There’s no way to talk about Amy and Neal without gushing.

Amy was referred to me by Danielle, whose wedding and engagement I shot in 2004, and who now makes amazing custom lamps which can be found at Blue Hand Home in Wilmington, and Nube Green in Washington state. It won’t be long before her work is shown in more major cities and states – she’s amazing. I have been meaning to create a blog post just about her work, and of course because I’m lame I haven’t done it yet… but this will be a good kick in the pants to get that done. Because I owe her. Yeah, she totally posted an out of this world article about me on her blog a while back… it almost made me cry when I read it. Wow do I love her.

Now, Amy and Neal are friends of Danielle’s, which means they’re automatically my friends. Which makes perfect sense, because when I first met Amy it was like kismet. She is the BEST. She’s hilarious, hyper, scattered, and wonderful. I love her. I didn’t meet Neal until the day of the session, and he was a tad under the weather, but he is the perfect match for Amy. The yin to her yang. They were wonderful to be around, and were such a gorgeous visual reminder to me of how great love can be. Not that I’m not reminded of that every day… it’s just nice to see “outside”… you know?

On to the PICTURES!

How cute is Elizabeth? She contacted me a few months ago about their Oak Island wedding next June. Dan and Elizabeth live in Chicago, but her family has vacationed at Oak Island for years, and it’s become a second home for her. From the early planning ideas, I can say that this wedding will be incredible – casual, elegant, and filled with meaning.

I’m really excited to get these two back in front of the camera next year. They’re absolutely adorable, funny, and so easy to get along with.

Anyway, I realized recently that I never blogged their engagement session. Here are a few images from that day in July of 2009, not far from where they lived in Crozet… back when they were living the simple life.

Their wedding is coming up fast! Late June in Richmond, where the fabulous Stephen Seward will join me to photograph their two-day event. For now, we’ll have to be satisfied with a few romantic images from their engagement session, at the sparse (we were a bit early in the season for the foliage!) but still lovely Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond.

This was just a quick session to grab images for their Save the Date cards. The “real” engagement session is coming up in the next few days!