Meredith & Phil picked the lovely site of Donaldson Farms in Hackettstown as their location for their engagement session. They have some cute mums in front, pumpkins for picking and some nearby apple trees and in their mind, it was just right! What they were NOT expecting is what we got… which was basically access to ALL of this incredible farm! Thanks to some friendly hookups and the amazing owners of Donaldson Farms, we not only got a tour of the entire farm before their session began but permission to go anywhere we wanted. How incredible is that!? So needless to say the session didn’t end up like anything they had planned it to be… but BETTER. We got to photograph them on the best hill overlooking the sun set and the sky was lit up in pink and blue, it was pretty amazing. We had their session interrupted by two sweet horses and adorable goats!! That just does not happen at every engagement session! lol Meredith & Phil are just that lucky – they got absolutely spoiled at their session!!

Meredith was a bridesmaid in not one but two of my lovely Bride’s this year and it was SO exciting to hear from her in the middle of both their weddings! I LOVE Meredith & Phil’s proposal story for so many reasons. The top one is they actually got engaged on mine and Jose’s wedding anniversary, April 29th!! Best day EVER! Phil proposed to Meredith at Yankee Stadium. And if you there’s one thing you should know about Meredith & Phil (and their families!) it is that they LOVE the New York Yankees. I mean, LOVE! Her brother Matt and his new wife Audrey, our bride & groom from this past June, are just as obsessed with baseball as they are. These two just love the Yankees and Phil knew there would be no better place to ask her to marry him that at Yankee Stadium. Luckily everything worked out perfectly for him and of course she said YES!! (And another fun fact! He did it right in front of a photographer at the stadium so they have professional photos of the proposal!) Jose and I love baseball too (though we root for another amazing New York team ;)) so we just felt like right off the bat we had so much in common with Meredith & Phil! It was so fun to photograph them at one wedding, have them fall in love with our work and tell us they just HAD to have us as their wedding photographers! What an honor! They’ve been so excited about their proposal and wedding planning, I knew their engagement session would be such a breeze and just as fun.

What made it even more enjoyable? Their adorable dog, Stumpy!! Yes Stumpy! If you’re thinking that’s a unique dog name now, it will make total sense when you see him. He IS stumpy! He’s a mix between a Pitbull and get this, Chihuahua! lol What a mix! So he’s got a big Pitbull head and strength (man this dog is STRONG!) but he’s so tiny. And don’t even get me started on his front feet that point outward. He stands like a little ballerina! I can’t even with this dog!! Stumpy was so fun to photograph. His facial expressions are the best and had me cracking up the whole time. Plus he rocked his sign like a pro! And he even got to chase a mischievous little black cat so I’m sure he had some fun lol so much fun, after they went home Meredith sent me a photo of Stumpy wiped OUT! Good to know Stumpy had just as much fun as we did 🙂 I have SO many favorites from this shoot, it was hard to narrow down just a few from this session but I know you’re just going to LOVE them and be just as excited to see their wedding photos next year as I am already!! Meredith & Phil – can we do this again?? lol I had so much fun with you both and hope you LOVE these photos!! ENJOY!