Who says February engagement sessions can’t be chock full of awesome?! Katelyn (Katie) and Blake were engaged in December and will be having their wedding in October in Texas. Blake is in the army and stationed in North Carolina while Katie is still living in Texas but flies in often to see him. She called me about doing their engagement pictures in Raleigh, and we discussed a couple of different options for locations. They were conflicted about two different looks: the tall, grassy field look and the bright colored background look. Usually it’s one or the other and it’s difficult to find a place to do both, but we ended up taking the nature ones at Fletcher Park and then making a short hop and skip to do the rest in downtown Raleigh.

It’s difficult to tell these were even taken in February with the lovely colors they chose to wear and the happy sunshine that followed us. :)

And before you see these, I must warn you… YES – Katie’s eyes are really that gorgeous… and YES –  They are both that ridiculously good looking. AND FUN. I just love these two!!! Also, it never gets old to have a guy tell you at the end of the session, “Wow, that was a blast! I wasn’t expecting it to be that fun!” :)

Of course, thanks to the clients for being awesome/trust, and to Geoff, for assisting and capturing some great shots as my second shooter!

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You two are so gorgeous and fun! We had a great time working with you and wish you the absolute best of luck with your wedding!

i’ve happily shot for the downtown raleigh alliance a lot this year and was very excited to document the first day of their shop downtown campaign for them (second one is on the 11th! make sure to check it out). the DRA, partnering with local businesses, brought shoppers downtown to explore the world of free parking, major discounts at the shops and boutiques downtown, christmas carolers, and free tastings from a bunch of the tasty local restaurants. i was excited to get to go inside a bunch of my favorite stores and photograph them, while geoff was happy to come along and pick up the free food. ;) here are some faves of the day (including one i got of mayor meeker shopping in stitch – BONUS POINTS!):

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sir walter raleigh says "merry christmas"

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heidi, aaron and i first met through the wonderful chelsea mills of chelsea reality group whom i met through the downtown raleigh alliance, so our relationship is kind of like six degrees of kevin bacon. :) i could tell from our consult for their wedding that they were a crazy fun couple and i was so stoked when we decided to do a downtown engagement session with them! and they were just as fun as i imagined them to be, of course, if not more. :)

they’re a downtown kind of couple, which i can totally relate to,  and aaron proposed to heidi downtown, so we spent last thursday afternoon bouncing around various locations and getting some funky city shots. their wedding is at the raleigh rose garden in april 2011, so we bounced over to the rose garden after we finished with downtown to get some shots for her mom. :) i had a ridiculously hard time narrowing down these images for the blog because they’re both gorgeous and the city was awesome and it was a super shoot, but here are some of the faves!

so without further ado, meet heidi and aaron. :)

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oh yeah, and their dogs! :) lola and waggy mae, respectively:

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after their wedding at the rose garden, their reception will be at the sheraton, where i hope to convince them to go outside for some night shots down fayetteville. :)

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it was really hard to get them to not smile or laugh, which had me smiling and laughing, which in turn made it more difficult for them to not smile or laugh. :) but we got some “serious face” shots in there anyway! :D

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the following picture was their idea because this couple was the definition of a fun couple. :)

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and, ladies and gentlemen, i present to you…the best family portrait EVER.

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thought this was cute! they’ll be married on the lawn in front of them. this is like the pre-wedding planning shot. “where will we put the chairs?” :)

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she is gorgeous and will make a totally beautiful bride. i can’t wait!

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yay!! i had a blast running around with them and am so looking forward to their wedding next year! make sure you check back for them in 2011. :) good luck with the planning, you two!