Lovey Wheeling Engagement Photos

Hey HEYYYYYYYYYYY, everyone!  OoOOo my goodness ME!  I’m BACK at it!! Well, I WAS for a hot second, at least!  AHHH!!!  Can you believe it’s been TWO MONTHS since my last engagement session or wedding blog?!  Insane, right?!  Well, here I am!!  Times are tough (especially for extroverts like myself) but I’m powering through.  I promised to keep social distancing in mind (which I failed miserably with at this session) but these two were coming up from southern West Virginia just for their engagement photos so we made it work!  Due to everything going on right now, this will be my last session for a few weeks and then I’ll reevaluate when the times comes.  But…on a happier note, are all my loyal blog readers ready?!  I know Kassie is ready to see her beautiful photos!  So…let’s do this!! Everyone, meet Kassie and Dylan!  They’re not so “new” to the blogs but this is their first official blog post where they get to shine center stage!  Say “Hello” and give them all your Hannah Barlow Photography love!

So, here is a funny backstory.  I had actually met Dylan at Amy and Logan’s wedding (HERE) and crossed paths with Kassie at the reception  (I don’t recall us having a conversation though…maybe I’m wrong).  I knew Kassie and I had mutual friends/brides (Hey, Lindsey and Amy!) and she was the absolutely sweetest when she reached out about her wedding and booked me saying all kinds of sweet things!  So, yea…I knew they had attended that wedding back in 2018 BUT my mind completely blanked when it came to Dylan being a member of that bridal party!! We had a good laugh after he reminded me at this engagement session.  In my defense, people look different when dressed up ANDDDDD Logan made me promise to make it short and sweet with photo time with the guys and I did JUST that on that chilly October day!  So, check them out…AND YES…that’s THREE Hannah Barlow Photography grooms together in ONE photo!! WOOOO!  I was group texting Kassie, Lindsey and Amy yesterday and told them that I was SO pumped those three just happened to stand together for this photo because we’re totally redoing these at EVERY wedding anddddddd redoing a really funny “woooooooo” party photo (which had us all cracking up yesterday….).  I’ll save that for Lindsey and Zack’s wedding blog in June though!  So, here they are!

I always have “those moments” when I don’t remember or recognize people I’ve seen or met at previous weddings!  Many times aunts or guests will come up and talk to me and have to remind me where I met them previously (I’m seriously the worst).  BUT  I’m 100% sure Kari would have known exactly which groomsman Dylan was AND all the fun facts about him from this wedding!  Me?  Not so much…seriously, I’m the worst!! BUT…when I went through this wedding yesterday and I saw this set of “personality shots,” I totally had a light bulb moment!  Out of all of Logan’s groomsman, I now remember Dylan being one of the only ones who truly went for the personality shot…complete with a beer in his pocket!  It was a great moment!  Even Logan was surprised and I remember cracking up over it.  I also think Dylan was one of the ones to go last!  NAILED IT.  The irony too…”We’re going to need a lot of drinks to get through these photos”.  HA!

Alright!! Enough Hannah rambling!  Let’s fast forward to their engagement session! YAY!  First things first, we had to get Jax in on the photos, right?!  He was the star in these photos (sorry, you two…it’s true).  He was willing and ready!  I did make my “famous” Hannah sound I do to get someone’s attention and he went wild…so, I had to tone it down a bit and then he just stood there and smiled for the camera!!  It was perfect!!  They also talked about him in their survey and I’ll tell you all about that here in a bit too!  Meet Jax, everyone!

HUGE shoutout to these two for helping with Jax while we finished the rest of the photos!  Yep.  They are carrying him to keep him from getting muddy!  I didn’t “officially” get to meet and talk to them like I’d like because I knew we were racing sunset but this is Dylan’s brother and his girlfriend!  Thanks, you two!! AND thank you to Ashleigh for catching this behind the scenes photo!

