They were getting ready to go to Italy when he sat her down and told her the proposal wasn’t going to happen on their vacation because he couldn’t get the ring done in time. “We went all week in Italy, having an amazing time and I never even thought about it because he had told me he didn’t want me waiting all of our vacation for an engagement that wasn’t going to happen [there] and we just needed to enjoy the trip,” Jessica says.

“The place I wanted to go in Italy was the Amalfi Coast. While we were at the Amalfi Coast, we took a walk up a hill that overlooked an amazing view. Chase asked me if I wanted one of those ‘Instagramable pictures’ with the pretty background and I joked, ‘Duh, I love pictures of myself.’ So I turned around and he posed me, told me where to place my hands, said he was waiting for the wind to blow my hair the right direction, and fixed my jacket. I was just taking it all in when he said he finally got it and I turned around he was down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I, like the child I am, jumped up and down in excitement and said yes. We celebrated at a local outdoor restaurant up the street a little bit with champagne!”

Jessica and Chase met back in 2009 and one of their first official dates was a concert at the Iowa State Fair. When he asked her out that night, she actually initially said no. “I thought we didn’t need a label; it was just going to be a summer fling. Whoops.” But that very same weekend, she realized he was the one. “We were supposed to go to his grandparent’s home in Missouri and I thought we should still go. We went and had a great time, however, I got a kidney stone and he had to take me to the emergency room. On the way there, I kept screaming in pain and he looked at me and said, ‘You probably have a kidney stone and if you puke from pain it’s okay.’ I claimed I wouldn’t do that, but within seconds, I threw up all over his new car.

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Neither of them can remember first meeting and this is a sweet result of growing up in the same school. They have just always known each other. Their first date was basically accidental. Greg was at his parent’s house and sent out a Snapchat inviting some people over to go four wheeling, not thinking anyone would actually come. But Natalie showed up. “I remember just having an attitude of ‘oh cool, I’m going over to my friend’s house and it might be weird but it might be really fun.’ It turned out to be really fun,” Natalie said.

Fast forward four years and Greg was setting up for his proposal. “I set it all up before I left to go to Texas for racing. On my [side-by-side vehicle], I have all of my sponsors, including now Hands Jewelers, the place that I had bought the ring at. We had our families get together for a good luck party,” Greg said.

“Before dinner,” Natalie added, “He asked if we could all go to the shed and get a picture with the SxS before it was all dirty and/or broken. I walked in and noticed a sponsor sticker that said ‘Hands Jewelers’. As I was acknowledging how cool it was that they had sponsored Greg, I slowly felt everyone’s eyes turn toward me. I heard my name called out and there was Greg on one knee with tears in his eyes asking me to be his partner for life. I ugly cried and said yes!”

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It was just a few weeks after they first met that they went on their first date. “It was beautiful, sunny day,” Bryn said. “It was one of those spring days that felt like the beginning of summer. We had been trying to find a time to meet at night, but me schedule was crazy with law school finals coming up and family events. Since we couldn’t find a weekend night that would work, we decided to meet up on a Saturday morning at a coffee shop instead. The date lasted over three hours, and I don’t think either of us wanted it to end! It was easily the best first date of my life.”

Jonathon said he knew Bryn was the one “when she first met my family. My nieces and nephews absolutely loved her and she was amazing with them. That was huge to me as they are an important part of my life. As well, my family immediately fell in love with her. So much so that sometimes I wondered if they actually like her more than me.”

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I actually do not know how Kailee and I first met, but I do know that somewhere along the way, I hired her to do my hair for my wedding ten plus years ago when she was still in cosmetology school and we’ve been friends ever since. (And I still to this day wouldn’t change a thing about my wedding day hair! It was perfection!) In the span of time since then, both of us have had babies and started businesses, me with photography and her with her own salon & spa!

So, just to bring everything full circle, we now get to work together since her and the Eden team do a lot of hair and makeup for my brides and bridesmaids! Anddddd she also cuts my hair so, you know, we have a lot of mutual respect and support.

