Sarah and Paul

P.S you don’t have to have a HGTV home to do an in-home session AND you don’t need to find the most jaw-dropping setting for your engagement pictures.

If you have talked to me about what I value in photography, you know that I prioritize the meaning and connection you guys have found in a space or setting over the draw-dropping, instagramable location every time. When Sarah said she and Paul wanted to do an in-home engagement session I of course did my happy dance, and when I got to preview the cutest, homiest, and also seriously stylish apartment in downtown Raleigh, I was that much more pumped. They could have chosen a lot of spots in the rea that they connect with. Paul, an audio engineer for Imurg, and Sarah, a marketing specialist for Durham’s Ponysaurus, Dashi, and the Cookery, are pillars for the entertainment culture of Raleigh/Durham, but instead they chose their apartment, and I am so glad. For one, I could tell that being in their own element brought a level of comfortability and familiarity that encouraged them to really be themselves, to cuddle, and kiss, and sip cocktails and coffee like it was a regular Sunday (because it was, minus the fact that I was third-wheeling it). It also was extremely beautiful to portray their relationship in the intimacy and privacy of where they do life together the most.

Working with Sarah and Paul has already proved to be an amazing experience and a reminder of why I do what I do. These two invited me into their life, not just a portion of their day. We of course covered all the initial hot topics —how they met, their engagement story, how they ended up in Raleigh—but we also genuinely got to hang during the session. The three of us sipped on Campari on the rocks (which, as Paul and I teased Sarah, is a very unique drink of choice). We walked through the historic neighborhood of Oakwood and maybe laughed a little too hard at the garden committee practicing their synchronized umbrella dance in the middle of the street. These two truly relaxed and let their Sunday selves come out, and with that came their dang cute, charismatic chemistry that was just tooo much fun to capture.

I am sooo pumped to shoot your wedding guys! Thanks for the Sunday funday!