Alright!  So, I gave Kassie and Dylan my usual speech about arm placement and laughing through the awkwardness while I take photos and all that jazz…you know, my usual Hannah speech at the beginning of any session.  Ashleigh was there with me too shooting from the side BECAUSE she’s going to be second shooting this year too now!! EEEEKKK!! That’s right!! I have 26 more weddings to go so we needed enough people to be by my side this year! So, that photo on the left (below) is Ashleigh’s FIRST official photo she took that will be delivered to a client!! WOOOO!  But anyway, I asked Dylan my 1-10 groom question (you know…the one about how much you hate having your photo taken) and he did NOT hesitate to give me a solid and firm “10”.  I didn’t even get to the part that breaks the scale down more and explains, “zero being you love it and ten being you’d rather have your fingernails removed with pliers”.  He just gave me a quick 10!  Alrighty then!  Kassie even mentioned in her survey that he’ll tell me he’d prefer having his fingernails removed which I actually LOVED because that means they’ve talked to prior Hannah Barlow Photography clients about my “scale” I give all grooms AND I can only imagine is was Logan who told him this (I’m on to you, man).  HA!  Seriously, it made me smile!  Dylan also mentioned later in the session that Zack told him make sure he didn’t have his phone in his pocket and I’m digitally hugging ALL the HBP grooms for being the BEST ever!! AHHHH!!!!

BUT ANYWAY…Alright!  Let’s do this then!  It’s all good.  As you all know, my husband is exactly the same way so you can imagine how much I was cracking up in my office yesterday when I searched through the hundreds of reception photos from Amy and Logan’s wedding and didn’t find Dylan in one…not one photo.  Well, that’s not exactly true…I did find him in ONE but he was off to the side…more on that later!  That was exactly my husband at our own wedding too…never appeared on the dance floor.  OooO boy.  What are we going to do with these men?!  Well, we’re going to take pretty pictures anyway, right?!  AND it’s my goal to make them as painless as possible for the guys…I hope I met that mark!! JUST LOOOK!!!! AHHH!!

Times are tough for extroverts like me who LOVE people!  “Hannah, this is NOT “social distancing”.  You ALL know I’m very hands on with photo time.  Yep!  I promised myself I would do my best to follow all these rules for social distancing.  Ashleigh clearly caught me at my low point.  I JUST CAN’T HELP IT.  And yes…that’s my boot.  Oy.  We learned real quick that I’m going to have a real hard time being “quiet” in churches with that thing. OoOoOO boy!  This was a totally fun “behind the scenes photo though!! Thanks, Ash!

Can you tell how excited I am to be taking pictures again and blogging?!  I’m getting so excited with this one too!  I need to FOCUS!  You ALL know I love a good back story and details!  I just read some of their couple fun facts survey and my heart is FULL!  These two went to high school together (a few years apart) but didn’t actually “meet” until college!  Kassie tells me it went from one night of chatting at a party her freshman year to multiple texts over a number of months and then another meet up.  That particular meet up led to Dylan meeting Kassie’s parents and then going to see Kassie almost every weekend after that!  Aren’t they so “cozy” together?!  Kassie had texted me about their color choices and I was all “YESSSSSSS, girl…YESSSSS”!  It looks even better in photos than I had imagined too!!! EEEKKK!!!  Ash took the bottom right photo (below).  Gotta give credit where credit is due!

Dylan, for someone who doesn’t love his picture taken, you get an A++ for this!  EEEKKKKKK!!!  This one below is one of my favorites!  Also, it was REALLY chilly and somehow Kassie managed to look warm the entire time without ever putting a jacket on!  She did giggle and mention that she was ok with all this posing because Dylan was keeping her warm.  And that…is when my wedding photographer heart explodes.  OoOO WAIT!  I’ve read more of their survery…and I QUOTE… “Just as a heads up Dylan and I wrote these totally separate! We haven’t even read what the other has written.”  AHHHHHHH!!! So, here we go!  Kassie described Dylan as the most wonderful person (admitting she MAY be just a wee bit biased) and her biggest supporter!  She said he has more of a tough guy exterior but is a big softy on the inside.  I can totally agree with that too.  I see it!  From a professional wedding vendor perspective, he’s exactly what I like to see in one of my clients.  He knows what he likes and doesn’t like but is a total gentleman through it all letting me do my job and getting these photos for the two of them!  Kassie also threw in that Dylan is the best doggy dad ever and makes her excited for the future (but did mention during this point in the shoot that it’d be at least 8 years….sorry, mom).  HA!

That brings me to Dylan and I’ll keep it short and sweet in my summary.  I figure I’ll get extra brownie points that way, right?!  Dylan explained that Kassie always cares for everyone else and that’s why she chose a profession where she’d always be helping other people.  He said she even goes so far as to come home from a long day and still make sure he is happy and had a good day himself.  He also mentioned how much he enjoys watching her be a mom to their fur baby, Jax, and how eager (his words) it makes them for their future!  Then, just like any guy would do…he threw in there that she makes Friday nights fun even with her bad attempts at being funny!! AHHHHHHH!!!!!  Where’s the swoon emoji?!  I need to make my own…for real!  Who knows how to make GIFs?  We need to talk!

