Mallory & Justin’s Forest Engagement Session

Happy Friday!! I’ve got one last blog and couple for you before we all head into the holiday weekend! Mallory and Justin are a new couple on the blog SO…NEW COUPLE ALERT! Please give them your warmest Hannah Barlow Photography welcome and ENJOY!

Mallory and Justin told me this was the first time they both had true, professional photos taken. No pressure, right? As always, my couples (just like these two) come out looking like they do this all the time and making my job easy. These two chose casual outfits to start and wanted a more rural feel to their engagement gallery and I knew just the place! Take a look! These were some of the first photos taken!

It didn’t take long for me to realize I could just start prompting them with the more difficult poses such as dancing and spinning. Yep! Let’s do it! Check out the back of Mallory’s shirt. It is adorable and spinning was perfect way to show it off.

I then had them dance in the forest. I heard them mumble, “we don’t dance” and that’s A OK! As I always tell my couples, “if you feel super awkward, just laugh through it because those are sometimes the best photos!” These two embraced that to the 10th power and ohhHhhHH my goodness I love the results!!!

I usually save the dip for the end of the night. BUT these two were pretty natural in front of my camera. I could totally see them making this work early in the session so I had them do both kinds of dips. I told Mallory not to let any details of her dress come out so we could keep it a surprise for Justin so we had them do both kinds so that no matter what kind of dress we see August (yes…this August) they’ll be able to execute both. This was take one and take two for both kinds of dips! We didn’t have to do a redo and they didn’t go home with any homework! WIN!

Believe it or not this was a test shot. I really liked what they were doing just looking at one another so I had them do it again and then I made it black and white!

If you’ve been in front of my camera and done the walk and snuggle, you know that I tell people not to worry about their snuggle because sometimes they are great and sometimes they don’t see the light of day. Going back to what I said before about just laughing through it, these two did just that and I actually absolutely loved the moments we caught of the snuggle but they also 100% recovered and gave me a great traditional snuggle after all. WIN on both accounts!

The hair flip for me was fun! I know it wasn’t intentional either!

In true Hannah fashion, I wanted to take them to a really random location so we snapped these right at the rear end of our cars on the edge of a parking lot.

Mallory did a quick outfit change and we changed locations. I wanted to go down by the lake but we had a lot of families enjoying their time. You know me! I get a little uncomfy in these moments when we’re being watched so we opted to go up the hill after these ones below! It was tricky keeping people out of the background too. I’m still glad we did it though I think it really fits the outfits.

… And up the top of the hill we went and did some lake gazing and I think they made pretty breathtaking black-and-whites! Yes?!

The dock was taken up at my usual location that I’m used to, so Justin introduced me to another dock I didn’t know existed and now it’s going to be a new favorite place for me! It was very private and cozy and we were able to finish off the session with these photos.

…andddddd last but not least, we had to show off this beautiful ring – complete with some dusty blue wildflowers which I was shocked to find. I love when things work themselves out! This is also a color for their wedding.

Would you believe it if I told you these two are tying the knot and becoming Mr. and Mrs. in less than three months?! That’s right! Not only are you going to get to see their beautiful, Sunday wedding but you’re also going to get to see a lot of familiar faces. I have photographed many of Mallory and Justin’s friends’ weddings and I cannot even contain my excitement to see everyone. More photos to come so check back then! It’s going to be a good one…I can FEEL it!

Thanks for reading, Happy Friday, and have a safe and wonderful holiday weekend! I’ll be back Tuesday!