Our Engagement Session with Katelyn James!
It’s a dream. A total dream to have Katelyn James shoot our engagement photos. A dream to be on her blog! Over the years, I have admired so many couples on her blog and there are so many more to come… but for a day we got to be in the KJ Spotlight! You can see the rest of our engagement photos and Katelyn’s side of the story on her blog here!
Do I sound crazy? Obsessed? Well, that’s because I sort of am. Find out why I just had to have Katelyn James as our wedding photographer here.
I hope we look calm, cool, and collected because when we started this session, I most definitely was not! All day, I told myself to BE COOL when I met Katelyn. I was not going to be that crazy person (I am a huge fan of hers, but there’s a definite line between FAN and STALKER!!). So as I was getting ready in the hotel, everything was going great… until I had to put on my eyeliner. I don’t know if you guys are aware of this, but eyeliner can SMELL fear. Seriously. I put this stuff on everyday with effortless confidence, but I was literally shaking just thinking about putting it on. Fast forward a half hour and I was sitting in the car (with subpar eyeliner) waiting for Katelyn to meet us. Pretty sure I was hyperventilating. From all the times I’ve gushed about Austin, you might think he was calming me down. NOPE. He was definitely making fun of me. Have you seen the video of Kristen Bell reacting to having a sloth at her birthday party? That was me. For real.
There are three things that turn me into a total spaz: when I have too much caffeine (aka one cup of coffee), seeing someone I haven’t seen in ages, or when I get really excited! I get so excited that I can’t help but talk a million miles a minute! I was so nervous to do this and come off totally “uncool” but Katelyn was the same way. She was just as excited as I was to be there! It truly made it feel special that she was so excited to meet us and do our shoot! :) Anyway, I ended up keeping it together (mostly) and a few minutes into our shoot I had forgotten how nervous-excited I was!
Katelyn had mentioned her friend Jill was also in the area shooting an engagement session and of course I knew she was talking about the brilliant Jill Powers!! We even got to meet Jill after our shoot! What a sweetheart!! Jill and her husband Buddy have this amazing farm in Virginia, Big Spring Farm, that is so swoon-worthy!
I have to tell you about Katelyn and Michael (her husband and business partner!). They are just amazing. I have looked up to them so much over the years that I wasn’t sure what it would be like to meet them. What if I had imagined them to be one way and they weren’t like that in person at all?! They blew me away. Honestly. Katelyn and Michael are the most warm, genuine, and joyful people I could have imagined. You can just tell they love what they do and love serving others. I feel like I don’t need to say it, but holy moly are they talented!! Katelyn shoots with such ease and her guidance could not have been better.
I said it already, but every time I look at these images I can’t believe it. This was a total dream come true… and the best part is we’ll get to do it again on our wedding day this September!! Investing in our wedding photography was by far the best decision we’ve made about our wedding and the return is worth so much more than money can buy.
Enjoy a few of my favorites from our shoot, and be sure to check out the rest on Katelyn’s blog!
I will never forget looking up during this photo and seeing Katelyn laying completely in the grass on her back shooting this! Made me laugh so hard! Can’t help but love her! :)
