Be still my heart. This shoot was months in the making. Honestly, I designed this shoot around this darling couple. Not only because I have always wanted to photograph a red headed bride but because I just adore these two humans. 

This shoot was inspired by our couple. Bri & Wes have such a fun quirky life together and I wanted to commemorate their authentic love with stunning portraits in their home state at the historic Salubria house.  

I asked Bri to share a bit about their story. Here is some of their true romance that breathes life into this shoot. 

How We Met: It was one of the first few weeks of spring semester, our sophomore year in college. As an R.A. I was alerted early on that they were going to cancel classes that day so I walked down the hall telling students, “You can sleep in! It’s a SNOOOOW DAY!!!” I asked if anyone wanted to play in the snow, but being sleepy college students, everyone opted to go back to bed. Everyone, except Wesley. He poked his head out of his room and said, “I do! I have a snowboard!” To which I replied, “Perfect! I have a board too!” We both put on our snow gear, grabbed our snowboards, and headed outside to jump off snowy hills around campus! It was my perfect day. & I had found the perfect boy. We dated 7 years before Wes asked me to marry him on a mountaintop outside Harrisonburg, VA! Now, one year into marriage, he’s still my perfect boy. & we still go snowboarding together every year. 

How He Proposed: Wes and I have always had a love for the outdoors. I guess it’s the Eagle Scout is Wesley but he took me on my first backpacking trip and we’re both mountain people! We woke up one Saturday morning and Wes told me to pack my bags for an epic hike he found! I was so excited as we set off towards George Washington National Forest when suddenly storm clouds rolled in! Wes was insistent on this hike so we put on our raincoats and headed up. When we reached the overlook there was so much dense fog that we couldn’t see past the cliff we were standing on! I could see Wes’ mood changed and he suddenly seemed nervous. He asked me to stand along the tree line while he set up a photo. (We’re photographers and own a nice camera and tripod, so this “photo setup” didn’t seem strange at all!) Once Wes set up the photo, he came over and got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I said, “Of course!!…..I mean, YES!” and we have a photo of the exact moment it happened! We hiked down and Wes said he had one more surprise, he had packed a nice dress for me to change into and we were going to our favorite Thai restaurant for dinner! When we walked into the restaurant we were escorted the private backroom where all of family was waiting to greet us!!! I had NO idea my parents, siblings, grandparents, & in-laws were all in on the plan and waiting to wrap us in a big family hug & lots of champagne! It was the perfect day.