Florence, Italy Engagement Session – Casey and Alex

Engagement, Love, Stories Documented  //  11th June 2015

I will never forget the day Casey sent us an email to say she and Alex were planning a wedding in Italy! We were sitting at our kitchen table. I was busy tackling our email box and Casey’s email came in. Instead of planning a DC wedding like they had originally planned, they decided to follow their hearts and plan their dream wedding in Italy instead. My productivity officially ended at that moment! ;) Casey and I exchanged emails the rest of the day! and they were so full of !!!!!!! and ;) :) :) ;) ;) that I was just hoping she didn’t think I was crazy! ;)

Photographing a wedding in Italy has been a dream of ours for so so so long! We blogged about that dream way back in 2010! At the time that dream came into our hearts, we had absolutely no idea just how AMAZING it would be! Casey and Alex made our dreams even more magical than we ever could have imagined!

Looking back on Casey and Alex’s intimate wedding week in Italy, we honestly could not imagine it in any other way! We will be sharing their wedding photos super soon! (Honestly, we CANNOT WAIT!!! ;) They are some of our favorite photos we have ever captured!!!)

But first, their INCREDIBLE engagement session! We snuck away with Casey and Alex for a morning engagement session in Florence, Italy. With so many of their closest family and friends in town, Casey and Alex had been running around non-stop for a few days (ie. weeks ;) ) making sure everyone had the time of their lives! (Let’s be honest, they already had given everyone an excuse to travel to Italy and celebrate with them… they didn’t have to do anything else! ;) But, the sweet friends that they are and their southern hospitality roots, they were running around making sure everyone was taken care of!) It was such a treat to steal them away for a bit and give them some time to just be! To do what they love… explore a beautiful city, grab a sweet treat from their favorite Florence bakery, and soak each other in! ;)

Casey and Alex, you two make our hearts sing!!!!! Thank you for being fabulously YOU and making our dreams come true by giving us the opportunity to capture your love in ITALY! ;)

Netherlands Engagement Session – Renee and Joost

Engagement, Love, Stories Documented  //  5th June 2015

Way back in 2013, we received the sweetest email from Renee! Renee was one of my first-year residents when I was an RA at Bucknell University during my senior year (which was quite a few years ago!)… so you can imagine how excited I was to hear from her! She had been following along on our blog (which makes our hearts so excited to hear!) and she sent us a note to say hi!!! It was such a delight to hear from her! However, the best part of her email was her life update…

…As for myself, I have also made a bit of leap in the past year. After graduating from Bucknell – I started working at Merck pharma in NJ and lived in Hoboken. Although I loved living in Hoboken and getting to know NYC, after about 2 years I decided I needed to try a new adventure. So, in January I transferred to our company’s site in the Netherlands. I now live in the relatively small city of Nijmegen near the German border of the Netherlands. And what is most AMAZING about the story is that in the process, I met a dutch colleague who has now become my amazing boyfriend! I truly believe that sometimes life requires big jumps to have great things happen – very much what your life motto says! 

Ahh! I have goosebumps just re-reading that!!! It makes my heart so happy to see Renee following her heart and seeing that beautiful smile on her face! I am so beyond proud of her! She is now engaged to that “dutch colleague,” Joost! ;) And we are so incredibly honored to be able to photograph this amazing time in their lives together!!!

We met up with Renee and Joost in their sweet city of Nijmegen in The Netherlands! What a special treat! Their hospitality was incredible and it was so much fun to explore with them! We felt right at home the entire time and absolutely LOVED hanging out with them!

Renee and Joost! Thank you so much for your AMAZING hospitality and for sharing Nijmegen with us! We had a blast and could not be more happy for you and your love! Thank you for following your hearts and being such a beautiful example of living out our favorite motto: “Life is an Adventure, make it AMAZING together!”

