Julia and I go waaaay back to our days as newly minted freshman on Hoyum Hall at Concordia College.  We bonded over instant messenger chats and late night ramen snacks and I’m thankful our friendship has remained even though MSN and ramen are out, ha!  I know I’ve said it before but I think perhaps the only thing greater than being happy yourself, is seeing those you love happy.  I was so happy to finally meet you, Zach and see you so happy, Julia!  Congratulations to you both on your engagement!  I am so happy for you, I love you and I am so excited to celebrate with you at your wedding next fall!

My baby sister is getting married and I couldn’t be more thrilled for her and my soon to be brother-in-law, Danny!  I’m not sure how it’s possible that the little kid I remember convincing to stand in only her underwear on a snowbank in the dead of winter for a measly $1 (true story) is now old enough to be married but I’m so excited about it!  I am beyond thankful that Clara knows her Auntie Erica so well and has taken a fond liking to Danny too! Pretty much the only thing I don’t like about living in Maine is being so far from family but even over the distance, we are still super close and involved in each others’ lives.  We have learned to cherish the time together even more and always make wonderful memories (thankfully none involving underwear and snowbanks anymore though..).  Erica came to Maine in August for her 9th trip and brought Danny for his 1st!  Of course we had to give him the full tour of Portland and we even made a trip up to Acadia National Park (a must do if you ever visit Maine!).  We did some engagement photos both during their visit to Maine as well as when I was back in South Dakota which is fitting since both are incredibly special places!  To Erica and Danny, we are thrilled for you and love you and can’t wait to celebrate with you on your wedding day and beyond!  XOXOXOX!  p.s. You guys are cute!        

Megan and Ben are getting married this fall in Watertown, SD…her hometown and mine!  We were all there for Easter weekend and decided to do their engagement photos there too which was perfect as Megan is living in Chicago, Ben is in Sioux Falls and I’m in Portland.  Whew!  🙂 These two are so stinking sweet and adorable.  I remember Megan growing up in high school…can’t believe she is getting married!  Yeah, yeah, yeah I know that makes me sound old…  So excited for your wedding, guys!

We are in the dead of winter so how about reminiscing about late summer/early fall for a bit?  Ellen and Darrick wanted to keep their engagement photos a surprise until they were able to give them to their families as gifts over Christmas.  It was a special surprise as they recently inherited the boat which has been passed down from Ellen’s grandparents to her parents and now to her and Darrick.  So cool!  They also wanted to include their dog, Fargo, in their photos which of course I loved and quickly fell in love with!  Such a fun couple and fun session and fun to warm up to the memory of summer on this chilly winter day!  Can’t wait for their summer wedding!

Andrea + Miah are getting married next June so we met ahead of time to get some engagement photos.  Good grief, are they cute or what?  

Maybe you read my recent post about our upcoming move to the East Coast.  Well, Tricia and Mike’s engagement session was my inaugural shoot in Boston and it.was.awesome.  We had so much fun with these two.  They live in a super sweet and charming historic condo that they have completely renovated which gave me the itch to move into a fixer-upper even though I have no clue what to do with a fixer-upper…  We started the shoot inside, then moved to their roof deck (with ridiculous views of the city), then to a quaint little coffee shop that they frequent a lot.  Tricia, you are effortlessly beautiful and the two of you are so sweet together.  We can’t wait for your wedding this fall!

Ryan and Jessica are getting married!  I have known Ryan since we were we little kids (I’ll bypass any embarrassing stories) and I can’t believe he’s old enough to be getting married (I know that makes me sound old).  But seriously, I am so excited for these two.   And I love their dog.  🙂  Aren’t they cute?

I  always said my favorite things to photograph were people.  But over the past couple years, I have come to realize that while I do love photographing people, ultimately, I love photographing RELATIONSHIPS between people.  I love being able to catch something for people to see that normally they can only feel.  Aaaand this also applies to people and their pets.  I am a dog lover.  You all know that.  So when Jessica and Justin contacted me to do photos of them with their dog Harper, I had a huge smile on my face.  Then when they told me he had cancer and potentially only a short time left, the tears rolled.  Jessica and Justin: thank you for trusting me to photograph your family and your Harper during this special and very difficult time in your lives.  I hope these photos help you see the love you feel for Harper and the love he feels for you.  To view their slideshow, please click here.         

Look at these cuties.  They’re getting hitched next September so we did some engagement photos this fall…on the windiest day ever!  Congratulations, you two!  Can’t wait to celebrate with you next year!

Curly Girl has this card that says, “Good dogs are with us for a little while to teach us how to love like it’s our job…because it is.”  I love that and you KNOW how much I love dogs.  Both Sam and Puck are rescue dogs and they both are SO SWEET.  I LOVE photographing dogs and their humans.  And don’t worry, we made conversation for them in doggie voices the whole time…