I photographed Tanya and Patrick’s engagement session the other week at Boyce Thompson Arboretum.  The location was Tanya’s suggestion, and I love this place, so I felt like we were on the same page right from the start.  Then she asks me, “is it OK if I bring our dog to the engagement session?”  Well… of course it is!!  I LOVE photographing dogs, and it’s so much fun incorporating pets during engagement shoots.  At this point, I feel like Tanya and I are sharing vibes.  Then during the session she changed into the prettiest sun dress (which is exactly my style and fav color) and at this point I’m convinced her and I could hang out over coffee and chat all day long like two friends who haven’t seen each other in ages.  I love her!  And Patrick?  Well, he’s super sweet, polite and truly compliments Tanya.  A perfect pair!

Below are some of my favorite photos from their session, but you can view lots more on their slideshow here.

Enjoy!!

When Stephanie and Stephen contacted me to photograph their wedding (coming up in May of 2012), I felt like it was Christmas and I finally got to unwrap that gift I was waiting for all year.

I already met both of them back in December of 2010 when I photographed Stephanie’s brother’s wedding.  I instantly fell in love with their family, and I was sad when the wedding was almost over because I would no longer be working with them.  But before the wedding was over, I overheard a tiny rumor that Stephen was going to ask Stephanie’s hand in marriage in the upcoming year.  A glimmer of hope!!  Maybe I’d be lucky enough to see everyone again and work with this awesome couple!  Fast forward to now… Stephanie and Stephen are engaged and I get to photograph their wedding!  Yeah!!

I met up with Stephanie and Stephen the other weekend at DC Market Place in Scottsdale for their engagement session.  I have to say, their e-session didn’t feel like a typical photo shoot to me.  Instead, I felt like I was hanging out with old friends.  These two are so easy to be around!!

Below are some of my favorites from their session, but you can view more of their engagement session on their slideshow.

Congrats Stephanie and Stephen!!  I’m truly excited for you and cannot wait for your wedding next year!!

Over the last few weeks I’ve been blogging about a get together I had with Sarah Shaw, Kathryn Crouse, and Julia Romano.  At our fun photo gathering, Sarah and Kathy brought some amazing models for us to practice on.  Now that I’m done blogging Part 1 and Part 2, I thought I’d finish up this series with Part 3.

I was lucky enough to work with Brianna and Logan last, just as the most perfect end of day light glowed in the sky.  (Brianna and Logan actually just got married and Sarah just photographed their wedding).  They were willing to come hang out with us and be our amazing models for a mock engagement shoot.  Love them!!  They are beautiful and sweet people, and I’m totally digging how their photos came out.

Hopefully, there will be more get togethers in the future.  This one was definitely fun for me!

Norma and Adam were in town from Oregon for only a short time, and they were trying to get as many wedding details taken care of before they flew back home.  One item on their agenda was squeezing in their engagement session.  And I’m so happy we were able to fit it in!  I had an awesome time at their session.  I felt like I was hanging out with friends.  Norma and Adam are so sweet, and I feel so lucky I get to photograph their wedding!

Norma spent a lot of time at the park in Old Town Scottsdale as a little girl, so she chose that part of town for their session.  I love it when folks pick places that mean something special to them.

If you’d like to see more of their engagement photos, you can view their slideshow here.   Below are just a few of my favs…

I love doing engagement sessions.  It’s a time where the couple and I get to know each other better before the wedding.  It’s a time to let loose and have fun.  It’s a time to be creative.   Yup.  I love those engagement sessions!

In no particular order, below are just a few of my favs from 2010:

Sara and Jake’s engagement session at Boyce Thompson Arboretum.

Robyn and Josh’s engagement session in Maricopa.

John and Janelle’s engagement session in Sedona.

Stephanie and Matt’s engagement session at University of Arizona in Tucson.

Karina and Alex’s engagement session in Old Town Gilbert.

Sara and John’s engagement session in Mesa.

Heather and Shane’s engagement session in Phoenix.

