This sweet couple from Alabama is incredibly kind-hearted and in love with each other and with life. Jessica has something in common with John and I: we’re all wedding photographers (see her beautiful work here). I tend to get a bit nervous when a fellow Photographer asks us to take photos. But when another professional Photographer sees something that stands out in our work, our nerves quickly transform into humbleness and gratitude. That was the case with Jessica and Blake. During our first email conversations, Jessica expressed her appreciation for our work so beautifully that it truly left us without words. When we told her that we were available to photograph their Anniversary Session her reply was “Ahhhh I just did a little happy dance!! You absolutely made my day!!! I am over-the-moon excited you guys are free!”. We were so excited for their Anniversary Session to arrive! There aren’t enough wonderful things to say about this SWEET couple!! Thank you Jessica and Blake for choosing us to photograph your Anniversary Session during your stay in California!:) Below are a few of our favorite moments captured during our time together. We hope you enjoy viewing these photographs as much as we did capturing them!
From Jessica: I was 14 when a friend of mine gave me Blake’s number and told me I should call him. I was probably a little too out-going for my own good, and thought it wouldn’t hurt to call a complete stranger…so I did. What could have been an incredibly awkward conversation turned into a lot of nights spent talking and texting until I couldn’t keep my eyes open a second longer. When summertime rolled around, we decided we should meet. I was camping with my family for most of the summer, and Blake had family camping nearby, so we set up a time and place to meet. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the ugly purple tank top I was wearing, or his yellow hat…I have forgotten so many things over the past 10 years, but somehow that moment is seared into my mind. We spent that summer on the lake, riding jet skis, swimming, laying in a hammock next to the water. He kissed me for the very first time on the 4th of July. There were fireworks (no, really), and about the time I realized he was going to kiss me, I found out the hard way I was sitting next to an ant bed…I think I had 17 ant bites on my arm, but I couldn’t move. I just couldn’t. It was probably the best summer of my life. And of course, I was crazy-head-over-heels in love with him, in a way that only 14 year olds could be.About 6 months later his parents told him we couldn’t see each other anymore. They said I was too young, although I’m not sure why it took them six months to get concerned about that 😉 We split up close to Christmas, and I was heartbroken. I was probably way too dramatic, but then again, I was a teenage girl. Fast-forward 3 years later, and we bump into each other again. He was in college at Auburn, and I was starting my senior year of high school. I was looking for tickets to the Iron Bowl (and if you don’t know what that is, it’s ok–but only because you live in California and probably don’t live and breathe college football)…I was going to the game with the guy I was dating at that time. Blake and I were friends on Facebook, and when I posted a Facebook status asking if anyone had tickets for sale, he sent me a message. When I went to pick them up, we started talking, filling each other in on the past 3 years of our lives. It was like talking to your long lost best friend…and I knew when I left his house that I wouldn’t be seeing the guy I was getting the tickets for again. That’s probably a terrible thing to admit, but it’s the truth. We went to the game together, it was incredibly awkward, and I broke things off as soon as we got back to north Alabama. I had to take the Blake’s student ID back to him (the tickets were linked to his ID, in case that made no sense)…and we fell right back into the swing of things. When I graduated from high school, I moved to Auburn…and a few years later, when he graduated from Auburn, he bought a house in my hometown and asked me to marry him. And the rest, as they say, is history 🙂
