Kenny and I finally had our engagement photos taken weekend before last, and we are SO in love with how they turned out! Our photographer is Aubrey Gee of Wild Heart Films, and she is phenomenal. The manager of our reception venue put me in contact with a photographer who has done a lot of work there, so I had contacted him first. He ended up being booked for our wedding date, but recommended several other photographers, including Aubrey because they have worked together in the past. Her work really stood out to me, and I'm SO I got put in connection with her!
Aubrey's style is darker and moodier than "typical" wedding photographers, and I love that her portfolio is unique and not just another collection of posed, light-and-airy photos of wedding attendants lined up in front of a church. She works with rich colors, depth of space, intriguing texture, and creative cropping. She does amazing editorial shots, and every photo she takes looks like it belongs in a magazine.
I first met her IRL back in January when she invited me to be part of a styled/boudoir shoot that she (blog post about that shoot here!), but Kenny had never met her before, so I was excited for them to meet and to get to see her again.
She also brought along her daughter Callie, who JUST turned 17 and is so so talented as a photographer and videographer! Callie took some video clips to make this behind-the-scenes video of the shoot. Scroll down to the end of this post to see it!
Choosing a place to have our photos taken was the hardest part! In Virginia, we have the luxury of having so many beautiful places to visit, and in this case, take photos. My vision for the shoot was just for Kenny and I to be really dressed up in somewhere completely inappropriate to be wearing what we were wearing; I thought it'd be a really stunning juxtaposition. We finally narrowed down our options to a couple of mountain overlooks, a state park, and a wildflower farm. We didn't decide where to go until the morning of the shoot, and ultimately planned on going to Thunder Ridge Overlook, which is on the Blue Ridge Parkway and part of the Appalachian Trail. I had researched a few different overlooks and that one was my favorite by far, plus it seemed the least likely to be crowded with people since we were taking the photos on Father's Day.
Thunder Ridge was absolutely beautiful! The views are impossible to capture in a photograph, but these are about as good as it gets. We did run into several hikers while we were up there (and a couple of forest rangers inspecting a partially-burned "dad" sweatshirt...yikes), but had the place to ourselves for the most part.
While we were up there, Aubrey told us that her gas light had come on when they were on the way to the overlook, and my heart dropped! We were about 30 miles and an hour's worth of driving outside of the Buena Vista which is the nearest town. On our way back down the mountain, Kenny and I kept a close eye on her car to make sure that she didn't run out of gas, and AMAZINGLY she made it to the gas station! *phew*
The next day, she sent me a few previews of the photos and I could NOT wait to see the rest! Luckily I barely had to wait at all, because Aubrey sent me the whole album the day after that! She told me that she tends to over-deliver, and she wasn't kidding! She took a good variety of posed shots, candids, and cool, editorial shots. Kenny and I couldn't stop looking at them after she sent them! I'm so glad that he loves them too, because we're both pretty picky about how we look in photos, so to please both of us at the same time is a rare feat.
Getting these shots back made me even MORE certain that I made the 100% best decision possible in choosing Aubrey as our wedding photographer. She makes it seem like taking Vogue-worthy photos is the easiest job in the world, and being around her, you can truly feel her love for what she does.
Video time! 😍🎬
I hope you loved the photos even half as much as I did, and if it isn't already clear, Aubrey is a goddess behind the lens 🙌 I don't know how our wedding photos could possibly be better than these, but I know she'll pull it off.
I hope you're having a gorgeous week!
xoxx, Laura
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