Every once in a while we have presidential candidates who want to be a part of our engagement sessions and normally, it doesn’t work out for them to be a part of any of our photos.  But, when we met up with Laura and Seth, we managed to fit a little, tiny bit of Ron Paul and his fan club into the background.  (Ok, so maybe it was totally an accident and not visible at all, but there really was a Ron Paul rally going on to the left of the last picture on the lake.) :)

So… on to a real story! I’ve known Laura for years. We grew up about 3 miles from each other, went to high school together, were prom king and queen(!), worked at the same restaurant, and both enjoyed the fresh air of the Wisconsin farmland (and I’m not really talking about the good smelling fresh air).

After not seeing Laura for about five years, we received an exciting email from her telling us about this amazing guy named Seth, who she is now engaged to, and asking us to take some photos of her and her favorite guy.  We were soo happy to meet Seth, walk around Madison with them, and grab some dinner together. They’re wonderful people who love Madison, the Badgers, kids, and each other.

We re-scheduled this shoot with Tim + Rachel so many times so that we could get some snowy photos, but this winter has been so wacky. What it took was all of us deciding, you know what? forget the snow, let’s just plan a date. Then guess what happened… well, it snowed the day before the session. :) So we started off at the skating rink then made our way to some of Tim and Rachel’s favorite places around Madison. We love it when our sessions feel like we’re just hanging out with friends for an afternoon.

Kelly only fell in one snow bank, none of us fell through the thin ice, and our hands didn’t freeze too quickly. Success! :)

We love it when couples come to us with a few specific ideas of locations for their engagement session, especially when we’re a little unfamiliar with the area.  We also love when the locations have some meaning to the couple.   Cassie and Bill found some beautiful spots for their fall engagement session and the only spot we shot that was obviously popular (we saw a dozen other photographers!) was Stone Arch Bridge, which we figured would be busy. But that busy? We had to laugh; we usually don’t run into any other photographers when doing sessions in/around our little town. :)

And just in case you can’t tell from the photos below, Bill and Cassie know how to laugh and have a good time together. :)

My favorite type of engagement session is one where we walk a lot, and then walk some more. That’s how it was with Chris and Stacie’s session. I love exploring new spaces, while getting to know a great couple. We started out just south of the Capitol and then headed to the Madison Arboretum, close to Nakoma Golf Club, where they’ll have their wedding next summer. Open prairies and long grass never seem to get old to me.

On the way home, Kelly and I talked about how fun the session was and we tried to dissect what it was that made it so great. While there were many other elements of this session that made it beautiful, like the light and wind, we think we’ve boiled it down to these two essentials: 1 – a couple who enjoys hanging out with each other (I know, that should always be a given, right?) and 2 – a guy who loves to make his girl laugh (and of course, a girl who likes to laugh). :)

Thanks, Chris and Stacie, for being such a fun couple to photograph and to walk and talk with… we’re excited for your wedding next year!