As I waved goodbye to Maureen on graduation day, I knew I would see her again.

What I didn’t know was what circumstances it would be under!

Maureen and I (Breanna) were friends all through high school.  We ate lunch together every day, walked to classes together, and watched each other stress out over tests, boys (all in vain of course since neither of us ended up with any of the boys we knew in high school) and all the normal high school stuff.

We lost touch for awhile after high school since there was once a time (though I know it’s hard to remember what it was like) when Facebook wasn’t around.  Of course after Facebook’s world take over, Maureen and I found each other and Maureen also found Radiant Photography’s Facebook page (take a second to like our page if you haven’t already!).

She quickly became one of our biggest fans, commenting on new sessions we put up and sending every one of her engaged friends our way.  So when the time came for Maureen to be the one with the ring on her finger she called us before she even set the date just so she could pick a day that we were available!

We met with her and Matt (and we loved him by the way!) and then we headed up to Matt’s family cabin in Payson for the weekend to do their engagement session in the cool mountain air!

Matt and Maureen treated us to a fabulous weekend in the pines, complete with elaborate home cooked meals and a very plush room for us to stay in!

We had a fantastic time relaxing and exploring with them.  Not to mention Maureen and I took full advantage of our time together to catch up on all the “who’s doing what now” stuff from our high school (our men were both patient with us while we threw names of people they didn’t know back and forth).

To kick off our photo session, we shot a couple of photos around the cabin and then headed up to the rim.

As always the rim was stunning, and the post-rain feel made it even more beautiful than usual.

We took our time up there and shot photos until our trigger fingers couldn’t trigger anymore.

Then we headed over to Willow Springs lake to capture a little sunset reflecting in the lake.

Everywhere on the rim looks amazing after it rains and the lake was no exception.

The clouds were fantastic and the sun would peak out at just the right moments.

Not to mention the sunset looked more like a forest fire that day than just regular color in the sky.

This is one of those sessions where we’re just dying to take all the credit, but secretly we know it was all just our luck with the weather and the beautiful sky it brought.

Not to mention, Maureen and Matt were perfect together.  We have so many great photos of them interacting together and having fun.  Again, we can’t pat ourselves on the back for that one… it was all them.  They just chose to relax and be normal in front of the camera, and it worked out in their favor for sure!

Thanks so much to you both for giving us such a fabulous weekend, you treated us like royalty and we milked every minute of it!  We’re so so so SO excited to shoot your wedding!  I can’t believe I get to not only see my old high school friend walk down the aisle, but actually be a part of the event as well.  Thanks for connecting us, Facebook, I love you too!

Click to see the rest of the photos from Maureen and Matt’s beautiful Payson photo session!

When we asked where they wanted to go for their engagement session, Jinny and Paul knew the spot right away.

It is where they had their first date, where Paul proposed, and now where they had their engagement pictures taken!

This magical place where memories are made is a look out spot up on the rim in Northern AZ.

A place that Jinny has affectionately named “Turtle Rock” because it does indeed look like a little turtle! :-)

As the tradition goes, Jinny and Paul stopped at Subway to grab their picnic lunch before heading up that way.

They pile it all into this awesome picnic basket and then sit around enjoying the view, laughing, and sneaking in a little kiss every now and then! ;-)

We deviated from their norm some because instead of heading to a quaint little Italian restaurant for dessert afterwards, we headed to woods canyon lake to continue with the picture taking festivities.

Jinny and Paul met at church in Phoenix, but didn’t have their first date until after Paul moved to Payson.

Hence, the dating traditions that center around places in Payson!

They are now back in the same city planning their wedding and making sporadic trips to Payson together to reminisce and escape the Phoenix summer heat.  Which is also one of the reasons we made the trek for picture day.  Everyone looks better when they DON’T have sweat dripping down their faces!

(Look, they’re laughing at the lame joke I just made! Ha!).

As you can see, Woods Canyon Lake did not disappoint!

It was absolutely beautiful!  It had been raining and there was a nice  fog setting over the lake… something you don’t really get to see a whole lot amidst the scorching pavement in Phoenix.

We were mesmerized and we couldn’t stop taking pictures of it!

Thank you Jinny and Paul for giving us a little tour of your beautiful memory lane!  We had a great time hanging out with you guys and we can’t wait for your wedding!

Click to see the rest of the photos from Jinny and Paul’s stroll down memory lane!

So I guess you could say that Jennie and John made a liar out of me!

I (Breanna) started our their engagement session by telling them that they’d be uncomfortable in the beginning, but then it would slowly get easier the longer we went on.

The words were hardly out of my mouth before they struck a completely natural pose that made them look like they’d been modeling all their lives.

So much for being uncomfortable!

They looked totally relaxed the entire time and I hardly even had to think about posing them!

I’d start to pose them and then I’d look at them, step back a little, look at them again and surprise myself by saying “never mind, what you’re doing is perfect”.

(The closest we got to posing was here when Scottie told them to look “epic”.  Without even a second of hesitation, they just went into perfect epic mode!  Really?!  Who actually knows how to do that!?)

