The minute I received the email from Jessica and Yuri, I knew she was a #tepbride. I just feel it. This is the photographer and client match made in happen. We hosted Jessica and Yuri’s client meeting at our home within DAYS of us moving in. We treated them to doughnuts, coffee (& beer! lol Jose and Yuri bonded over their love of craft beer so we had to break some out!) Jessica showed up with flowers for us and just melted my heart. Then when we talked about them, I fell in love with them even more. These two are just the sweetest. Yuri is a commander in the Navy in Virginia and Jessica has had to plan a lot of their wedding day without him… so we felt so honored we got to meet Yuri while he was in town! It was clear photography was important to the both of them and I was so glad they chose us to capture their wedding day next May!

Jessica and Yuri LOVE all things fall related! Apple picking, sunflower fields… everything fall is their favorite! So Yuri of course knew exactly when he was going to propose to Jessica. He did it while they were apple picking with her sister sneakily ready to grab the moment on camera! See, he KNEW Jessica would want photos of this! lol It was the cutest when I received the email from Jessica telling me about their proposal and then showed me the photos too! So cute! I naturally assumed they’d want fall engagement photos but due to Yuri’s deployment, that wouldn’t have been able to happen. Luckily – Yuri’s schedule cleared up and we got to shoot their engagement photos over Memorial Day weekend! My gosh was it HOT outside. So hot. And yet, these two look absolutely perfect! You’d think it was a cool summer night by looking at these photos. Bless Yuri for wearing his uniform – it was so worth it for the photos but man, it was hot and he must have been DYING! lol

They chose the beautiful Verona Park for their session – one of my favorite parks to shoot at because there are SO many great spots in it for photos! We walked all around the park, talking all things wedding and getting to know each other more! I was so glad they were having so much fun. Yuri had actually surprised Jessica with a spontaneous engagement session in Washington D.C. when they were there a few months ago in the spring so I was SO happy they decided to do it all over again with me! It’s so important to do engagement photos with your own wedding photographer and I’m glad they saw the value in it 🙂 We had the BEST time and the photos are SO fantastic, I can’t even. I had the biggest smile on my face while editing these and can’t even imagine how great they’re going to look next May on their wedding day! SO many favorites 🙂 Yuri & Jessica, thank you so much for letting me take your engagement photos! I had the best time with you both and I hope you LOVE your photos as much as I do!!