Ashley HATES surprises. So of course… Eric decided to pulled an epic surprise proposal that included her childhood dog, Chase, showing up in an adorable little bow tie shortly after he proposed to Ashley and escorting them both back home, where 50 of their closest friends and family were awaiting the newly engaged couple to celebrate with a surprise mini-engagement party! One after the other, Eric showed Ashley that surprises aren’t always that bad and he planned a wonderful, memorable proposal 🙂 That is the the story I heard when I first met Ashley & Eric this past winter. Wow! I learned a few things through that story… Ashley is a planner that hates surprises (JUST like me! lol), Ashely obviously loves dogs if even Chase was at their engagement party (in a bow tie! so cute!) and Eric is a romantic that just loves to see Ashley happy. Just the sweetest! I fell in love with them just through that story alone but talking to them and hearing all about their wedding plans, I immediately became so excited for their wedding day this summer. Then we got along to talking about engagement session and Ashley told me she knew exactly where she wanted to shoot theirs. In the adorable town of Hoboken! If you know me, you know I just LOVE Hoboken! It’s where Jose is born and raised and where we have so many wonderful memories together ourselves so I always love going back to Hoboken for the day!

The amazing thing about shooting an engagement session in Hoboken is no matter how many times you do it, it never gets old! I think I’ve shot maybe 4 engagement sessions and one wedding in Hoboken and I ALWAYS manage to find a new spot to photograph my couples in! The craziest part about it is Hoboken is literally just a mile square long. It’s SO small for such a populated city… and yet, I always discover great new spots for photos. It’s pretty mind blowing. The other great thing is no two couples are ever alike and my wonderful couples always switch up the sessions just by wearing new colors, bringing different props and just being so darn cute. Obviously, that’s exactly what happened with Ashley & Eric. They showed up looking so stylish in their lovely summery outfits and they came with the cutest, simple prop – balloons! Balloons are SO unpredictable and you never know if they are going to fly the way you want them to be in photos. This was especially true of Ashley’s adorable Kate Spade balloon she had that had LOVE IS IN THE AIR printed on them. You just HAVE to get the saying on the balloons and it was so incredibly windy during their session, we just needed to have a bit more patience but it came out SO cute! I loved it! Then later on we pulled the balloons out again for their second outfits and oh man, I don’t know which photos I like more! They are all so good!!

Ashley and Eric were so great in front of their camera. They confessed to me that they actually practiced their own posing and kissing the night before… guys, it paid off! Or maybe you are just always this stinking cute together. I’m actually leaning more towards the second one 🙂 They were such naturals, it was SO easy to put them in front of a simple backdrop, like a plain wall, and just capture them smiling at each other and kissing. We ended our session with the sun setting right behind them and the two of them just standing in the middle of the walkway. No skyline behind them, no trees… it was all about the two of them together and it looked AMAZING!! I was on such a high from their session once we were over because when an engagement session goes that good, it makes me ten times more excited for the wedding day. I just KNOW it’s going to be beautiful and their wedding photos are going to be incredible! You are going to LOVE this session as much as I do, I know it! 🙂 Ashley & Eric, you guys KILLED it! Thank you so much for letting me capture your engagement session and I can’t wait for August!! Enjoy my favorite images from their session 🙂