Now for those of you who have had photo sessions before and are feeling bad because you weren’t 100% comfortable right away… never fear because Jennie and John are apparently freaks of nature who’s coolness overrides any awkwardness that might try to creep through. 

Most of us people with average Joe levels of coolness (or less) couldn’t pull off this modelesque photo shoot if we’d trained for years for it!

It was like style was just seeping out of their pores.

Since a good part of what we do is work with people to help relax them and feel comfortable enough with us that they feel free to be themselves in the photos… we can’t take much credit for most of the good parts in these photos! It was all them!

The pictures are what they are because Jennie and John were just who they are without any level of coercion from us!

(This is them attempting a very dramatic, full on leaping into the air shot. Up next on their agenda… auditions for “So you think you can dance”.  Just kidding).

And lucky for them, who they are happens to be people who are really cool with a large lump of ridiculously good looking (to quote Zoolander) added on top of that!

Perfect candidates for an outstanding photo session I’d say!

(This porch stoop is exactly where they met at a First Fridays years ago! In case you’re confused, First Fridays is a monthly art walk in Phoenix).

I guess what we can all learn from Jennie and John is to just do what you do with confidence because being yourself makes you look your best both on camera and off (I think Tyra Banks just took over my computer… motivational speech ends here).

(More dance practice… I tell ya, there gonna go pro soon!).

Of course looks and style aren’t all that Jennie and John have going for them!  They are a lot of fun to hang out with too!

We went to Carly’s Bistro for a late night snack after their session (despite the fact that they had gone there for dinner before the session) and we stayed there into the even later night because we were having such a good time with them!

So not only are they the perfect people to do a  photo session for, but also the perfect people to work with!

Fun, charming, and kind people… who wouldn’t want to work with them?!

(And they let us take pictures of them in front of giant religious skeletons… like I said, they’re easy to work with!).

So thanks Jennie and John for making our job so easy and so much fun!  We had a great time with you and we’re so glad that we’re the ones you chose to be there alongside you on your big day!  Ciao for now!

Click to see the rest of the photos from Jennie and John’s ridiculously good looking photo session.

I know it sounds weird, but I got to know Alex long before I met her.

What I mean is, I (Breanna) knew her parents long before I ever met her and of course parents like to talk about their kids so I got to hear stories about her all the time and I felt like I knew her!

So when we got the call to shoot Alex’s wedding I was very honored to get to work with a family that I already know and love.

And I was looking forward to finally meeting Alex in real life!

Of course the tricky part is that Alex and her fiance David don’t live in Arizona!

So I finally got to have my first face to face meeting with Alex when they made a trip out here to do a little wedding planning (since they are getting married in AZ).

As I mentioned, I was so excited to meet her since I’d been hearing about her for so long and let me just say that we had so much fun at our first meeting that my high expectations were not disappointed! ;-)

The next time we hung out with them was when they came out here for more planning and we had the privilege of shooting their engagement session!

The only downside to their session was that they couldn’t make it out here until July so of course that means it’s going to be one sweaty, hot session!

We started out at Alex’s uncles house, which was nice because we could at least take a few pictures and then come inside for an air conditioned break in between shooting. 

(And a good a/c break is exactly what’s needed after trampoline time!).

Once we realized we could survive the heat, we got bold and headed out to do some wide open sky shots out on the Salt River Reservation.

Once out there, we found that the heat wasn’t the only thing we had to battle against.  We discovered that the giant red ants, millions of gnats, and mean mosquitos were much less friendly foes.

(See, they had a good attitude the whole time!  They were having fun messing around throughout it all… unless he really is trying to strangle her for making him do this!! Ha ha.)

Well I think that facing the nature challenges was well worth it because we were blessed with a perfect sky that day and were able to capture it amidst all of the obstacles surrounding us!

Thanks to Alex and David for being excited enough about your engagement session that you were willing to come to Phoenix in July to do it!  We appreciate that kind of commitment! ;-)

Good luck with the rest of the wedding planning… we can’t wait until the next time we get to see you when you’ll be all dressed up and ready to head down the aisle!

Click to see the rest of the photos from Alex and David’s Phoenix Engagement session.

When you move to Phoenix from New York, as Melissa and Josh did…

…you’re in for quite a few changes!  Not the least of which is the landscape!

Going from green to brown, from fall leaves to brown, and from snow to brown… is not always easy!

Fortunately, Melissa and Josh see past the brown to the real beauty of Arizona!

The mountains, the cactus, the baby quails and rabbits… all of it makes up the desert out in the wild, wild west and Melissa and Josh are happy to have the opportunity to witness it all first hand!

When they first moved out here, one of the first places they went to visit was Saguaro Lake… which is why it was on their minds when we started asking about places they go together that we could incorporate into their engagement session.

With their water bottle in hand, Melissa and Josh headed out with us for a photo session in the heat of July.

They turned out to be real troopers as they didn’t even complain about the heat once!