Just look at them!!  Ash took the one creeping behind the tree photo!  ALL my assistants are the best creepers!  It’s probably because I’m constantly in their way though! HA!

Detail photos at the engagement session?!  YES, PLEASE!  Kassie even asked, “That’s the correct date, right?!”  Here I was thinking, “Well, I sure hope so…it IS on the watch AND what I remember being in my system!”  The way that ring twirls around is going to make for some good standing up invitation shots, I tell ya!  She’s also having lots of greenery at her wedding so I figured it was fitting to add in some boxwood, right?!

…and then…*drum roll*…we got that sunset!  Kassie and I chatted a good bit about location….and details about this session.  She definitely wanted brick and stone.  I knew just the place!  She also wanted a sunset…which can be a little stressful for a wedding photographer like me who likes to gives her couples ALL the things they ask for…ughhhhh.  The color just wasn’t what I wanted it to be once we got to my first location.  So, we decided to drive to a different one BUT once we got to our cars….I saw this spot and thought, “Yep….I can make this work!”.  Voila!!!  A sunset silhouette photo! WEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

This was the moment my “Hannah” really came out.  Those of you who have seen me at a wedding know what’s about to happen.  I get crazy ideas and then I start getting excited…then I start laying in the wet grass.  That’s right!  So, I didn’t really dress “professionally” for this shoot.  Why?  Well, because I knew I’d have a jacket on the whole time (well, I thought I would).  So, there I was…taking my jacket off so I didn’t ruin it in the mud and I had my green St. Patty’s day t-shirt on with a grey “casual” jacket on.  It worked though!  I got down and low and was able to get that purple in the photo….because I LOVE a good sunset photo with purple!!!!  AND I had them dance….because we HAVE To dance at sessions, right?!  It makes me so happy!

…keeping up with variety!  I switched things up a bit!  These two had to drive ALL the way back home putting their ETA at about midnight so I’m sure Dylan was cussing me in his head when I kept saying “one more…wait…one more…nope….grand finale…wait one more!”.  You ALL can hear me saying it, right?!  BUT LOOK!!!! I felt like this was just the perfect way to end the night, right?!  OoOO my goodness….THESE TWO!

Yep.  That’s it!! That’s a wrap!  Gosh, I had so much fun at this shoot.  It felt SO good to be back behind the camera and I’m so sad that it’s going to be a while again before I do it again.  We’ll ALL get through this!  The world will keep spinning.  I want you all to reach out to me if you need me!  Kassie and Dylan, thanks for coming all the way up here to give me some wedding photographer joy in these uncertain times.  Thanks for laughing.  Dylan, thanks for putting up with me (again). OoooooOoo AND WAIT!! Before I go, I’ve got some “fun” photos to show you!  So, as I was sifting through all those reception photos from 2018, I literally was finding photos of just a little bit of Kassie.  She’d be on the left side of the frame…or the right side….but I couldn’t find one of all of her…until I found this gem!! Talk about being ready to be the next one to get married!! Get it, girl!!! (Black dress with flowers, of course).  She was ready to catch that bouquet!

Then, to follow that one up…I can’t even stop laughing.  Here is the ONLY photo I found with Dylan in it…and he looks totally excited Kassie wasn’t the one to catch the bouquet!! HA!! (Far left of the photo below).  You KNOW I’m going to circle back around with these when their wedding blog goes up!! Ooooo yes!

Seriously though, this was the perfect blog for me right now!! It had a great backstory and I had the photos to prove it!! It had an amazing couple I’m going to get to spend ALL kinds of time with!  Lindsey and Zack are getting married in June so you’ll be seeing these two (and Amy and Logan) again AND THEN Kassie and Dylan will tie the knot next May!  EEEEKKKKKKK!!!  It’s going to be Hannah Barlow Photography blog MADNESS!  I know these guys are going to give us “that look” because we’ve got ALL kinds of photos planned.  We’re definitely getting a photo of all three couples together AND if I’m lucky, I’ll be able to get in on one too!  We’re also planning to redo some of the photos over and over again so, of course, I can put them side by side in the wedding blogs!! EEEEKKKKKKKK!!!! I can’t even wait!! I need more excitement in my life.  Down season and coronavirus need to GO!  But really, I’m thanking my lucky stars I get to spend time with people like this…it’s going to be amazing!

Bring on the weddings…PLEASE!  Thanks for reading, everyone!!! Happy Tuesday!