Oglebay Lights Engagement Session | WV Wedding Photography

Happy New Year, everyone!  I have a new couple I’d love for you to meet and I just happened to meet them on New Year’s Day…that’s when we shot these beauties!  Everyone…meet Addie (Adeline) and Camden!

Enjoy!

When Addie and I first started talking about her engagement session, she knew she wanted to incorporate Oglebay’s famous light display!  By the time we starting hashing out dates, I was fully booked for 2018.  Whomp. Whomp.  BUT…after a reminder from her and a few emails and calls on my end, I found out they would still have them lit one last time on January 1st!  So, we shot these…that’s right…on New Year’s Day.  Let me tell you…it was SO much warmer than New Year’s Day 2018.  Last year it was -8…and I stood on a frozen lake.  I’m very thankful this one was much warmer!  So, while we were waiting for the sun to set just a little bit more so all the lights would come on…we played around at the mansion!

I did my usual speech pre-session and Camden gave me a solid and honest “8” on my scale of how much he loved having his photo taken (and 8 isn’t so good…in case you’re new to the blogs).  HA!  He said he’d be good for about five photos and then we’d call it.  OooooOooO boy.  My other Hannah Barlow Photography grooms are just nodding in agreement and shaking their heads all at the same time.  They’re probably saying out loud, “Dude, you’re doomed”…which is what I was thinking at the time!  Nonetheless, he took this seriously for Addie and when I said…”walk slowly”…he nearly dragged Addie to slow down and we had some really great laughs and moments captured!

See?  This was only about 5-10 minutes into the session and they were already looking natural and smiling!  He follows directions well.  I love it!  When Addie was hesitant about locations and poses, he told it to me straight.  I love this combination or personalities!  He also asked me if the guys could do some “blooper” poses at the wedding.  Ummmm….yes.  Yes…please!  When my grooms actually WANT to request something and have it documented…I’m all in!

We were waiting on their fur baby to arrive (huge shoutout to her Dad, Craig, for bringing her along).  I found this little nook and kind of loved the simplicity of it all.  It was also what we photographer’s call “blue hour”.  That’s when the sun has completely set so there’s no warm sun anymore…just blue light.  I bring this up because I later read their couple fun facts survey and learned that Camden has a secret sweet side.  Little did Addie know…over the years, the gifts he was purchasing for her had meaning.

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue.

Who is swooning before even reading the extra details?!  Raise those hands!  He gave her a locket with her late grandmother’s photo (something old).  He then gave her blue converse shoes on her birthday (something blue).  He bought her their fur baby (pictured soon) as the something new….AND THEN…he wrote out a letter explaining all this and gave her her grandmother’s engagement ring when he popped the question.  That was the something borrowed and something her Pappap had offered him.  OMG.  Grab the tissues.  I need a tissue!  I mean…I’ve typed a lot of great, true stories…but that one is REALLY special!  I had even commented on her ring during the session.  She probably though I was crazy but I don’t read the couple fun facts surveys until well after I’m done with the session.  That way I can form my own thoughts for the blog.  What my couples give me in that survey  is just extra because you all know I ALWAYS have plenty to say!  NOW…I know why I was drawn to that ring though…I’m an old lady at heart and I love vintage things like that!  I can’t wait to photograph it up close at the wedding in June! EEEEKKK!

So, anyway…these three below are some of my favorites!

THEN, Winnie showed up!  She’s the first dog that didn’t try to lick my camera! HA!  I’d say she’d rate a solid 10 on how much she loves her photo taken!! All she wanted was the food Addie’s dad had on him and we wouldn’t let her! HA!

I love this part of the session when we get all those nerves loose and get comfortable.  I don’t know why…I really like this photo.  Probably because of the memory of taking it!  Camden was poking fun at me when I was doing my test shots so he was posing.  He also joked earlier he used to be a model (he wasn’t) so he showed me his model pose! HA!  He also told me his name was Maximus.  OooOo boy.  I’m envisioning what the wedding day will be like!

It was the last day of the lights and I LOVE the lights!  We got creative and veered from the normal Hannah Barlow Photography feel.  Addie’s also got the best feet placement if I do say so!  Check them out!

Then, Camden suggested they gaze into the lights!  I like it!

Then, we took a walk and they got snuggly by the Christmas trees!

…and we took one more while I squatted behind this tree!! THIS one is one of my favorites too!

Addie really wanted photos in the tunnel too.  I was afraid the colored ones wouldn’t show up so we scouted out the snowflake tunnel!  We had to run and avoid cars (luckily there weren’t many this night).  I even had to photoshop one car out but we did it…we got it!

…and for the grand finale…Addie jumped into his arms and said, “Lift me up!” ..It was the PERFECT last photo of the night…right before that car came around the corner! HA!

That’s it!! That’s the first of many engagement session blogs this month!  I hope you all enjoyed!

Addie and Camden are tying the not at the end of June in Wheeling and celebrating at River City!  Hopefully we don’t have record high temps again this year but I’ll take it as long as it doesn’t rain!  2018 was SO RAINY! GAH!

Happy Thursday, everyone!