welcome to the blog!

So I went back and forth on posting this, but I decided that I was just too excited and I wanted to share this process with you all. I am in the middle of planning my own wedding (surprise?) and it has been so much fun. Donna has been so involved, and coming from the work that I do, she has made sure to make it special for me every step of the way. I want to share a little about how we met, a little about her, and our amazingly perfect engagement session with my girl Jess. Buckle up friends, we’re taking a bit of a ride!

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Weddings bring people together in the strangest of ways. I photographed a wedding for a long time friend of mine last year. It was beautiful. There was a beach and a cruise ship and Mickey Mouse. What more could a gal ask for right? Well I had no idea, but I was about to see just what else this wedding would be bringing me. Now I know what you’re thinking, how on earth does this go from a cruise ship wedding to you getting married Sam? Just try to follow me through this whirlwind of a year and we’ll get there. We meet before even getting on the boat. Throw in some conversation, some serious time together, and being stuck in the ocean for a few days and you’ve got a pretty solid start to what could be a relationship for the ages. I remember sitting at home afterwards, and I just couldn’t get this woman out of my head. It was so out of character for me. I don’t swoon, I don’t do mushy stuff in my personal life, and while I love love, I just wasn’t in a place where I thought the world had it for me. I had been going through one heck of a time and I just thought this was going to be one more crazy thing. Boy was I wrong. We quickly realized this was very different. VERY different. (This is my favorite part of the story) I remember telling a friend that I never believed in “when you know you know” and that I just didn’t think a connection so deep happened so quickly. In the same breath, I also said that I now know what those feelings feel like. It felt like someone came into the room I had lived in, took a look around and turned the lights on.

Fast forward a summer of traveling back and forth, visiting and adventuring, working and tending to what the future would look like with my family, and a trip to Colorado. This would become a trip that I would never ever forget. I knew it was happening. I don’t do surprises, and my anxiety was through the roof. I just had to know, so I did a tiny bit of recon work and got the answer I was looking for. I asked the night before we boarded an airplane if proposing in Colorado was in the plans and was quickly met with shock and emotions. I kinda ruined it a bit, but I agreed to let it go now that I knew it was going to happen at some point in the trip. I had zero idea it would happen the first day we were there, so that was a treat.

She asked, I sobbed, I remembered to say yes, and there we were.

The past year has been truly insane in the best way. I have found someone who adores me as much as I adore her, she has opened her arms to the kiddos, and our worlds have combined to a really good mix. It’s been almost too good to be true, but I wouldn’t trade this feeling for the world. I can’t wait to share the wedding planning process with you all, and I know friends will be super into the sharing! Enjoy a little blip from Donna herself, and some serious engagement portraits!!

I wanted the vibe to be trendy but classy. Champagne and flowers, silk and bow ties, that sorta thing. We like to stay in and play escape room games, but we also really love cleaning up for a night on the town. When I was talking with Jess about what I envisioned for these I wanted them to just feel like us. I wanted to look back on them and smile just as big as I did in the moment. It’s safe to say Jess achieved all of that and then some, but I’ll leave that up to you all.

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From Donna,

“The first time I saw Samantha, I knew she was special. It didn’t take very long before I realized just how special and how big of a part of my life she would become. People say when you know you know, but I’ve never really put much stock into that. That was until I met Samantha… We definitely moved quickly by other people’s standards, but it just felt right to us.

The engagement session I think very much reflected that…it was…us. It’s not easy to find modern/industrial places in Erie, or so I thought. Leave it to the incredibly talented duo of Samantha and her friend/colleague Jessica Husted to prove me wrong! The locations were perfect! A mix of sunset, water, modern, industrial, and some of our favorite places. The entire process was easy for me…show up and follow directions! With the ever talented Jessica doing her photography”thing” and my beautiful fiance providing additional direction in my ear, it went quickly and we had a ton of fun! My favorite part was the champagne toast- specifically Sam getting to spray it in the air! I think the photos came out amazing, but with the stunning Samantha Hopkins as my partner (holding down the fort in the beauty and style department) and Jessica Husted’s impeccable posing, skill, and editing are any of us surprised??”.

Want to check out Jess’s work some more?? She’s one of the select few on my referral list, and we work together as much as we possibly can! I’m so excited to have her document my own wedding day, and I’d love if ya’ll showed her some love!! Find her website here!