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!