So rain.  It gets a bad rep.  I had been feverishly checking the weather all day before we met up with Maria and Kavin in Downtown Nashville for their engagement session.  Cloudy, cloudy, blah blah – not a word about rain.  Approximately 5 minutes into their shoot it starts to rain.  And you know what?  These two worked it out!!  Seriously, the rain turned from something that is normally a nuisance into a romantic backdrop for their love story.  Here are some of my favorites – for more be sure to view their slideshow here or here.

Maria and Kavin – Thank you guys for being so much fun and taming the rain.  You guys are awesome!!

Maria, you are stunning!!

One of my new favorite engagement photos ever!  Hotness!

By the way, have you noticed how AMAZING Maria’s purple dress looks with everything??  Brides-to-be take note.  A jewel tone for your e-pics can be great!

And we wrapped things up at the riverfront where Kavin and Maria had their first date – awwww!!!

Last weekend John and I had the good fortune of taking Jessica and Josh’s engagement photos.  They were looking for something a little more on the traditional side so we decided to do their photos at Ellington Agricultural Center in south Nashville.  We were blessed with some amazing light and that combined with Jessica and Josh’s fantastic chemistry made for some gorgeous photos!  Below are some of my favorites.  Be sure to view their slideshow for more here or here.

Jessica and Josh – thanks for being so fabulous!  We can’t wait for your wedding!!

I’ve been meaning to post about our trip for ages now!  The day after we photographed Frances and Jeoffrey’s wedding John and I packed up the car and drove down to Amelia Island, Florida to celebrate our 4th anniversary.  We had never been to the Atlantic side of Florida and hadn’t heard the best things about the beach there however I am happy to report that we were pleasantly surprised.  I am NOT happy to report that I was sick most of the time we were there, but as I said before sick on a beach is infinitely better than well not on a beach so I won’t complain.  We spent most of our time alternating between under the sun and under an umbrella on the beach so I didn’t take a ton of photos but I will share what I did take

The first day we were there we literally threw down our bags, put on our swim gear and ran down to the beach so I didn’t take a single photo until after dark.  This was the view from our balcony that night.  Ahhhhh, I want to go back!!

The next day we stayed on the beach alllllll day.  This resulted in two things: #1 no photos and #2 the need to spend the following day out of the sun hence our impromptu trip down to St Augustine.

I was feeling pretty bad that day so I didn’t take too many photos but the city was really pretty.  Maybe we’ll go back one day when I’m feeling more like myself

Flagler College was my favorite part.

See the face in the tile?  I think they said that is Henry Flagler.

These were on the doors of a church near the college.

Castillo de San Marcos aka the Fort.

And the real reason that John was so eager to drive down to St. Augustine….The World Golf Hall of Fame.  Ehhh, marriage is all about compromise right?  At least it had AC.

And shopping in the pro shop.

At sunrise the next day John got up to go golfing.  I got up to take this photo and then promptly returned to bed

And when I finally rolled out of bed the beach looked more like this:

John was a big fan of the hole right below our balcony.  I kept wanting to yell “GET IN THE HOLE” at the unsuspecting players but John wouldn’t let me.  Party pooper.

I didn’t take pics of the actual resort but it was beautiful.  Most of it was shaded by big trees and Spanish moss.

When John returned from golfing he brought me a rose and a cupcake.  Awwww!  The cupcake did not last long enough for me to take a photo of it, but here’s the rose.

After a little bit more lazing around on the beach we got ready and went to dinner for our anniversary.  The traditional anniversary self-portrait:

Thanks to a pre-dinner google search we went to Luigi’s Trattoria for dinner.

Luigi’s was incredible.  The atmosphere was perfect, the service was wonderful, and the food was the most authentic I’ve had since I was in Italy.  Our trip to Luigi’s was one of the highlights of our trip.  Warning – food porn ahead!!

(I didn’t eat the broccoli – if you’re a food-no-toucher like me take note to ask for that on it’s own plate)

They gave us dessert for free because it was our anniversary!  I can’t remember what this was called…it wasn’t tiramasu….it was some kind of cake.  I don’t know, bottom line is it was delicious.

And what’s a celebration without a little bubbly?

Gorgeous sunset that evening.

And the next day we drove back home to reality.  Boo.  Here’s to next year!!

So Amanda and Ben are awesome.  We hit it right off when we met to talk about booking and I’ve been looking forward to seeing them again for months.  Amanda is gorgeous and it is more than obvious that Ben adores her – a rare thing for a couple who has already been together for over 10 years!  That’s right these two have been together for over a decade already and still have so much chemistry that it is just oozing out of these pics.  I am SO excited for their wedding next month!!

Below are a few of my favorites – for more be sure to view their slideshow here or here.

Ben is a drummer

Favorite!

Such a beautiful couple!

This is absolutely one of my favorite “prop” shots ever!  The photo they are holding is the first one ever taken of them together 10+ years ago.  Awwww!!!

Mandy and Ben – thanks again for being so much fun!  See you in September!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted – shooting, editing, vacation, editing…let’s just say I’ve been busy  And it’s t-minus 1 hour until my birthday and I don’t know about you, but it seems like birthday week is always fun but busy.  I’ll do a personal catch up post next week but for now I’m SO excited to share with you the wedding of Frances and Jeoffrey.  Not only are they an amazing, fun, HOT couple, but Frances and I have been friends since high school.  I can’t even begin to tell you how much it means to me to be able to photograph a friend marrying their soul mate.  Jeoffrey, you got a good one!  Sending lots of love to you both!!

Be sure to view their slideshow here or here.

Location: Mt. Zion and the Inspiration Center

Dress: White House Black Market

Shoes: Stuart Weitzman