Monday, September 29, 2014

Katie + Eric | Harrisonburg, Virginia Engagement Photographer

Katie and Eric just hired me for their October wedding and I'm SO glad I was available! I met them a couple weeks ago for their engagement session and getting to know them during the shoot made me so thankful they booked me! They are a fun-loving, kind, and amazing couple! Katie and Eric live at Saranac Young Life camp and work for them full time but they came down to me for their shoot because these two spent some time in Harrisonburg when they first started dating! 

After they first met, Katie was going to JMU and Eric was going to school in Kentucky but Eric realized he wanted to pursue this girl and called her to ask her out on a date. He said he didn't expect her to say yes so when she did, he made the trip to JMU and they had their first real date -- picnic-style with Mr. J's Bagels -- at the abandoned house you'll see in the photos below! Not too long after, Eric proposed to Katie with her great-grandmother's ring, which you'll also see below! :) I can't wait to celebrate with them on their wedding day but for now, here are some engagement photos!! Katie and Eric, hope you love them!!























Friday, September 26, 2014

California (Part III)

Day 6 was filled with the most adventure! First of all, we had to drive in LA traffic. Well, I had to drive in LA traffic. We were in traffic so long we started to see if we could spot any famous people in blacked out Escalades and we attempted to make eye contact with as many people as we could. It started getting creepy so then we stopped. When we finally arrived, we went to a very ghetto donut place. They only took cash, didn't have air conditioning, and no one spoke English.

Then we went to Hollywood Blvd. but it was more like Hollywood Lame Street. I don't even need to continue because nothing happened in Hollywood except us paying for parking and almost dying driving. The second photo here holds some really wonderful memories in the Fashion District.... During the day this part of town is fine because all the garages and stores are open and there are people around. At night, all the storefronts close and EVERYONE DISAPPEARS. We thought we were doing such a great thing finding $3 parking in an alley... More on that in a minute.

Then we went to Dash!!! Both of us LOVE the Kardashians and have seen pretty much every episode of KUWTK so we were so excited about this!! The store is adorable and everything cost more than what I'd get if I sold my kidney. So Hannah left with a keychain and I left with the clothes on my back.

This was my favorite part of LA!! We went to the Griffith Observatory and the view is unreal!! 

The Hollywood sign! This is the closest we could get without hiking. 
This view is one we had to work for. :) We knew about the LA Ace Hotel and we knew there was a rooftop pool. SO, we decided we'd try to sneak in and go swimming. We climbed about ten flights of stairs because you had to have a swipe card to go up the elevator. But then we had an inside source tell us which elevator to use and we made it! We went into the bathroom to change and Hannah forgot her swimsuit.... So I swam alone. But it was worth all those stairs!! I wrote a little story about this on my Facebook page but I'll share it here too in case everyone is currently assuming the worst in me for doing this. I've always been the goody two shoes. I've always done things by the book and have never gotten into trouble. But sometimes you have to live life on the edge and sometimes living life on the edge means sneaking onto a rooftop pool in LA. We were literally living on the edge and it was a blast. 
That night I finally got to meet Rachel Lombardi!!! Rachel was actually the one I was going to spend a week with but it didn't work out due to home renovations but I'm SO glad we got to meet in person after many Skype sessions!! Rachel, you're so great! Thanks for paying $20 for parking just to see us for an hour! And speaking of parking... Here's the rest of the Fashion District story... After we left Rachel, Hannah and I were going to go back to the car to get her swimsuit so we could go back to the hotel for night swimming but when we started walking towards the area where we parked, we noticed there was no one around but homeless people and really sketchy people sitting on benches. Well, actually Hannah noticed this because apparently I'm naive and oblivious. So Hannah starts to freak and says she does not want to walk to our car. In my head I'm like, "Uhhhh, do you want to get home?" Haha. We don't have pepper spray or anything and there are no shops open, no restaurants open, and there are barely any streetlights. We see a security guy locking up something so Hannah asks if he'll follow us in his car to where we parked. YEP, WE ACTUALLY ASKED THAT. Haha. The guy was super rude and said something like, "How long will this take? It's getting late, girls." Dude must have an early bedtime... Anywho, he ends up following us and we get to the alley.... To find that the gate is closed and our car is locked in. So immediately we start panicking and have no idea what to do. We didn't want the security guy to leave because we'd be deserted in a dark alley but we also didn't even know who to call. The security guy leaves us and we sprint to Starbucks only to find it's closed. Then we sprint to the only restaurant around which was a pizza place even though the only person in there was the worker. We end up calling LAPD because for all we know our rental car is stolen since the sign said the gate wouldn't close until 10 PM and it was only 8. We were just wondering if the parking deck was unauthorized... Ya never know in LA. The police didn't ever come so Hannah calls her mom and has her call them. Finally they get there, we explain our situation, the police laugh at us, and they drive us over to the alley. It was still locked but there was somehow a car inside and we had her trigger the gate for us. Yeah, so apparently the gate could be triggered by motion and it wasn't actually locked... HOW WERE WE SUPPOSED TO KNOW?! We're such noobs. We finally get in and run to our car, practically hug the police, and leave as fast as we can. It was the craziest night of my life. We walked around gangtown LA in the dark without mace and rode in a police car.... Pretty sure I'll never forget it. Also pretty sure I'll also never go back to LA.
Our last day was much less adventurous and much more relaxing. THANK GOD. Isn't Laguna Beach beautiful?! The water really looked like that! I felt like I was at the Caribbean.


We drove a little further into the actual town of Laguna and parked in this swanky neighborhood. 
We walked to the coast and this is what we saw! UMM, WHAT? I freaked out. Most definitely the most beautiful view I saw the entire trip!  




Sometimes you just gotta lay on the edge of a cliff in your bathing suit.






After Laguna we had the chance to go to the Grace & Salt store opening! We stayed with Keary and Justin the majority of the trip and they own the place. It's the coolest little shop I've ever seen!! Keary and Justin are SO talented!! Definitely go check out their site!!

We also met Emily Magers!! What a sweet girl! And that's Keary in the middle on the right. :) 
This is Keary's precious dog Milo. I snuggled with him every day and wanted to cry that night when we had to leave him and California! What an amazing trip!! I could not be more thankful for getting to see the west coast for the first time!! Hope you all enjoyed all these photos!!