Professional Week: Engagement Shoot

It is really a neat story how this couple found me. They are great friends with Wesley's brother, Philip. There have been many times that we'll be at Philip and Amanda's house and David (a.k.a. the soon to be groom) will be there also. Wesley and I have always really liked David. He is just a really nice guy. A few months ago you might remember that I Heart Faces had a "Texture" competition. I posted a picture of my cousin and his wife. I later posted the same picture on Facebook and David happened to see it. He emailed me all excited, telling me that he was engaged and they were looking for a photographer. He had no idea I was one. It's kind of funny because before he contacted me, I had started doing lots of research on wedding albums, Save the Date cards, proof albums, wedding prices etc. I had actually finished my "Wedding Package" information by the time he emailed me. Before David, another other girl had emailed me for wedding information and I had been working on packages and such to keep on hand. I was very upfront with him, letting him know that I had never done a wedding before and I understood if they didn't want to take such a huge risk on one of the most important days of their lives. I had my first meeting with April and her mom to go over everything. I offered to do engagement photos and they could see if they liked me, my style and they could decide about the wedding later. If they decided to go with another photographer-I would have lost nothing because I would have built my portfolio in the process.

I left the apartment feeling sick to my stomach. My confidence was gone. All I could think was, "I can't do a wedding-what was I thinking?" I decided to just take things one at a time and to focus on the upcoming engagement shoot. We met the day after it snowed, on a pretty day at the Riverwalk. I had so much fun with them! They are just fun people to hang out with.

Fast forward a few weeks. We were all sick with the stomach flu and David calls, leaving a message that they met with other photographers and they really want ME to be the one to photograph their big day. I was no longer sick, but a wave of nausea came back. I FREAKED OUT...I kept telling Wesley that there is NO. WAY. little ole' ME could photograph a wedding! I was embarrassed and kept telling Wesley that after everything, I was going to have to call David back and tell him to ask someone else-hoping they still had time to book someone else.

Wesley, being the amazing spiritual leader of our house told me to calm down, pray about it and see how I felt in the morning; if I still felt the same way-call them back right away and tell them I couldn't do it. So I took his advice, prayed my heart out, telling God I really needed a clear answer-fast! And you know what? The next morning, I opened my eyes and all was calm. I sat up and I started planning, and coming up with different shots to do at their wedding. All "freaking out" feelings were completely and totally gone! It was so weird! I was at peace and I knew that I COULD do this because GOD would be with me! Why is it so surprising when God answers our prayers?

I have three months until the big day. For my birthday, Wesley got me many Wedding Photography books that I had on my wish list. I have read and researched so much when it comes to wedding photography, these books have been a big bonus. I have a friend who is a well traveled, wedding photographer in Miami. I have contacted him on many occasions and he has been such a big help and support. I am now praying about the $6000+ equipment I would like to have by then. The thing about photography equipment is-it is not cheap! And it seems that when you buy one thing-you have to buy two or three other things to go with it. I have been taking every penny I make and pouring it back into it and so far I have been able to add some great equipment to my camera bag. I want so much to not just give this couple good pictures-but to give them fantastic pictures. They are putting their faith in me and I am determined not to let them down! The more I learn, the better I'll get and the more equipment I have, the more I'll be to be able to do different things. In the meantime-I'm just going to wait and see what happens!

So...that is the complete story behind this fun shoot! I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Here are some collages I made out of the different groupings of photos. I thought that instead of showing more individual prints, I would just post the collages for you to see.