Melissa & Steve: Engagement!

So enough of yesterday's tease...I'm so excited to show (and show off!) one of the best Engagement sessions this year.  Melissa and Steve are the winners of my FREE Wedding Photography contest that I held last year (and will hold again later this year!)  They won by an enormous...like gargantuan... margin, and I couldn't have been happier.  Although all of the couples who entered the contest were equally wonderful and deserving, once I met Melissa & Steve, they completely captured my heart.  They are two of the most beautiful people I have ever met, and I can't believe I get to be their Wedding photographer!

I just have to add this before we get to the pictures... The weekend that I shot this engagment session, was also the same weekend I photographed Jennifer and Tim, my Maternity couple (see below this post), who are also receiving their photography for FREE because they are participating in a personal project of mine.  Like so many other professional photographers, this started as just a hobby of mine...more than a hobby, more like an obsession, but a hobby nonetheless.  Once I decided to go pro, I never wanted photography to feel like work.  So it's super important to me to occasionally do things for free, and to keep on-going projects.  It serves as a reminder of how much I actually LOVE what I do.  Doing things like holding contests and having people participate in my projects really does help to keep the JOY in what I do.  And I have to say, that the weekend I photographed these two couple was ONE of the most gratifying of my career as a photographer.  And I'm so grateful to all of them for inviting me into their lives.

Ok enough of the hug-fest....lets get to the pics!  Aren't they a gorgeous couple?

 

It was so funny, while we were shooting this next sequence, a visitor came along and decided to make a cameo appearance... 

Whenever I photograph a couple, it usually takes a few minutes before they feel comfortable enough in front of me to completely relax...and I expect that.  But Melissa and Steve were already totally at ease and needed no encouragement to kiss for the camera...I love it!

 

 

It's not really fair for me to pick my favorite shot of the day because there were so many great ones. And Melissa and Steve are so cute it was IMPOSSIBLE to take a bad picture of them...but if forced to choose, this would be my favorite of the day... 

 

 

 

She is going to be a BEAUTIFUL Bride!! 

 

I can't wait for their Wedding on June 21st!