Well, this session was the epitome of ~F. U. N. ~ Seriously, this was the most Fun and Carefree Engagement session to date.
In my opinion, I feel that engagement sessions should reflect the character of the couple “together”. Who are they as a couple? Fun? Sarcastic? Quiet and Romantic? A combination of everything? No matter the dynamic between the two, my goal is to create a mix of authentic photos, that offer an accurate representation of the couple’s relationship.
One thing this doesn’t mean… is creating perfection. (Besides, who’s perfect anyway?) It’s not my job to pose you too frequently. Rather, my goal is to observe and document, who you are now. So that one day, your future kiddos, grandkids, or friends and families, can look back at these photos and say… “Gee, they still look at each other that way.”
Mike and Jackie
They had me at Hello. Seriously. They really did. And to think it all started with a “Face-time” call.
I knew immediately that this was a couple I wanted to know better. As we were talking, I asked them where they lived. And, you can imagine my surprise and excitement when they stated…”West Chesterfield”.
I’m like… “WAIT.. SERIOUSLY?! I live in West Chesterfield! ” In fact, we figured out we live less than 1.5 miles from each other. I then responded with… “Well, Shit… We should have met for a drink then!” LOL
Not long after that, Jackie and Mike invited me over for wine. (Okay… if they didn’t have me at hello, they definitely would have had me a “wine”. LOL)
Anyway, at this point, whether or not they moved forward with me as a photographer, they had a new friend for life. And if they did move forward with booking me. (Spoiler alert… they booked me) I just knew that we were going to be able to create magical images together.
So why don’t I start showing you more images from their fun and carefree engagement session at Alyson’s Orchard! As well as words, from the couple themselves!
How did you meet?
We actually met on a dating app called Bumble. Jackie and I had seen each other around town previously but had never actually met or been introduced. It’s funny because before I even got to call her my girlfriend, she was already costing me money.
See, on bumble, the girl gets to make the first move and guys only have 24 hours to respond. Well, I didn’t see her message “Hey” (crazy opening line, right?).
Anyway, in order for me to reply I had to upgrade my service… for $100… just to respond back with “Hey”. It got the ball rolling at least! We have an inside joke that when people ask about how we met, our go-to is FarmersOnly.com (no offense to anyone who actually uses this site).
We are so in sync with it that we even had Kris’ assistant Mel going with it during our pre-photo shoot adult beverage consumption meeting.
Tell us about your first date!
Jackie was very nervous about meeting me because she had only known me by my pharmacy face. She calls it my RBF but really it’s just the face I make when I’m concentrating. She even had a friend ready to whisk her away in case the date went downhill fast! Wasn’t needed. We started with drinks at a local bar in Keene called 21, moved for dinner at The Stage, and ended the night snuggling to Shrek. Not to shabby, eh? Everything about that night was perfect! The conversation was easy, laughs were plentiful, and an instant connection was made. We even managed to notice both our fur-babies on each other’s credit cards. I had Oakley, my three-year-old brindle lab on mine and Jackie had Ollie, her five-year-old large fluffy cat on hers. Since then, we’ve adopted another puppy, Leo!
How did you (Mike) propose?!
I had this wonderful vision of a beautiful sunset over the Adirondack mountains with Lake Champlain and the Burlington, VT waterfront in the backdrop of our engagement photo! So when I looked at the weather forecast, you can imagine my excitement when all I saw was rain for the weekend we had planned to go up there. Obviously, I was still excited to propose and nothing was going to stop me from doing it that weekend. I wanted her to have this ring more than anything.
So we set up dinner reservations with my sister, brother-in-law, nephew and a couple of close friends. We had a wonderful dinner at a seafood restaurant in downtown Burlington. It was a wonderful view right on the water. The perfect spot to see the rain just rolling in and messing with my vision.
So as we were approaching the end of dinner, I was determined to figure out a way to get her this ring and stay as dry as possible. But that’s when I noticed something! Coming off the right side of the restaurant and over the lake, was this orangish hue! The sun was determined to break through! And slowly the rain started to go away. We paid and collected our belongings as fast as we could because without talking, everyone knew what was about to happen and knew we needed to move fast.
