Caley + Josh: Engagement

We met with Caley and Josh just after the holidays for their engagement session. They love dogs--especially the ones they own--so naturally, we started out with including their dogs for a few...




It was windy and cold in this little stand of trees, but Caley and Josh were good at staying close and keeping each other warm for the few mintues we were there. We think it paid off... we really like how these next few turned out.












Another favorite...




There was really wonderful end-of-day light here, at the beautiful house of a family Caley knows.




For the last few, we raced the sun down to a small church south of town for the last moments of the day. Caley and Josh mentioned they love "tree pictures," and we won't ever complain about that!


It was a pleasure spending time with Caley and Josh, talking about books, dogs, mutual friends, and everything in between. That's one of the reasons we enjoy engagement sessions so much: we get to spend a good stretch of non-wedding-day time getting to know our couples more before we share in and document the intricacies of their wedding day.

Caley and Josh are planning a outdoor evening wedding in June that will surely be beautiful (and about 50 degrees warmer than their engagement session!), so look for their wedding pictures coming up in a few months!

We'll have Beth and Ben's wedding posts coming up soon!

Caley + Josh: Sneak Peek

Sorry we've been missing from our blog for a while. So much less than you plan actually gets done around the holidays! We'll be around more now that we have some sort of a routine again.

We headed out into the cold with Caley and Josh a few days after Christmas, and wanted to share these few while we work on finishing the rest...





More coming soon!

Katie + Philip: Engagement

We had never met Katie and Philip before their engagement session a few weeks ago, so we decided to meet for lunch before getting out the cameras. We really enjoyed getting to know them then, over Panera soup and bread-bowls, and over the course of the afternoon. We started at the church they'll be getting married, in the chapel where Philip proposed, and then moved on to downtown Rockford, along the river. The cold wind, blowing snow, and beautiful winter sunset were a perfect backdrop to capture the joy and care they give one another!



I can nearly guarantee you'll see pictures at this spot from their wedding, too. It was great for pictures! It's a man-made cave in a hill on the grounds of their church that had great light and atmosphere. We'll definitely look to make the short jaunt up to it once again come May.




Really like the light in this one, in the cave entrance...




On to Rockford, by the river.


A favorite, for sure.






Shooting through a Christmas tree with lights on it.




Leandra and I really like a Walt Whitman poem called "Song of the Open Road" because of this quote (which we actually ended up including in our wedding program!):

"I give you my hand!
I give you my love, more precious than money,
I give you myself, before preaching or law;
Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?"

We liked the poem because of the deep devotion it describes; that we should, could, and would stay devotedly at each others' sides throughout our entire lives (and it's also about travelling!). This next picture isn't anything technically fancy, but it captures that same determined devotion, I think...




Katie and Philip, you were both a joy to work with and get to know more! We're so glad you braved the cold with us.

Happy Christmas Eve, everyone!

Jill + Jeff: Engagement

Typically when we have a Grand Rapids area wedding we shoot the engagement session nearby. When we first met with Jillian and Jeff a few months ago over coffee though, they joked about how much they love Notre Dame, and how that's where they would *really* love to have their pictures taken. At that point, Grant and I just smiled because, well, our families live about half an hour from ND, so we knew we could make it work! The four of us met up on campus over Thanksgiving weekend and squeezed in their session between a visit to the campus bookstore and their trip back home to watch the ND football game later that evening.





We think this is Jeff's "I'm-marrying-my-best-friend-and-I-like-it" face.




A favorite, for sure.














Up next: Katie and Philip!

Katie + Philip: Sneak Peek

Katie and Philip braved the cold and snow with us a few weeks ago. Here are a few that caught our eye while we were going through them...



This might be a favorite from the whole season. We LOVE it.


More soon!

Jill + Jeff: Sneak Peek

It might not be apparent where we met Jill and Jeff for their engagement session a few Saturdays ago from this picture...


...but it should be from this one! Jill and Jeff are another couple that also happen to be die-hard Notre Dame fans (so of course, we had to have a few with the golden dome in it!).


Abbey and TJ's post is *still* on the way, so we decided to sneak a few sneak peeks in before it's ready. Tomorrow we'll have two posts: Katie and Philip's engagement session sneak peek and Abbey and TJ's full wedding post. Thanks for your patience!