Winter Engagement Pictures :: Lunda + Jonathan :: What happens in Vegas doesn't always stay there

Imagine if you will the scene up on the roof bar at Tao Nightclub in Las Vegas.

A batchelorette party is celebrating the impending marriage of the bride-to-be.

There's drinking and dancing and maybe a table of Russian guys involved....what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas right?

A batchelor party is celebrating the impending marriage of the groom-to-be.

Of course it makes sense to get some picture of the bride-to-be with the groom-to-be. And the batchelor group starts talking to the batchelorette group.

Lunda is introduced to "Romeo" who asks if he can buy her a drink. Lunda politely declines, in her words "who in their right mind accepts a drink from a Romeo?!" Little did Lunda know that his name really IS Romeo - Jonathan Romeo. Jonathan is a gentleman and he gets Lunda a drink anyway and they start talking. Fast forward a few hours, the club is closing and Jonathan and Lunda are still talking. Lunda thinks "Uh oh, I'm in trouble as I kind of like him"

Jonathan/Romeo texts Lunda and both groups meet up at the pool. Jonathan is on the phone - trying to change his plane ticket to stay longer in Vegas but it's not happening. Later on that night in Planet Hollywood Lunda and Jonathan talk and dance. Jonathan leaves at 7am for his flight after they spend all night talking some more. Before I continue this story, let's have a little commercial break and check out some winter engagement pictures of the aforementioned couple - yes it is possible to do engagement photos in the snow!

Taking some inspiration from the current j.crew catalogue:

I'm quite a big believer in NOT having crazy actions and effects and textures on your photographs - wedding pictures are obviously for you but they're also for your children and your children's children - so they should be somewhat timeless. But engagement pictures are a whole other category of fun - getting you comfortable in front of the camera, kind of like a dressed-up date with the paparazzi (me) in tow. With all the snow, I went for a sort of whimsical winter wonderland effect - thoughts?

Rocking it out with a little late afternoon sun flare:

Let's get back to our story - did I mention Lunda is engaged (don't worry, she wasn't the bride-to-be in Vegas!) and lives in TX and Jonathan is in a relationship and lives in MA so nothing happens other than some pretty intense talking and they agree to just keep talking on the phone until his plane takes off - what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas - remember? And they agree to keep talking until he lands in Boston...and then until Lunda leaves Vegas....and then until she lands in Texas.

Fast forward one month later. Lunda and Jonathan are now both out of their relationships and Lunda visits Boston to stay with one of her best friends from college, Courtney. Long story short - Lunda decides to get a new job and move to Boston to room with Courtney.

Jonathan takes Lunda to Saratoga Springs to watch the horse racing and meet his parents and sister. They tell each other "I love you" but wait - we're coming up to the best part of the story! Paul and I went to Saratoga for the races (Paul works with Jonathan and has a share in a racehorse with Jonathan's dad) and so we got to meet Lunda too! I bet if you asked Lunda what she remembers best about that weekend in Saratoga she'd tell you it was meeting me and Paul. In fact, perhaps that's why they're getting married there in August next year.....and I was delighted when they asked me to photograph their wedding!

Sometimes it's good that what happens in Vegas moves to Boston....

And back to the pictures...how cute are these two?

Here's an example of a paparazzi style shot, I think I was kneeling in the snow behind some stupid big tree for this one but I like the framing:

After some sitting in the snow and then some lying in the snow for snow angels, I figured we had just a few more minutes before hypothermia set in.

Lunda is great because she laughs at pretty much everything I say (regardless of whether I'm being intentionally funny). In the middle picture below I was all "Oooh - I know - do an upside down spiderman kiss" which I guess is harder than it looks in the movie. That Toby Maguire obviously has some mad upside down kissing skills. Lunda asked if Eskimo kisses might work instead and this was just the final straw for Jonathan who declared he was done with this whole picture thing. Good job for lasting as long as you did Jonathan!


The sun went down about 15 minutes later and Jonathan had warmed up a little bit so we took advantage of the twinkly lights in Plaistow, NH...

Backyard + Snow + Twinkly lights near the town hall + Cute couple in love = Magical pictures :)


In the picture above and the next one I'm rocking the video light plus a Brinkmann xenon gun light:

I cannot WAIT until August to shoot Lunda and Jonathan's wedding at Saratoga National - it's going to be spectacular....