We started to walk over to the pier, (a good 7-minute walk) that we completed in world-record time. My sister had hidden the ring in my nephew’s diaper bag and pulled it out without Jackie knowing (even though she is adamant that she saw the outline of the box in my pocket after that point and knew what was coming.. doubtful).
We got to the pier, the rain stopped, the sun came out and I got down on one knee with the perfect backdrop I had envisioned.
What sort of things do you do for fun, together?
We love taking our two fur-babies for walks and playing outside with them. Jacki and I just adopted a little guy who is currently 6 months old so he is a handful but doing amazing!
We both like to cycle and taking spin classes in our basement using the Peloton bike. Together, we also enjoy riding our bikes outside when the weather permits. Also, we enjoy visiting and hanging out with close friends and family. We both enjoy traveling and have been to Tennessee, Punta Cana, and the Bahamas. Jacki and I have plans to go to Europe but those have been currently halted. We both enjoy crafting and even made our own candles on one of our very first dates. Jackie and I also like to get lost in some of our favorite shows like Game of Thrones and True Detective. We both love food and are always open to a date night that allows plenty of it! Most days after work we cook together and just simply enjoy one another.
How about some individual hobbies?
Mike has recently improved his golf game. He also enjoys playing softball where he currently plays for two mens league teams. Mike has a passion for pool and has been perfecting his game with the help of our giant pool table which takes up almost all of our living room.
Jackie enjoys crafts of all varieties such as drawing and jewelry making. She enjoys taking our four-legged boys for long hikes with close friends. Jackie is currently improving her cooking skills and experimenting with things like chicken parm and pizza. She spends her Sundays getting together with close friends swapping stories while sipping martinis and enjoying delicious brunch foods.
Funny Quirks and Habits! (That you may find adorable or annoying) in your fiance?!
(Mike) Every time Jackie jokes with me, she gives me this look and then says “what”. I don’t think she realizes she does it but it is the cutest thing. She also creates the best nicknames for our pets. Sir Tree (Oakley), The Ploof (Ollie), or Wittles (Leo). She then likes to sing to them using their nicknames. She almost never replaces the toilet paper when the roll runs out on her watch though. I’ll do more of my laundry when I don’t have to scramble for toilet paper.
(Jackie) Mike’s smirk when he says something witty gets me every time. He tends to act goofy out of nowhere with silly voices and sayings. I absolutely love it. He has a way of making me smile no matter what mood I’m in. I love it when I’m prepping a meal or doing dishes and he comes up behind me with a warm hug. His constant overflowing dirty laundry drives me nuts and his tendency to put off household chores.
Update!! View their Wedding At Stratton Mountain!
As a couple who is currently planning a wedding, what advice can you offer to other couples?
Great so far! We are very happy to be getting hitched at Stratton Mountain Resort next September. It is a beautiful location and one that Jackies family has a history of going to. We are currently working on tux designed for the men and dresses for the ladies. We have a color scheme planned out and are currently working on bringing it to a reality.
Describe your wedding vision!
It’s still in the works! We are currently “pinteresting” ideas and hope to narrow in on a lot in the near future!
Would you like to share what you do for a living?
Jackie works at a local bank handling all sorts of transactions for personal and commercial customers. Mike is a pharmacist at a local pharmacy.
Anything else you want to share?!
We don’t think we could have found a better match for our photographer. Kris is so easy to work with and makes everything fun. We are definitely excited for the wedding to get here!
And a few silly ones from our Fun and Carefree Engagement Session
I realized that I didn’t really share too many of the “sillier” (is that even a word? Sillier?) of the photos from our Fun and Carefree engagement session! So… here are a few!
Congratulations to these two!
This fun and carefree engagement session is going down in the books as one of my favorites! And I’m confident that more fun times are in the future with these two!
Special Thanks!
A special thanks goes to Kurt- who, as Mikes best man, drove all the way up from CT to bring the couples fur babies to the session. They were only there for about 1/2 hour.
And another special thanks to Melanie! Who is my assistant in training! Whose presence totally made the session more fun!