Galena Illinois Wedding – Cathy and Jeff

Engagement, Love, Stories Documented  //  27th May 2015

I have so much to say about Cathy and Jeff’s incredibly special wedding celebration that I really do not know where to start… except for the very beginning! Way back on October 29, 2013, we received an incredibly thoughtful email from Cathy and Jeff, introducing themselves, sharing the news that they were getting married, and asking us to be their wedding photographers! I remember that email so clearly! It was the kind of the email where both Ryan and I gathered around the computer with crazy excitement reading it and re-reading it! Their hearts exploded from the computer screen and we just knew they were definitely “our couple!”

Cathy and Jeff planned an intimate wedding in their sweet small town of Galena, IL. Their closest family and friends gathered to witness them exchange vows that brought love out of everyone! The day was GORGEOUS… complete with one of the heaviest rain showers that came and went in pretty much the exact time of the ceremony! The rain could have very easily made any bride cry… but Cathy and Jeff rolled with it… as we know they will in all of the adventures of their years to come together! They definitely know how to make every day the best day of their lives!

Can I just mention how incredibly honoring and humbling it is to be asked by two professional photographers to come to their hometown and photograph their wedding day?! Goodness! They could have asked any photographer… and they chose to ask us to document this AMAZING chapter in their beautiful love story. That is such an incredible gift to us and one that we will always hold close to our hearts! It was such an honor!

Cathy and Jeff… THANK YOU. Thank you for being such a beautiful example of love. Thank you for your AMAZING hospitality in the sweetest mid-west town of Galena! And Thank you for giving us an opportunity to witness and document your fun love! Congratulations to you and we wish you a lifetime of AMAZING adventures to come! XOXO!

Cathy and Jeff put together a sweet team of wedding professionals to help make their wedding day the Best Day Ever! Huge thanks to all of you! And extra HUGE thanks to Rodney… he came to my rescue when the clouds opened up and held my umbrella for me the whole time! We are so grateful!!! ;)

Day of Coordinators: Rodney Rodriguez and Brandi Arnesdorf | Hair Stylist: Maggie Richardson | Makeup Artist: Merle Norman Cosmetics  | Florist: Garden Party Florist  | Venue: Hawk Valley Retreat & Cottages | Officiant: Misty Emmons | Caterer: Victory Cafe Catering | Bakery: Wedding Day Bakery  | DJ: The After Party | Bridal Party’s Attire: I Do Bridal | Wedding Bands: James Martin Jewelers  | Photography: Liz and Ryan

Winter Engagement Session – Sarah and Seth

Engagement, Love, Stories Documented  //  20th March 2015

When we were making plans for Sarah and Seth’s Washington DC engagement session, we had planned to stroll through their old neighborhood of DuPont Circle! However, the weather had different plans for us! A huge snow storm came through the day before and there were windchill warnings that told us we better go with Plan B. And I am pretty sure Plan B was exactly where we were suppose to be the whole time!

This cozy winter engagement session at Sarah and Seth’s home was absolutely perfect! It was so warm and comfortable… which pretty much perfectly describes Sarah and Seth too! ;) We had so much fun hanging out with them, soaking in Seth’s amazing fire-building skills (with Sarah’s help, of course), and playing in the snow in their backyard! So much fun!

We can’t wait to celebrate with Sarah and Seth in Annapolis in just a few weeks!!!

Downtown Boston Engagement Photos – Sarah and Eddie

Engagement, Love, Stories Documented  //  18th November 2014

These two! Ohh my goodness! Sarah and Eddie are so much fun! They gave us the most AMAZING tour of Boston while looking absolutely incredible! ;) We had so much fun wandering around some of the most beautiful places in Boston!

We are such huge fans of exploring cities with the locals! And so often as we stroll around a new place, we wish that we had a couple that we could photograph in the beautiful places we come across! Fortunately for us, Sarah and Eddie made that happen for us in Boston! ;)

Sarah and Eddie’s smiles and happiness glow in such an AMAZING way! My cheeks definitely hurt from smiling so much with them! Love when that happens!

Sarah and Eddie! Thank you for treating us to such a beautiful fall afternoon in Boston! We cannot wait to celebrate with you again soon!!!