I was so excited to be able to photograph her beautiful family, but was not even halfway prepared for the location they chose. Isn’t this the most gorgeous spot?! (It’s the family land of one of the massage therapists at the spa!) We had a lot of spaces to choose from and we kept it pretty simple because I know how quickly I have to work when I’m photographing kids and I absolutely love what we ended up with!! For what it’s worth, these girls were so incredibly well-behaved and sweet! Look at these adorable smiles! I love that we could bottle up this space in time for this family because we all know babies grow up.

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I‘m so thrilled to offer online galleries for my clients! If you’re unfamiliar with Pass Plus, the gallery system I use, it is the #1 sharing solution for photographers and has been leading the photo industry for the past several years with its technology and ease of use. (For first time users, this post will show you how to use it!) I truly believe this is the safest, easiest, and quickest way to get images to my clients. I’ve been using online galleries since 2012 and absolutely couldn’t be happier with the seamless integration with social media and on-the-go mobile devices. Who doesn’t want to have access to their photos from their phone? Exactly.

Your photo gallery is designed to be very user friendly, but I wouldn’t want you to miss out on any of the benefits!

After your engagement session with me and after your wedding when your photos are completed, you’ll receive an email from me with your gallery link. This gallery is for you to use both for your own viewing and also to show off your images to your friends and family. You may print images through your gallery, download, and save your favorites into your own folder for easy-access later on!

Here’s a gallery of some real clients and instructions on how to make the most of your own gallery.

Opening Your Gallery

To open your gallery, simply click on the link that I’ve noted in the email I sent you. On a computer, your welcome screen will look something like this:

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All weddings have themes of some kind, a core design or color palette that decisions are bounced off of to see what sticks and what doesn’t quite go. So when two people who love all things Disney, even getting engaged at Disney World and taking a Disney honeymoon cruise in a few weeks, start to plan their wedding, the design board is immediately structured upon the perfect fairytale wedding, less Mickey Mouse and more “happily ever after”.

What I love about how their wedding turned out was that it was completely the dreamy fairytale they wanted while also staying true to exactly who they are as individuals and a couple, pulling many personal touches into the design. Ted is an artist and when Shannon told me the best gift she’s ever been given was a large pencil portrait of Walt Disney and her favorite Disney character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, that Ted drew for her for Christmas a few years ago–“It was so thoughtful and perfect, I cried when I saw it. The drawing has been hung up since and we get to look at it every day.”–I asked if she’d be willing to bring a copy of it to the wedding for me to use somehow in the detail photos.

Ted also pulled off the biggest (literally) reception welcome by making a 7-foot-tall hand painted storybook, the perfect custom “once upon a time” nod to welcome their guests to the party. Their cake was so magical it can really can’t be described, a true centerpiece that looked like it came straight from the forest and was decorated by magical little singing elves and woodland creatures with a great sense of style and frosting abilities. And all of that–and the dance floor–was under a sparkling chandelier.

Their wedding rings atop the pencil portrait Ted drew for Shannon.

In high school, she got a part-time job at Fareway, a grocery store. He was working there full-time, on the path to becoming a store manager. They became quick friends and ended up working a lot of shifts together. One Saturday morning in November, she walked back to clock in to start her shift and she saw Ted dropping off an invoice near the time clock. She told him good morning, clocked in, then asked him what he was doing that night. He said he didn’t have anything planned so she asked if he wanted to go out to eat pizza with her family. He had a big grin on his face as he replied, “Yes!” Later that day, he drove over to her apartment and they went to her parent’s home. From there, they drove to meet her aunt, uncle, and cousins for dinner. “He was meeting the whole family on our first date,” she recalls. “He fit right in and those two little boys [cousins] wanted to draw with Ted the whole night.”

It was the first date, that family pizza dinner, that solidified everything for Shannon. “I remember Ted leaving my apartment that night and I couldn’t wait to see him again. The way he was with my family and how well he interacted with everyone melted my heart. We had been friends for a while before our first date and so we new a lot about each other and enjoyed every minute we were together. The Monday after that first date, one of my friends texted me and asked how it went. I told her, ‘I think I found my soul mate.’ I still can’t believe how accurate that statement is.”

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