Congrats Jennifer and Matt! We can’t wait for your wedding later this year!

We had a great time last night with Courtney and Matt photographing their engagement session on Jekyll Island. They were a great looking couple who were super sweet with each other. I’m totally looking forward to their wedding in June next year!

As we were heading to our cars after the session, Courtney mentioned a minor detail: She was a bride featured on TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress Atlanta! (link to episode) Whoa! So neat! I feel like we hung out with a famous person tonight! :)

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Totally my favorite from the day. Her eyes are totally saying “I love you!”

Fun fact: We removed over 100 gnats (small annoying bugs!) from this photo. They were fierce!

See more from this session at http://www.chrismoncusphoto.com/galleries/

Ice cream makes every session more fun.

When I asked them “What’s something you guys do together?”, their response was “Angry Birds!”.

See them all at http://pictage.com/998572

So ideas started flying around between Beau, me, and other SSCC staff members. The idea was for Beau and Brit to be called up on stage to tell the audience what they got out of the event. Another one of those ideas included me photographing it as it happened and Amanda videoing it.

We were set up and ready for them to be called up. It felt like an eternity. The video was set up to broadcast live so that their families (who live out of town) could watch online. In total, we saw 52 computers watching. Many of those had multiple people watching.

Well, true to the plan, they got called up. Beau answered the question with “because I want to spend the rest of my life with her” (paraphrased) and got down on one knee. She said yes! Then some of our pastors and leaders joined them on stage to pray for them as they begin their journey toward marriage. One of the people in attendance even got them a reservation at Halyards to celebrate! We followed for a couple pictures.

And now for the photos!

We joined Ashley and Jarratt on Jekyll Island at the old Amphitheater. It used to be the place to see live stage performances but hasn’t been used in years. The rusticness gave our session a great setting. Afterward we took a stroll through the Historic District, stopping at a few fun places for photos.

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So when I got the call one day from Candi I was so excited. We were open for her wedding day! After solidifying everything we began to talk engagement session. She and her fiance Laz decided to drive up from south Florida for their engagement session. After those plans were made we learned a family reunion of sorts had been formed. Scott, Candi, and their mom Lydia would all be in town the weekend of the engagement session! Awesome!

We enjoyed the time together eating and hanging out. It was just like old times.

Then on Sunday we had the engagement session on Jekyll Island. We started at converted old draw bridge (now a fishing pier) in the shadow of the new bridge that takes you onto Jekyll Island. We also spent a bit of time around the hotel and then hit Driftwood beach around sunset. They told us they wanted to use an orange for the ones at the beach. Odd. They explained that her dad told her a Spanish saying regarding soul mates was “two halves of the same orange” – something so true of them. Now it makes sense. Oranges are also a key to her wedding theme and decorations.

See them all at http://pictage.com/914970

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You might remember seeing Natalea and Ryan previously on the blog. It was theirs that got rained out until after sunset when we – on a whim – decided to do a short beach shoot at night. You can see the first part of the engagement session here. It was such a blast! We rescheduled for a few weeks later when they were back in town.

So here we are… round two. As we began to unpack our gear it started to rain. Hard. We decided to make a break for the Heritage Center near the lighthouse which has a covered porch. Here we began our session. Between showers we hopped from one covered location to the next. Finally, the rain stopped so we headed to the beach by the pier. After a couple pictures… a rainbow appeared! That’s a first to have a rainbow appear during a session. They were excited and so were we. Finally we spent some time in the village.

Natalea and Ryan were so fun. They were so full of happiness with each other that it made it easy to stand back and just take pictures. We’re looking forward to their wedding on 1/1/11 at 1:11pm. What a cool date and time to get married!

After the pictures there is a slideshow including both of their sessions.

Enjoy!

Slideshow

I am super pleased with this engagement session. Jekyll Island has great beaches that we took full advantage of. Driftwood Beach, where we began our session, is a popular site for weddings and portrait sessions. The good thing about a 6am shoot is the beaches being almost completely clear of other people. We did have one ATV drive by with college students checking on the sea turtle nests near us though.

I do want to point out one thing I was really stoked about… I got to climb a tree! The picture looking down at Ashley and Michael laying on the beach towel was taken from about 8 feet up in the air and about 12 feet out on a slippery branch. There’s nothing like a little danger to make a photo shoot a little more exciting!

Afterward we headed to the historic district to get some more images including some with their bows! They both compete in archery tournaments and wanted to incorporate this love they share into their portraits.

We can’t wait for their wedding next month!

So instead, Amanda had the idea to invite Natalea and Ryan to dinner and hang out a bit since we were all out anyway. After some bang-bang shrimp and great conversation at Bonefish Grill we walked outside to a clearing sky but fading light. Half joking I suggested we take some photos. Ryan loved the idea so we hurried over the beach right as twilight was approaching.

I’m glad we did.

In the next 30 minutes or so we had a blast capturing these two who so apparently love each other. I’m looking forward to their makeup session next month that WILL have clear skies. But until then, here’s what we got last night.

UPDATE: See part two of the engagement session here!

After spending some time there we drove to downtown Savannah to River Street by the waterfront. Though it wasn’t part of the plan, the parking garage turned out to be a nice setting and contrasted the nature we were just in. They are such a fun and happy couple and made the session so wonderful. We then headed to the waterfront for some rad photos around all of the old buildings around us.

Congrats Megan and Ryan! We can’t wait for your wedding next June!

If you want to go ahead and sign up to view their wedding photos when they are up next year, visit http://www.pictage.com/896287.

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We photographed their engagement session on a cold, rainy day in downtown Brunswick, GA. We loved that they were able to break out the umbrella for a bit. Luckily the rain did let off on the last half of the shoot. Congrats!

By the way… their wedding is this weekend. If you’d like to be notified when the photos are available and get $5 in free prints, go to http://pictage.com/876127

One thing we really liked is that they were up for anything including tromping through grass, climbing trees, and walking up sketchy staircases in back alleys. These images just make us that much more excited to photograph their wedding!

Congrats Chelsea and Malachi!

Make sure you scroll to the end to see the slideshow or go to http://www.chrismoncusphoto.com/ if you’re not already there.

As we were driving to meet Katie and Dino it started pouring rain. I had already said earlier that day that rain or shine I was doing this engagement session and came ready with rainsleeves for our cameras. I thought I was about to have to use them when the sun rejoined the party and then the couple showed up. We had clear weather the rest of the time with only a slight mist of rain that lasted only a couple minutes.

Our time together began at the Avenue of Oaks where you’ll see the tangled vines picture below. From there we headed to the pier and village area where we had to be creative with backgrounds because most of it was under construction. When it started to mist (which is neither good for hair or camera equipment) I looked for a place to get out of the rain I thought was coming. Zuzu’s was it. What happened next blew my mind. I bought them a cone of mint chocolate chip ice cream and said “ignore me” as I stepped outside. You can see for yourself below but the images we got were just bathed in love and emotion. We like all of the images we got… but the ice cream pictures… we LOVE!

It all goes to show you that sometime the photographer shouldn’t influence the couple at all, except if that influence included ice cream. :)

Enjoy.

LaRon and Kali are so great to be around. They seriously love each other and act like they’re best buds. You can see some of their joking personalities come through in these photos. This was my favorite kind of engagement session… the kind where we have to give very little direction and just let the couple be themselves.

We spent our time on Jekyll Island at this incredible engagement session. We can’t wait to shoot their wedding in Atlanta later this year. We’re soooo stoked!

Enjoy…