Yes, it’s been awhile since I’ve shared a wedding or engagement session, so I thought I better change that TODAY!!  We shot Melissa & Tim’s engagement session this past fall at Lebanon Hills Regional Park in Eagan. Melissa grew up near here and spent time here riding her horses and knew the area well. We had never shot there before so of course we were excited to see how pretty it was!  We spent a few hours before sunset walking the paths, taking photos, and talking about good TV shows. Don’t they look like J. Crew models? I think so!

We’re looking forward to their Memorial Day weekend at the James J. Hill Library in St. Paul, one of our favorite wedding venues!

I am SO excited to share this engagement/family session with you!  For many reasons, actually. First, because Kyle, the groom, is my first cousin. Second, because their daughter, little miss Nora Megan Thering, is about as adorable as they come. Third, because we took these photos at some fun locations around in Baraboo, WI (think, Circus World Museum). And finally, because Aron, the bride, is also a photographer and planning an uber creative Off-Beat New Years Eve wedding (at which we get to do a photobooth, yay!). So you can see the combination of those reasons has me excited beyond belief for their wedding–which also happens to be on our second wedding anniversary

So, anybody who grew up in South-central Wisconsin went to Circus World Museum at least once or twice as a kid. I remember going there for school field trips and a few times with my family. What I remember most was a big scary mechanical gorilla in a cage that you could go into and get your photo taken with. Traumatic if you ask me. Since Kyle & Aron are getting married in Baraboo at the Ringling Theater, we thought starting the session at Circus World would be appropriate. 

I could not dig up any photos of me with the gorilla (maybe because I was too scared to actually do it, who knows). But I did dig up these beauties. I’m on the left and my sister is on the right. Why my poor sister got stuck in the big man cut out I don’t know, I just remember being happy that I got the pretty girl with the snake! The photos below are circa 1987 or 1988ish (I think).

And look! They still have the cut outs! We didn’t find the lady with the snake but look at the photo in the top right, they have a modern version of the big man! We also found a bunch of others and couldn’t resist putting Nora in them for photo-ops.

Then, we proceeded to do a bunch of family photos because Nora was in such a wonderful mood and her dress couldn’t have been any cuter. See?

But since this was an engagement session, we were sure to do some of Kyle & Aron alone, too…

Then we quickly switched gears because we were loosing light and wanted to head over to Devil’s Lake for some photos as well. That is where we met this handsome fella, their “other child” Weston. Freshly groomed and sporting a coordinating collar, he was ready for photos!

We tried to get a bunch of full family shots like this:

But we ended up with a lot of these:

Nevertheless, we carried on and we were on a time crunch! The sun was fading fast and we still needed to climb the hill they hiked on their first date to take some sunset photos. So we quickly took some photos of Nora and mom:

And Nora & dad:

And Kyle & Aron alone before handing Nora and Weston off to the babysitters so we could make the hike.

It took us awhile and it was a steep, sweaty hike to the top (as evidenced by Gene’o, below), but we made it just in time to catch a few colors in the sky before the light completely faded!

And since we had our lights out already, we played around and got a few dramatic night shots as well.

At the end, we were tired and sweaty but it was worth it! We climbed back down the hill (or small mountain if you ask me!), found Nora & Weston, and had our group photos taken. The end of a successful session!

If you can’t already tell, we are greatly looking forward to the Meudt-Thering wedding!!

Well, we’re all moved in (almost—we have one more load of stuff and then it’s done!) so now the fun job of unpacking. Thankfully, my parents came up for a few days to help us start he unpacking process so we have some sense of normal daily life. We still have a long ways to go but we’re taking one day at a time We plan to start blogging about our various house projects after the 4th of July. So far, we’ve just done the not-so-fun things like get a new furnace and water heater and have our ducts cleaned. Necessary, but not really blog worthy!

Now, on to the subject of this post! We met up with Becka & Bryan earlier this month for their engagement photos. They are getting married in November because they aren’t fans of the heat, which is perfect because honestly, neither are we! We started their session at Como Park because they live just minutes away and spend a lot of time there. Coincidentally, so do I (at least I did before we moved). So it was fun to spend a Sunday evening here doing photos.

Then  we headed to another of their favorite places, downtown St. Paul. They did a quick outfit change between locations and I must say, Becka & Bryan both have great style!

And lastly, we went to O’Gara’s for a few quick photos before the sun went down. This was where they shared their first kiss so we definitely wanted to get a few photos there.

Love these faces, especially Becka & Bryan’s! GB & I need a little help.

And this one is perfect!

Thanks again, B&B! We had a blast hanging out with you and can’t wait for your November wedding!

We met Janis last summer while we were photographing a wedding at Unity Church in St. Paul. She was coordinating the wedding, and asked for a card. She didn’t let on that she, in fact, was engaged herself and was on the hunt for wedding photographers! A few months later, we got the email that she and her fiancé, Johannes, would love to come in and meet with us. Fast forward several months and here we are at Minnehaha Falls photographing their engagement session!

We picked a sunny Sunday afternoon in early June to do their photos. Minnehaha Falls was the busiest I’ve ever seen it! Seriously, it was like a human version of I-94 during rush hour when we were down near the creek. And since it was a sunny day–and popular day for photo sessions, apparently–there were several photographers waiting their turns to shoot in the good light locations (which are hard to find on days like this, but we did ok!).

We are photographing their wedding at Unity Church in July, followed by their reception at the IDS Center in Minneapolis. Until then, you can enjoy some of their engagement photos below!

Ok, these next four crack me up! Janis is SO animated and I just had to share these

We had a random couple who was looking at the falls take our group shot at the end (nice change from the self-portraits that are not always flattering!). Gene’o & I thought this one was interesting due to us being dorks with the thumbs up for no apparent reason. Go figure.

On a side note, look at those pipes on Janis! I asked her how she got those rockin’ arms and she said she does her age # in push ups every morning and evening. Being a lover of simple workout plans that don’t require going to the gym, I started trying to do my age in push-ups every other morning—we’ll see how that goes! And speaking of arms, check out all of the mosquito bites on Gene’o! We shot this wedding the weekend before and got ate up!

Thanks again, J & J! We’ll see in you in July!!

Earlier this spring we traveled to my hometown of Spring Green, WI for this fun engagement session. I love it when we can incorporate a visit with the family into a trip for work! We love photographing sessions in this area because anybody who has been there can attest to the fact that it is BEAUTIFUL.  It was a little cool and windy the day we did the photos but we took warm up breaks in the car.

Jodi & Aaron live in Chicago together with their two kitties (a couple after my own heart!). They are an artistic couple—Jodi is a singer and Aaron is an Art Director. We are heading back to Spring Green next weekend to photograph their wedding, so check back for what’s sure to be some more stunning photos.

Fun fact: Jodi & I went to see the movie Arachnophobia together when we were pre-teens. (I did not remember this fact but Jodi, who clearly has a better memory than I, did. As soon as she mentioned while we were enjoying a beer together after the session I remembered, too.)

For the first part of the session, we started out around the small downtown. There are tons of places with great colors and textures–which we always love for photo backdrops.

 
Then we headed out to Jodi’s parents’ house, which is where the ceremony will take place. I LOVE the vintage purple dress that she changed into! 

We will be headed back to Spring Green this weekend to shoot their Memorial Day wedding…we couldn’t be more excited!