Est. 2012 | Colorado Springs, Colorado and Charlottesville, Virginia wedding & family photographer

Elias, Anna and I met on the windiest day this year. Honestly, we didn’t dress warm enough for this session on Friday but we made it through without red noses. 🙂 I mean, who would want to wear winter clothes for a spring engagement session?! Haha! Despite the wind, Elias actually mentioned that Anna loves windy days. It was “so them” and personally I favor movement in photos so we made the wind work to our advantage! This was their first time having professional photos done and I absolutely love how they showed their emotions effortlessly without any hesitation. So sweet and genuine, which is exactly how they are together. Prior to the session, Anna mentioned how she loves daffodils. I wasn’t sure if they were going to be in bloom, but fortunately for the early spring, we were in luck! Since she’s from Florida, they don’t have daffodils (star flowers 🙂 down there. We were talking about how funny it was that it’s so overlooked in this area because they grow everywhere! We were about to take a ring shot when we noticed a bubble bee trying to stay warm inside of one of the daffodils. I found out that Elias actually has bees! So funny because Kyle has talked about beekeeping in the near future and has started building bee hives for his orchards. Need to get them together to chat!

We had the best time getting to know each other that the time completely slipped away from us! Honestly though, those are the best sessions. 😉 We had the ground keeper reminding us that the park was about to close. Oops! 😉 Following the session, I received one of the best compliments from sweet Anna thanking me for the genuine time together. THAT right there is what I strive for in my business! I am excited for this year for many reasons, including Elias and Anna’s wedding day later this year!

ELIAS & ANNA’S LOVE STORY

How They Met
from Anna’s perspective…
After Elias got out of the Marine Corps., he took on his first civilian job at Florida Atlantic University. I just so happened to be going to school there and working in an adjacent office as a student employee. After a few conversations we learned that we were both pretty avid runners and lived really close to each other. Figuring we already shared running routes, we decided that being running buddies wouldn’t be such a bad idea (This may have been more my idea because I hated running long distances by myself.)!

We call our first 10 or so runs together our “first dates” because we ran for about an hour, stopped for ice cream, and then Elias would run me home before running back to his place. After hours of chit-chat and getting to know each other while running around the coast of South Florida, Elias asked me on our first “real (not running) date” and we’ve been twitterpated ever since!

How Elias Proposed
from Elias’ perspective…
About a month into knowing Anna I was sure that I had never met anyone like her and that something big was going to happen. I knew I was in love and that I should do something about it, but I’m also dumb so I didn’t right away. About 2 years later, Anna and I took a trip to Philadelphia and I spent the entire weekend wondering why she wasn’t my wife yet; daring myself to just get down on a knee to propose with only a smile and a promise.  I made it through that weekend, but I immediately started saving, thinking about proposals, and researching rings. During this same period, Anna and I made it into the Marine Corps Marathon and in a eureka moment I became set on making that the day I asked her. We had logged 1000s of miles on the hot road together and there is no one I would ever want to suffer and succed with more. I got the family in on the plan and flew her dad up for the day. We started the race that morning and I nervously checked the ring in my back pocket every few steps for 26.15 miles. Once we saw my parents on the side of the race, I faked a cramp and finally made the leap. Anna said yes and I officially became the luckiest guy in the world. Maybe I’m not that dumb after all.

Thank you Elias and Anna for a great time together!!! You two are so incredibly sweet and I cannot wait for your wedding day later this year!!! <3 Enjoy some of my favorites! XOXO!