We love engagement sessions for so many reasons… You are only engaged for a short time, experiencing a new part of your relationship, and sharing in planning the biggest day of your lives. But we also believe it is so useful; we get to know our clients better, meet in person (typically for the first time), and also educate our clients in our photography style, which will help them on the wedding day. But what we love most about engagement sessions is we get to really understand who our clients are, what they love, and hear about their amazing lives.

We were in Northern Virginia, visiting some friends for the day before a scheduled engagement session with one of our fall weddings this year. The whole day was overcast, and when I say overcast, what I mean is one GIANT white sheet of cloud. It was almost fog-like, it was that thick! But that didn’t change our plans with Sam and Richard. We were meeting at their wedding venue, The Retreat at Eastwood, which we had never been to before. Eastwood was hosting an event that night too, but they still let us walk around the grounds and photograph these two.. the place is HUGE.

You might have seen our facebook post about Sam and Richard, but it’s definitely worth mentioning again, because we couldn’t contain our excitement from the very beginning of their session! Sam had this stunning smile, a natural reaction to her feeling a little awkward (Which we tell all our clients that they will feel like, at least for the first few minutes) from not really having her photo taken professionally before. It’s not common to have two people running around you with giant cameras, giving direction, as you are sharing a moment with your future spouse. But her reaction… it was amazing! A photographers dream… And then Richard couldn’t help but smile back. And as they got more comfortable in front of us, the smiles just kept coming.

We spent most of the session with these two before we added a friend into the mix! Sam emailed us a few days before asking if they could bring their lab to the venue, would we be up for a few photos, and we were so hoping the venue would allow them to bring him! We have had dogs in a few of our photos in the past, and we always recommend having a friend or family member be in charge of them, and bring them by at the end of the engagement session. Luckily, the venue agreed, and this beautiful pup sat with Sam and Richard for a few at the very end. He didn’t take his eyes off the stick that I was holding behind Laura’s head!

Congrats Sam & Richard, You guys were so much fun to photograph!  We hope you love these photos, and we can’t wait for your wedding day in the fall!