I'm so excited to be starting a new section on my blog! I've been wanting for a really long time to offer informational posts to help clients. I've had many clients ask me for styling help, vendor help, location suggestions, etc., and now I finally get the chance to put my knowledge together and put it all out into the blog-o-sphere. Today's entry? Engagement session tips and tricks! I absolutely adore engagement sessions, they are fun, can be super unique, and a great way for me to get to know my couples. Usually my couples aren't use to having a camera following them around, so this gets them comfortable with the process and makes the wedding day photos that much better. The best part of it all is that I offer these session as complimentary in all of my wedding collections. There is really no downside at all, haha! Today I want to share a few things I love about engagements and some tips on getting the most from these sessions. Have fun! Easy, right? The first thing I tell my couples when we are starting out is to get close together and to tell jokes to one another. Pretend you aren't in the middle of the city or the park with a camera next to you :P. If you want to make silly faces, go for it! I love the goofiness and I will often be laughing with you two. The reactions that come from being silly are the...

The first snow of the season was taken full advantage of for Lisa and Michael's engagement session! I was so excited for this session. Every time the weather called for snow I would instantly get ready to email Lisa, but unfortunately, Maryland likes to play tricks and change the forecast at the last second :P. Finally, the snow fell and I had the best time photographing this adorable couple! Looking at these two, you can see how well they fit together. They are perfect for one another with Michael being really silly and Lisa always encouraging him with reminders of how much she loves him. They are a couple that you just want to be friends with. Their engagement story from Lisa is so sweet: "We were walking down by the water in Fells Point. Michael stops and pulls me in close and says, 'Isn't this the spot where I asked you to be my girlfriend?' Me, not understanding what was going on, I start questioning him saying that I think we were a little further down the street when it happened. He said, 'No, I think it was right here and this is where I'm going to ask you to be my wife.' Then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him :)" I cannot wait to photograph their wedding this May. It's definitely going to be warmer (haha) and filled with an amazing amount of love.   Okay, models. Seriously...

I met with April and Corey in October to go over some of the details of their August wedding. In just one meeting I could tell that they were one of the loveliest couples I've had the pleasure of meeting. They had a few places planned out for a shoot, and the two that we decided to go to were Federal Hill and Patterson Park. I had shot at Federal Hill a couple times, but I hadn't ever had a session at Patterson Park, so I was pretty thrilled. We started just before sunrise at Federal Hill and this was the morning to be out in Baltimore. The clouds were amazing, and it stayed dark long enough that the lights of the city lit up the background. Don't even get me started about the color of the sky: it was perfect! Since we were out so early, there was barely any traffic and no crowds, so we had the location to ourselves. We stayed at Federal Hill for about an hour and took full advantage of the city overlook and the beautiful fall colored trees. Our next location was Patterson Park, which was easy to get to at 7:30 am. This park was wonderful for a morning session. The only people that were out were joggers and dog walkers - people that speed out of frame quickly and people with adorable puppies. April had looked up some facts about the park, so as we walked she talked about some...

At the end of August I had the great pleasure of photographing Jillian and Jack's wedding. It was such an amazing day with this beautiful couple, and I am so happy that I got to capture these special moments for them. These two truly compliment each other so well, and one of the sweetest moments was when Jack saw Jillian coming down the aisle. Seeing his eyes well up with tears and excitement took this wedding to a totally different level. There was not a dry eye in the church when these two were announced as husband and wife. Even nature decided to shed some happy tears! There were a ton of precious moments during this wedding, especially during Jillian's dad's speech to the newlyweds, which I couldn't help but tear up. The amount of love that was incorporated into this day was one of the most beautiful things I have seen and I am so excited to be sharing some of these special memories! Jillian and Jack, I'm so happy that I was able to be apart of your special day. Your love is an amazing thing and I know you guys are going to have a wonderful life together! :D   ______________________________________________________________________________ Watching Jack and the rest of the guys cross the street with my second shooter (and husband) Shawn! Commencing the pocket square challenge While the guys came back to the hotel and hid, Jillian had her amazing first look with her dad :'D. Then the...