Five and a half years ago, Jarrett and Leanna were planning their wedding. Five and a half years ago, I was planning my wedding and preparing to move across the continent. Five and a half years ago, I met with Jarrett and Leanna over a cup of Starbucks and loved every minute of dreaming wedding dreams together.
My cross-country move meant it didn’t work out for me to photograph their backyard wedding awesomeness, but in the power of modern day social media we stayed in touch and I have watched from afar as they’ve walked life (the ups, the downs, the good, the bad) and navigated with such strength and grace five years of marriage.
When Leanna asked if I would be able to photograph anniversary photos during my trip home to North Carolina earlier this month, I almost had to say no — I had been fully booked for several months, so the only option available meant meeting at 7am. Talk about dedication: they were willing to meet me just before sunrise for a glorious, moody, dewy, brilliantly magical anniversary session.
Some of my all-time favorite images are from my last sunrise session (note to self: take more sunrise photos!) AND it rained the whole session! So does that even count as sunrise? (P.S. Just before I scheduled Leanna’s sunrise session, I put one on the books for November — ready or not, here comes more magical mornings!).
Leanna and Jarrett are exactly my kind of people: happy to sacrifice a little sleep for sake of the art, very willing to laugh and have fun even though I’m asking for them to canoodle in the wet grass at sunrise, and ridiculously hilarious as they love each other.
I wish I could remember all the lessons they’ve learned in five years (they kept me laughing while packing good truths in between locations!), but there was one that sounded something like “When [my wonderful, caring, supportive spouse] says ‘you’re right,’ I know [my wonderful, caring, supportive spouse] is lying.” (Name removed to protect the innocent. :-P)
Happy official fifth wedding anniversary, you guys! (A couple days late. :-P) May the next fifty be just as marvelous as the fifth as been.
P.S. We photographed in the same place where they held their backyard wedding five years ago. How’s that for perfect symmetry??
She stood wrapped in his strong arms, sheltered by his love, and basking in the tranquility of his strength. Telling the story of their meeting was no easy task. Not that its a hard story to tell, but they kept interrupting each other to tell yet another fun fact or to tease about yet another…
David looked at me incredulously. It was like he couldn’t believe I’d even ask such a thing. So I repeated my question: “Why are you marrying her? I mean, how do you love her?” He looked down at his girl (she is, after all, a perfect half-a-head shorter than he is) and smiled. He smiled…
Cultus Lake Engagement Photos are my new favorite. While I’m pretty sure I say that about every new location (like Belcarra Park, Pitt Lake, Golden Ears) but every time it’s wholly true: I love my little Fraser Valley piece of earth and am so enamored by the wide variety of beauty it offers, especially when the…
For Betty-Ann and Mitch’s Abbotsford engagement photos, we explored one of my favoritest parks (there’s SO MANY!) and walked the Douglas Taylor Park trail exploring and photographing and laughing (though, admittedly, the jury is still out: were they laughing with me or at me?). The highlight, though, came near the end of our time…
He cared. O yes, he cared. He cared when she walked onto the grass; he held her hand to help her balance in those fabulous heels. He cared when a bug started buzzing around her; he swatted it away. He cared when she was updating her hair style; he took an iPhone picture of…
In case you didn’t know this about me: I LOVE SNOW! So when Stephanie and Liam expressed a desire to include snow in their Chilliwack Engagement Photos, I scoured the webcams until I found an easily accessible snowcape up Chilliwack Lake Road. Snow HAD to happen. =D We hopped into Liam’s truck, hit an off-road…
