MITCH & ANNA, FULL BLOG POST {ENGAGEMENT & PORTRAIT SESSION}

Mitch & Anna's photos edited. Check. Boom boom pow!
You are probably wondering why I have their photos under an engagement session & a portrait session? Well, let me esplain (you must say that in a Mexican accent).
Mitch & Anna have been married for 2 years (but don't quote me on that). The only professional photos they have had taken of themselves together as a couple were their wedding pictures. So when they knew Mitch was leaving for boot camp shortly they decided to do get some pictures taken of them together. So they contacted Caitlyn {hiiii} and she then contacted me and a couple of her other friends and wanted to know if we wanted to shoot them all together.
Um, yes. Yes I do. So that's why these are like 2yearengagementphotos/aportrait session. Saaavy? Savy! {In case you can't tell I am highly looking forward to Pirates of the Carribean 4 coming out NEXT MONTH}.



There really is nothing like spring colors. The bright green grass. The bright blue shirt. The pretty white dress. They all make me think {springgg}.



The picture above this text I am writing and the picture below are my two favorites in this post. I loooooooove happy-in-love-smiley couples!



I had a wonderful time with you two, thanks for the fun afternoon! Many many blessings especially as you start a new adventure in your life together.
p.s. I get off work early today, {woooooo} and Good Friday Service tonight. Tomorrow and Sunday? CHICAGO. Cubs Game. Yes, this shall be a good Easter weekend!
Happy Easter!

Mitch & Anna, Sneak Peek {ENGAGEMENT & PORTRAIT SESSION}

All at once everything looks different...now that I see you....
-i see the light, tangled {yes, i just used disney lyrics}.
Wow. This had to be one of my favorite sessions. My friend asked me if I wanted to be one of four photographers that were going to be shooting this couple. Mitch was heading off to boot camp and they wanted some pictures before he took off. Um, yes I want to come shoot this couple {Caitlyn, hi!}. And they were so fun. So crazy. So energetic. I'll post the rest once I finish editing them but I wanted to get these up!

Thank you Mitch & Anna for the opportunity to capture your lives together for a little bit, many blessings!

Engagement Session {Andrew+Mikala, Part 2}

Andrew & Mikala's Engagment Session part 2. I'm going to step back and not rattle my mouth off about them, but have Andrew tell you why he loves this brown-eyed girl Mikala.

"When I first met Mikala I did think she was young (I was 19, she was 16), however I could see she was cute and I was very impressed by her desire for God, her wisdom, her ability to play sports and be athletic, and by her contagious joyful personality.

We got to know each other better during that summer and were drawn to each other more.

Mikala and I had both gone to camp that summer not to find a boyfriend/girlfriend but to focus on God and grow in Him, and that is something that definitely happened, but neither of us really expected God to use the other person as part of his plan to draw us closer to Him.
I left that summer knowing I'd miss her but thinking we would both go to our separate states and continue on life. That was apparently not in God's amazing plans for us. We never stopped talking, sharing, and learning about each other.
So then we started writing letters to deepen our relationship and learn even more about each other, and as the story follows, we went to her prom, worked at camp again, started dating, and now are engaged with our wedding coming up in just over 200 days.
Looking at our time together and at how we are now, I don't really know how to express what I feel. God has been shaping me greatly in these past 2 years and 5months, and it has been a very interesting road. This path has been filled with laughter, joy, happiness, fun, excitement, and smiling so much my face hurts! There are also moments of peace, times of prayer, learning about God and each other, quiet times of exhaustion, and times of stillness, as well as times of pain, frustration, anger, miscommunication, harsh discussion, and tears.Yet now, I look into the deep brown eyes of this young woman who will soon be wife, and I feel happy tears because I know that God has used her to bring me closer to Him. What I see in those eyes, is all the love, joy, trust, respect, that has resulted from the experiences we have gone through together.I know that this woman whose hands I hold is the one I want to commit to loving for the rest of my life, because she has poured her love out to me, and she has entranced me with her actions and kindness despite all of my failings and hurtful things I have done.I realize now, how blessed I am to call this gorgeous woman of God my best friend, lover, sister-in-Christ, future wife, and future mother of our children. I love you Mikala Diane ...(would say Tomash, but it won't be Tomash for long!)"

Thanks so much Andrew & Mikala for letting me do your engagment photos. I pray that God blesses you together as a married couple!

Engagement Session {Andrew+Mikala, Part 1}

My first engagement session ever. I was pretty nervous. To boot it had been raining that entire week. But that Sunday God held back the rain and we had beautiful weather for almost November. And the trees couldn't have been prettier. I could sit here and type away about Andrew and Mikala....like how he won't let her get out of the car on her own.....he opens the door for her every time. Or how he asked me to do their engagement pictures as a birthday present for her because it would make her happy.
But I'm going to let Mikala tell you whey she loves Andrew.

"My first impression of Andrew was that he was pretty quiet, very mature, and had a desire for God that I had never seen in any other young man before.

I had made a list of the qualities I thought I needed and wanted in my future husband, and he matched up with them pretty much perfectly! Even his physical appearance had qualities that I hoped to see in my future man. (And these lists were from when I was like 13.)

And to this day he has strongly held up to my first impression, with quite a bit added on to that impression!

I was first attracted to his smile and his skill at ultimate frisbee. He is good at all sports; has done football, track, soccer, and basketball; and is willing to try anything pretty much. So of course I loooove that quality! Especially since I like being outdoors a lot, and he does too.

Of course at camp I had the opportunity to see Andrew as a counselor to kids, and one of my requirements is that my husband is great with kids! And with 20 nieces and nephews I should hope he's good with kids, and will make an excellent father!

I absolutely love his smile and laugh, and when he makes me laugh, I just can't stop and I'm extremely happy for weeks afterward! He is a very kind person, sensitive to how people around him are feeling. I also look up to him because of his strong beliefs coming from God's Word, which makes him the godly leader I desire.

I chose to love Andrew because of those qualities, and because he helps me every day. I'm marrying my best friend! He encourages me, keeps me accountable, and I know he will provide for and protect me.

He does as God commands in Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”

I hope to “submit to my husband as to the Lord”as God commands me to. (Ephesians 5:22)

I love you Andrew Wayne Coltrane!"

Part 2 coming soon....