I know HOW she works. And I love it. There is so much to a photographer other than just their images. The reason that photographers get the pictures they get is not only great talent and great tools, it is also the ability to interact and direct clients. When you are choosing a photographer... think about the whole experience... not just the finished product.

The other thing that I think is so important is to plan for your engagement session. That doesn't have to mean you have to have a theme and props (although those can really add a lot!) but think through what you are going to wear, how it will photograph. Think about little things that are special to the two of you. For our shoot, I knew right away that we wanted to incorporate one of J's motorcycles. It's something that is unique and something that we love to do together. I also knew that I didn't want us to be too matchy matchy, and I wanted something that would look like what we wear on a regular basis. It was also important to me that our clothes added to the photos but weren't the focus of them. Here are a few of my favorites from the motorcycle portion of our session.



















We did some special photos that were styled by the wonderful Carter and Cook Event Co, but I can't share those quite yet, but I promise you'll see them soon :)

Thanks to all the amazing people who made this shoot possible. It's so much fun to collaborate! Especially when it's with friends!