Last week we got to travel to Colorado for Alyssa and Shawn’s engagement photos. If you haven’t been to Colorado, you should definitely go. Alyssa is job training in Fort Collins, CO, for half a year and loves the landscapes so much that she wanted their engagement photos taken there. Honestly, we were thrilled when we heard this news. Nothing wrong with standard park and Arch pictures, but we live for and crave stories and sentiment. Being newly engaged, completing training for a job that you recently graduated college for, and living in a new place far from home and full of natural beauty… these all individually are great and meaningful epochs in life. But getting to combine all of them and celebrate them with photos… could timing have worked out more perfectly? We don’t really think so!
We talked with Alyssa and Shawn for a couple of weeks, sharing location ideas and conspiring to create the best possible photo session. Timing and distance were no match for our desire to execute amazing engagement portraits and capture the natural beauty of Colorado. We finally all agreed that The Paint Mines and The Garden of the Gods were the most epic options in a manageable distance from one another. I want to throw in that Colorado is going through some serious dry spells and forest fires. Like, it apparently hadn’t rained in weeks… until the day of our session, of course. It rained a lot and it rained hard, but cleared up within mere minutes of Alyssa and Shawn arriving and made the sky beautiful and the temperature tolerable. Everything worked out insanely perfectly. Even their dog, Bea, made it all the way from St. Louis to be a part of the session!
Alyssa and Shawn are both active and playful. They love hiking, nature, adventure – the works. When we took them to The Garden of the Gods, I thought I would have to coax them into climbing the giant narrow rocks. I didn’t. They might be legit rock climbers, I can’t say for sure. I just know that I hardly had to suggest it and within seconds they were at the top of the tallest peak, playfully flirting with each other. Shawn even LIFTED Alyssa up for a romantic (and terrifying) embrace. As good as they were at rock climbing, though, they were terrible at keeping a straight face. They were giggling, laughing out loud, doubling over… I think we got one serious faced picture. I’m not complaining. Their joy is absolutely contagious and it makes me so happy to see two people in that sort of love. The kind of love that makes your ribs soft and your heart warm. We can’t wait to take more pictures of them laughing together on their wedding day and we’re so grateful to have been able to explore Colorado with them!
#KnightInShawningArmour
