After almost 13 years of marriage, our early years of wedded bliss feel like a lifetime ago. But I do remember the excitement of our first anniversary. The joy of making it to the first milestone. I remember the late nights talking about our life goals and how happy we were to be together. And how grateful we were to have found each other so young. And when I look at Emily & Pedro, the feeling rushes over me again; because young love has a purity & freshness that will remind old love of it’s value.
Emily & Pedro found me on Instagram, which if you didn’t know, is literally one of my favorite things! I totally connected to them right away as we emailed back & forth, and I started to follow along with their story on Insta! Emily is a pediatric ICU nurse, and a big social justice advocate; which I totally vibed with because I work on Labor & Delivery, and have a huge heart for the equal treatment of all people! It turns out they were coming to town to celebrate their anniversary on a quick getaway, and wanted to do some anniversary photos in their wedding attire! As the saying goes, they had me at “hello!” And I couldn’t wait to get them in front of my lense!
We chose the amazingly beautiful P&G Gardens in downtown Cincinnati which proved to be a gorgeous backdrop for a gorgeous couple! We had been praying back the threat of rain all day, and were so grateful that it held off for us! The gardens were stunning, and totally deserted, shout out to Coronavirus.
I brought my husband along because he is my favorite second shooter, and I thought I’d need someone to hold the veil for some epic veil shots. You know, where they toss the veil and run, and I capture the veil “blowing in the wind,” lol. But he was really best utilized as my behind-the-scene-footage-catcher, and my oops I need another SD card go-getter. But really his most award worthy role of all, is when my honey came in clutch with BUG SPRAY!
Now I don’t know if this is normal for P&G Gardens, (because this was my first time shooting there), but I’m pretty sure we invaded a kingdom of mosquitoes and they sent their army to attack us. Emily & Pedro were complete champs as they powered through their session even bite after bite. I felt so bad for Emily who probably had the most bites out of everyone; clearly the mosquitoes figured out just how sweet she is!
The Valente’s are all together such a beautiful and kind couple, and I am so happy they chose me to capture their anniversary photos. One of my favorite moments was capturing them holding their Rosaries, which they shared is an important part of their lives. Because my faith is important to me too, I knew just how special this moment was, and how special the picture would be for years to come. We also captured the shoe shots she didn’t get on her wedding day, and ended our beautiful session with a toast to their first year as husband and wife! I had so much fun celebrating and shooting with the Valente’s and I wish them many more years of happiness, joy and wedded bliss!
