I ran into Kristen at the mall just days before my wedding last fall when she told me the real reason she had RSVPed “no”… she was going to Atlanta… to meet a guy.  “Wait, what?  You’re ditching my wedding for a guy??”  Now, before you get all defensive about me giving her a hard time, you must understand our friendship.  It’s bathed in sarcasm.  And it’s full of nothing but love!  So, I no more had that sentence out of my mouth than her friends that were with her jumped in to her defense (see, they didn’t know me back then!).  “Nonono!” they cried!  “This is a good thing!”

Kristen had been introduced to Brad via Ben (of Ben and Joanna) because they had been roommates back in Florida.  So, while Kristen and Brad had been getting to know each other via email and phone for a couple of months, they had yet to meet in person.  Brad works with the Boyscouts of America and Kristen works with Upward Sports and without going into the details of their jobs, it basically means that they’re both very busy and not always in town.  So, when Kristen explained to me that November 5 was the only day they could meet in person before the holidays, I shook my head at her with a smile and said, “If you must.” :-)

Their wedding is in 15 days and I’m SO excited!  We knew we were cutting it close on time with their engagement pictures, but if you remember from above… they’re both crazy busy.  And I’m not fully sure what I was thinking, but I brought up the idea to Kristen about doing their session at sunrise.  Kristen didn’t think much of it because ever since I’ve known her, she’s gone to bed at like 9pm and gotten up way earlier than I will on any kind of regular basis.  And apparently Brad was completely game from the beginning.  So, last weekend, they met me (with Starbucks in hand!) and we had such an amazing session.  These two are HIL-AR-EE-OUS!  I don’t know that I’ve ever laughed so much at a session before.  It makes me that much more excited for your wedding!

Thank you guys for such an amazing morning.  I hope you know that it wasn’t just the light that was incredible, but you two made it incredibly worth it to get up before the sun.

I’ve been wanting to shoot in this field forever. I’m so glad they were game to venture into wet grass for these shots!

Ahh… the clouds, the light, the tall grass, the lovely couple… it doesn’t get much better than this.

 

We then ventured over to where Brad proposed.  I’d heard the story, but somehow had missed that he’d lit over 200 tea light candles as the path for Kristen to walk!

 

One of the best things about you guys is how you make each other laugh… don’t ever stop doing that :-)

Kristen, your red hair and blue eyes…?  Well, they’re to die for.

 

Dear light at sunrise… you complete me.

There’s that laughter again!

Brad, excellent job on the bling, my friend.

So, these last few pictures were a lot of fun.  Kristen has always been, how do you say… “passionate” about Kentucky.
(Un)Lucky for her, Brad is just as passionate about Florida.

 

They kept holding up “#1” with their fingers and then promising to not do it.
I think it was at this point that I was laughing hysterically at their antics.  It’s amazing these came out so in focus!

 

I’ll end on these two… they wanted to mimic their rivalry… and man!  Maybe y’all should take up acting on the side :-)

Just 15 more days!!