I photographed this engagement session covered in mud from the knees down. Allow me to explain, I woke up, literally before the crack of dawn, to photograph Bunny and Matt at sunrise. On my way to their session, I stopped off at a rest area, and well, my feet weren’t as awake as the rest of my body and I tripped into a mud puddle.

Bunny and Matt are the kind of nice people that won’t just politely ignore that you have mud all over you, they’ll do you the favor of genuinely not caring (except to verify that you weren’t hurt). I liked these two before I ever met them. In her first email to me, Bunny talked about my ability to capture micro-moments and how important that was to her and her fiancé. I got her on the phone and discovered we had a lot in common, including a love for family and moving into and fixing up old family homes (a prospect that continues to intimidate me on the eve of our kitchen remodel). I don’t remember talking much about wedding photography on that phone call, but I remember the story of how her heirloom engagement ring came to find it’s home on her finger, and the fact that she knew from square one, Matt was going to be her husband.

At their engagement session, they felt like old friends, and by their wedding, they were. I was so welcomed by their family and friends and I spent a good portion of that day crying alongside them and their guests. To this day, they continue to champion me, constantly leaving encouragement and kind remarks on just about every wedding photography related thing I share, and singing my praises to their engaged family and friends, the highest form of praise. Basically, what I’m getting at, is they’re excellent human beings and I like them a lot.

Knowing Bunny now, I realize just how fitting of a location the Heidelberg project was for their engagement session. Not only was it the location of their first date, but something about it’s whimsy and bright colors just feels so right.