I think I knew instantly from my first conversation with Danielle that I was going to enjoy photographing her and Chris. She shares my passion for photography and the importance of the printed image. She and I talked for a long while on the phone in great detail about all our ideas for the wedding photos as well as the engagement session. Fast forward 8 months (after she had her second child!!!) the engagement session is upon us! We spoke one last time on the phone the day of the session and it was clear to me she had put a great deal of planning into the session. I respect that to no end! I truly feel that the more effort you put into your engagement session the more you will get out of it. There is a fine line though, between thought and expectation. I always encourage couples (and anyone really) to put thought into the color pallet, the style, the accessories, etc. But leave the expectation of background and fine detail to the photographer. Lighting is the KEY to great photography. Not background. Background is important but background can be manipulated and it is not nearly as important as great light. You must have a certain level of trust in me as your photographer to find the great light, the amazing texture, etc to make your vision complete. If you tell me you want a rustic look and I take you down an ally way, yes you might want to tell me I drank too much tequila! LOL but if you ask for rustic and I take you to an ugly looking field with weird old crap everywhere, just have faith in me. I promise I have a vision. I promise you that my ultimate goal is to deliver you the images you’ve dreamed of and then some! This is exactly what Danielle did! She was such a delight to work with. She kept telling me how much she trusted me and she was willing to go where ever. We worked as a team. She handled the look and I handled the photography =) The result is just simply amazing when this teamwork between subject and photographer happens!

Now it was that look that I later discovered wasn’t as easy for her to arrive to as it seemed! Danielle has had her engagement photos in her mind since the day she was engaged back in August 2011! Right down to the colors. Of course once you add a Man into that equation it never ever quite works out just how you planned. After a late night trip (the night before) to get Chris some new clothes they ended up with a completely different color combination than Danielle had originally envisioned. But the amazing thing is that through her passion for an amazing result she worked some magic and came up with great outfits with complimenting colors that really gave the photos some character and pop!

Danielle and Chris have been together nearly 6 years. It will actually be exactly 6 years on their wedding day! (I love that!) and Danielle was telling me that it took an entire year for them to even begin dating! They met on July 28th exactly 1 year before they began dating. So the day they marry it will be exactly 7 years since they met and 6 years they’ve spent as a couple. I just love the idea of a couple getting married on their anniversary date. So sweet!

So ladies if you aren’t dating anyone make sure you wait until the month you want to get married to make it official 😉 jk!

A big part of Danielle and Chris’ relationship involves riding their motorcycles. They really wanted to incorporate their Harley in some of the photos….. and you know me, I was SOOOOO happy to oblige!!! In fact my pinterest was on overdrive in the weeks leading up to their session! My creative wheels were on overdrive I was so excited!!!

Like I mentioned before, Danielle has had a vision for this session for a very long time. She wanted to incorporate one of the wedding colors which was this light green color and she wanted to do a love sign. So she went to Michaels and got all the supplies to make a sign and she used modge podg, scrapbook paper and hand painted the “o” with words that represented her and Chris. Then she strung them together with green ribbon.

…..Chris must be madly in love with Danielle because he took these photos with out a complaint! My Husband would roll his eyes and tell me to go kick rocks!
After we left the ally way we headed up to the other side of Petaluma in search for the most amazing tree that was ripped right from my dreams!!!