Nicole and Sonny’s engagement session in Old Town Glendale.

I was looking forward to Sara and Jake’s engagement session for months.  It felt like it took forever for the day to arrive…  and then it just sort of snuck up on us at the last minute!  But the day was gorgeous and I had a blast at their session.

Sara is not only beautiful on the outside, but she’s a super cute and sweet person on the inside.  I’ve known her for a while now… but the engagement session was the first time I met Jake.  And after spending time with him, I couldn’t picture Sara with anyone else but Jake.  They are such an awesomely perfect couple!

And I have to say, Sara hit a home run with the location she chose.  This was my first time at Boyce Thompson Arboretum, and it was so beautiful.  Towards the end of our session, we stumbled upon a broken down truck, run down shack, a beautiful white bridge, and some lovely fall colors on the trees.  We seriously scored!

You can see more of their engagement session here on their slideshow.  Below are some of my favs from the day.

Robyn and Josh remind me of something familiar.  They remind me of a good movie, snuggling up on a rainy day, laughing at nothing, and eating chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven… all rolled into one.   They remind me of home.  That feeling of all knowing and being completely comfortable no matter where you are.  Yeah… that’s what Robyn and Josh remind me of.   Home.

Their session was so much fun for me.  I also have to give major kudos to Robyn and Josh for all the work they did.  Robyn did an amazing job scouting the locations and picking out such awesome outfits.  And Josh was full of so many fun ideas at the session, I almost felt like all my work was done for me.  These two made it easy for me!   I really can’t wait for their wedding in May of 2011.   It’s going to be amazing!

If you’d like to see more photos in addition to the ones I posted below, you can view their slideshow here:

Sara and John kept me on my toes the entire session.  They have so much energy between them, I wasn’t quite sure I could keep up!   These two play off each other like no other couple I’ve ever met.  They are constantly laughing, joking around, being silly…  they happily fit together like two perfect peas in a pod, in their own private world made for just the two of them.  I just love these two and I had a blast taking their photographs!

I posted some pics from the session below, but you can view more on their slideshow here.

I want to also give a shout out to Cortney Staples, who did Sara’s amazing makeup (and was also a huge help at the shoot).

I’ve never been to the University of Arizona before.  Obviously, living in Phoenix I’m well aware that U of A and ASU are huge football rivals.  But I’m clearly past college age and not much of a football fan, so I never paid too much attention to the competition between the two schools.  But after visiting U of A the other week, I have to say that U of A kills ASU…  hands down the Tucson college rocks!  I’m simply basing this on the fact that I could photograph anything and anybody at U of A all day long because it is so beautiful there.  I still don’t know anything about football.

Anyway, the reason I visited the campus is because Stephanie and Matthew chose to do their engagement photos there.  Matthew graduated from U of A last year, and Stephanie is finishing her last year of nursing school there.  But the campus means more to them than just fun college memories.  It’s where they first met.  And it’s where Matthew proposed to Stephanie.

Matthew is a Lieutenant in the Army.  Stephanie also serves in the Army, and when she finishes nursing school she will continue serving as an Army nurse.  Stephanie and Matthew are impressive individuals, and as a team they are phenominal.  They already have had so many amazing experiences and are so accomplished at such a young age (if you’re in your 20′s, you’re young to me).  They are so sweet, and kind, and gracious, and polite.  I felt oddly proud of them… which took me a little off guard because that’s a little weird in some ways.  But I honestly wanted to call their parents after our photo session and say, “you must be so proud!”

They are clearly connected and in love… they fit together perfectly.  And I hope I captured some of that connection in their photo session.  Below are some of my favorites, but you can see much more in their slideshow here.   I cannot wait for their wedding in December!

I met John and Janelle in Sedona two weeks ago for their engagement session.  John and Janelle are getting married in Sedona in October, so they thought it would also be a great location for their engagement session.  I was certainly not going to argue with that!  Sedona is a very magical place and I can see why these two want to document their love there.   And for me… well…  it was awesome getting to photograph a fabulous couple in the best part of Arizona!

