I know I’ve said this before, but we love love. Especially when it’s so joyfully exchanged and contagious as it was between Rachel and Dan on their wedding day. I don’t even know where to begin with Rachel and Dan’s wedding day: beautiful, unique, fun, lots of laughter, rustic, vintage, homey, DIY, fall, horses, motorcycles… the list goes on and yet doesn’t even fully sum up their wedding! Getting to be these two’s wedding photographer was a huge honor, and with them living only 30 minutes from Cottage Grove, Minnesota, I expect that we’ll be back at their house to go horseback riding in the future!

When Cayla first reached out and shared that she and Nick wanted to have an adventure for their engagement photos, I was immediately excited. When she shared that they were wanting to explore Afton State Park and possibly even go fishing (one of their favorite past times), I was beyond excited. We always encourage the couples we work with to do something that’s true to them! We are all for dressing up all nice but we also LOVE it when couples show their real side too! This is exactly what these two did – splitting their session time in half as we explored Afton in dressy clothes and then hit the beach to relax and fish! (If we could’ve only caught a fish it would’ve been that much cooler!)

I feel like there isn’t much more I can say about the Ogren Family beyond that they are such a blessing to us! They were one of our first clients who graciously took us on (and wow, they were trusting!). They are huge supporters of the church we attend, Hope Community Church in Cottage Grove. They are so giving in their time as well as willing to open up on what it’s like to raise two boys – Lord, please help us! And, Bethany graciously puts on an awesome and free parent & child music interactive class at our church on Thursdays that we love to attend (and have since Ethan was a little baby). I also should mention that our boys regularly “call Jeremiah” on their play phones at home to chat with one of their good friends :) 

Meet the lovely, Susan. This girl is an absolute rockstar and killed her senior photos at Afton State Park! She literally hit the ground running and was a natural right from the beginning, so much so that I had to stop and say, “You must’ve been a model before!” To which she humbly raised her head and blushingly smiled saying, “Yeah, I modeled when I was little.” How cool is that?! She also previously rode horses, so of course we had fun chatting about that as we walked around Afton State Park… and, if that isn’t amazing enough, she comes from the rare breed of women that enjoys playing video games. When you ask Susan about what she wants to do after high school, she doesn’t hmm and haw like some seniors can, she has a plan and a pretty solid one at that. She plans to start training to become an EMT, and then once she is able to do that, she’ll study to become a nurse – she’s hoping specifically to work in pediatrics. If I can tell you anything about this girl after spending the afternoon with her, it’s that she would be an awesome pediatric nurse. She’s so gentle, soft-spoken, and just beams with love – I can see my own kids loving her (up until she’d have to administer shots!).

I can truly say that it is not every day that senior photos involves a gun. A gun? Yes, a gun. Don’t worry, we didn’t get held up – praise the Lord! Park High School senior, Connor, is on their trap team. The gun wasn’t the only thing that came along with Connor for his senior portraits at Vermillion Falls. Connor’s mom and grandma also joined in the fun; and it definitely was fun as they teased him many times throughout the session, keeping it light-hearted and relaxing!