Botanic Garden Engagement in Morgantown, WV

Hello, everyone! NEW COUPLE ALERT! Kristen and Steven had me travel to Morgantown, West Virginia last week to enjoy the WV Botanic Gardens for their engagement photos! It was a beautiful day…maybe a wee bit humid, but otherwise DRY…which is all I can ask for since this Spring has been entirely TOO rainy! I honestly couldn’t have asked for better weather and because this couple had a tight schedule to begin with, I took it as a great sign! So, before I get going too much in my Hannah way, please give these two ALL your Hannah Barlow Photography love and ENJOY! Kristen and Steven’s WV Botanic Garden engagement session is live on the blog right now!

I’d actually met AND photographed Kristen before in a wedding I did a few years back…so that’s totally fun to see a familiar face at an engagement session. AND…it was their time to shine! I polled Steven as I do ALL grooms…and he gave me the very expected response that he wasn’t the least bit excited about photo time BUT was totally willing to do it…and you just wait and see what we did! So, after giving them my pre-engagement session dissertation, I decided to use this simple spot to get their session started before we went hiking! You know, so we could all get comfy together!

Then, Kristen took me to this neat little spot! She had come the day before to scout locations!

My composition instructor would LOVE this spot for our “shape” assignment!

Then, Kristen pulled out the map and Steven watched as we realized we don’t really know how to read maps. He was the perfect gentleman and just let us wonder…AND wander! HA! We found this rhododendron patch and as a person who loves both the spring greens AND some color…I was really feeling this location! So, we spend a good amount of time here!

If I’ve ever photographed you, you’ve definitely been prompted with the “creepy kiss” pose…you know…where you have to kiss everrrrrrrr so slowly. Feels odd…and creepy (hence how the name was born). Well, Steven asked if he should keep his eyes open. I told him not to make it weird and we all had a great laugh…but GUESS WHAT. Eyes open it IS for these two! It made for the very best romantic photo!

AHHHHHHHH!!! MY HEART! This little collage below makes for some of my absolute favorites at this session!

Then, we began to hike and wander some more. We were looking for the butterfly area…and found the swamplands. The swamplands looked GOOD on these two!

See?! SO GOOD!

Then, we headed back in search of the butterfly gardens and did some dancing in this neat, little architecture spot.

I’ve been obsessed with the color (as I am most of the time) so let’s show off her ring with some black and white!

We were getting closer! More flowers…and I LOVE florals! Outfit choices 10/10!

Another collage of some of my absolute favorites!

We found the butterfly gardens! FINALLY! But also…we’d already walked by them! HA!

Then, we went hiking again! What you haven’t seen was behind the scenes…every time we made a location change they had to change shoes because…it may have been dry…but it was muddy and very “nature”. I appreciate them so much for taking the little extra time to keep their shoes clean. I didn’t have to photoshop them!

Let’s dance…we’re almost finished!

Dancing and then dip…they get an A+!

All in all, Steven said it wasn’t terrible at all!!! YAY! That’s always my goal for the men…he even took on the lead some of the time…as did Kristen…who shined! AHHHHH!! Their BLACK TIE wedding is going to be absolutely fabulous! Did I mention…BLACK TIE?! If you know me, you know that’s my FAVORITE! I’ve already got my outfit picked out and their wedding is still a year and a half from now!

…and that’s a wrap on another session! I’ve got another one coming to you this week! One more next week! AND I think one the week after that? Yep! It’s wedding season! Thanks for reading, everyone! Happy Wednesday!

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The WV Botanic Gardens in Morgantown, WV DOES require a permit and fee to photograph on their property. Please be respectful and contact them for more details if you’d also like to have a session here.

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Disclaimer: Hannah Barlow Photography engagement blogs only represent a small portion of photos the couple actually receives in their private gallery.  The blogs are meant to highlight my own favorite photos and favorite moments of the session and do not represent an entire gallery.

With permission specifically from the couple, galleries can be shared if you wish to view it in its entirely and/or order prints.

info@hannahbarlowphoto.com for more info.