John and Janelle also brought along their two dogs for the engagement session.  I love it when couples incorporate their pets in their e-sessions.  It makes it so much fun!

Our session was in three places:  behind the Poco Diablo Resort, the Tlaquepaque Village, and Airport Mesa Mountain.

Below are some of my favorite photographs from the session.   You can see more photos by watching their slideshow clicking here.

I know these last two photos are almost the same… but I couldn’t decide which one I like more so I posted both versions.

Congrats Janelle and John!!  I’m looking forward to October!

I’m so behind on my blogging!!   I have a few sessions that need to get up here, so I decided to start with this awesome couple.

This is Heather and Shane.  I spent some time with them over the last few weeks, and I feel like I got to know them a little more than most people I photograph.  They are amazing people, and I had a lot of fun hanging out with them.

Heather and Shane are getting married next month after a very long courtship.  They seem to fit together perfectly… two pees in a pod.  When you spend time with them, it’s hard to imagine them being with anyone else.  And I love that!

We started our session at SRP Arizona Falls.  This is a favorite spot of Heather’s.  She said she always envisioned getting married there (but they don’t allow weddings to take place on their grounds).  So, the next best thing was to do engagement photos there.

Since they couldn’t have their wedding there, I suggested they still have their “first dance” anyway.  Shane took hold of Heather and around and around they went.  It was perfect.

Moving on to location #2….  I don’t think it had a name.  But it was another special place to Heather.  She would visit the area when she was in high school to find some peace and quite t in the middle of Phoenix.  The area has sprouted some new buildings since then, but we were still able to encorporate some of the beautiful elements that still remained in the area.

Heather and Shane love coffee.  From the sounds of it, their morning coffee tradition is one of the few quiet moments they have together during the day.  I love bringing these little details into a photo session.

We had a friend join us at the end of the session.  Can you see the turtle in this one?

Thanks Heather and Shane for asking me to do your engagement photos.  You guys are awesome!

The first time I met them, I knew…  these two are meant to be together.  They just seem to fit.  They seem to know what the other is thinking and feeling.  They seem to complete each other in a way that no one else in the world could.  Alex and Karina are most definitely “meant to be”.

I met them a few weeks ago in Old Town Gilbert for their engagement session.   Hanging out with these two is so easy…  they have a happy vibe about them that is infectious.  I truly cannot wait until their wedding in December.

When Karina changed outfits, a completely different side of her came out.  Once those amazing shoes and hot dress were on, out came Miss Fierce!  She owned the camera after that.  The girl knows how to work it!

Karina has the most INSANE cat eyes.  They are just amazing…

Towards the end of the session, we headed towards the water feature/fountain to do a few last shots.  As a joke I said, “I dare you to get it in”.  And to my huge surprise Karina says, “OK”.    Uh…  wasn’t prepared for that but when they hopped in the fountain they both scored extra super cool points with me.  TOTALLY AWESOME!!!  You guys rock!

I met Nicole and Sonny a few weeks ago to do their engagement session.  We chose Old Town Glendale for a location and we had fun walking up and down the streets lined with old homes that have been converted into little artsy stores.

Nicole is a tiny girl with a TON of spunk in her personality.  Some of you might recognize her from Nicole’s maternity photos posted on my old blog.  She’s always laughing and her spirit has so much energy and light to it.  When she looks at Sonny, her eyes sparkle and her whole face lights up.

Sonny is easy going, cool, and quietly confident.  When he looks at Nicole, a softness enters his eyes and you can see how much he loves her.

Together they compliment each other perfectly.   I just love this couple!

Nicole and Sonny wanted to include their little girl in their engagement photos.  She’s a gorgeous baby and has Nicole’s amazing blue eyes.  They are a beautiful family and watching them interact together made me so happy…  I just love a family who radiates so much love!    

I’m very excited for their wedding in April.  I can’t wait to witness their union and document their wedding day!

Sonny and Nicole – you guys are beautiful!!  Thank you for asking me to document this time in your life!