I (Breanna) am an Arizona native and even I still whine about the heat on a regular basis!  Lucky for us, the day we planned for their session turned out to be not nearly as hot as it could’ve been as we went treading through the desert landscape to find some of the real gems of the Southwest!

And find them we did… the lake was as stunning as the mountains were astounding, as we placed Melissa and Josh strategically in front of them in hopes of capturing that “perfect shot”.

I think they turned out pretty perfect and I hope Melissa and Josh would agree!

Thanks you two for being so bold and for sweating so much for the sake of your pictures!  We appreciate you dedication and we can’t wait to see what kinds of photos we get when we shoot your wedding during the cool of October!

Click to see the rest of Melissa and Josh’s beautiful AZ photo session!

Oh wow, I LOVE Katy and Shaun!

No, not just because their flying us to Hawaii to photograph their wedding… although I do admit that does bias me towards them a bit! ;-)

If you’ve ever met Katy and Shaun, you know what I mean when I say that there’s no way to NOT like them!

We first met Katy and Shaun when we went to visit them at their home in Venice, California.

My first impression of Shaun was of someone who threw open the door with his arms spread as wide open as the door, ready to greet us with giant hugs.

And Katy followed suit with the kind of warm hug that you thought only your grandma could give (Katy, when your old enough to actually be a grandma, I think your hugs will probably win world records).

See, I told you it was impossible to not like them!  Who doesn’t want to hang out with someone that warm and friendly?!

That first night, we stayed at their house way past their bedtime (which we’re so bad about doing because we keep pretty ridiculous hours, just check the time stamps on some of our Facebook updates! And by the way, if you’re not a fan of us on Facebook do it now before you miss any more of the good stuff!).  So maybe we’re just rude, but we really felt like we couldn’t leave because we were having such a great time with them!

They showed us all around their house and told stories about practically every item in the place because it all has so much meaning to them.  We got to meet all their friends that will be at the wedding in Hawaii with us via photographs and hear hilarious stories about all of them (that’s right, we know all about you already!) as we toured their life in photos.  Shaun’s an excellent story teller by the way, I could listen to him all night!

The next time we hung out with them went the exact same way… this time we were meeting up to do their engagement session (aka, these photos here).

(I loved watching them interact together!)

When we asked them about their lives and what kinds of things represent them best, they again directed us to their home that is filled with so many sentimental memories.

Shaun spends a ton of time working on and hanging out in his garden, so we decided it only seemed appropriate to start out their session in their home and showcase his pride and joy (it really is a STUNNING garden!).

Next, we headed down towards Venice beach, making a stop along the way at the Spinning class they first met in (Shaun declares to this day that he never would’ve been caught dead in one of those classes, but was forced into it due to physical therapy, or by what some would call “fate”).

Again, we LOVED hearing all their stories about the city history and culture, as well as the parts of their lives that are interwoven into it all.

When they talk about Venice, you can tell they feel like they’re the luckiest people in the world just because they have the privilege of living there.

I can’t say I disagree with that either, I (Breanna) am a little jealous!  Phoenix has it’s perks, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Venice.  If you know people who live in the LA area who are getting married, make sure you tell them about us!  You can help us slowly make our way over to the thrilling life that awaits us there!  We don’t even charge travel fees to shoot weddings in Southern California! (End commercial here).

(Doesn’t this look like such a nice, peaceful ending to a hectic day?)

After the session, Katy and Shaun treated us to one of the best dinners we’ve ever had in our lives!  It was at a cool little place called The Tasting Kitchen and as to be expected, we had such a great time hanging out with them there!

We sat there at the table laughing with them late into the night once again (sorry we always leave you guys so sleep deprived!).  If we weren’t convinced from our first visit to their house that we’d made great new friends, we were beyond certain after hanging out with them this night!

Luckily, we still had one more Katy and Shaun adventure to go during our visit that weekend!

Katy and Shaun are known amongst their friends (and the friends of their friends) for their spectacular annual parties.  They have several regularly occurring theme parties that people are ready and waiting for each year with costumes in hand.

Lucky for us, we happened to be in LA on the very same weekend that one of these parties was sweeping through.  This party was entitled “Bourgie Fashion Prepster Buenos Aires Hollywood Palermo Gringo Polo Summer Solstice Party”.  If it gives you any clue to how lucky we were that we actually got invited to such a trendy shindig… I had to google like every other word in the invitation (the only part I understood was something about the “John Stamos Fashion Mullet”).

Yeah, I can admit that I (Breanna) was definitely not cool enough for this party!  So thanks Katy and Shaun for taking a chance on us Arizona geeks and risking us embarrassing you in front of all your Fashion Prepster Buenos Aires friends! Ha ha!

Even with all the amazingness flowing through the Buenos Aires-esque breeze at this party, one of the best parts was getting to hang out with their friends/ future wedding guests (in real life this time, not via photos).

Of course these perfect little hosts couldn’t just have a one day, amazing and beautiful wedding in Hawaii, they have to make the entire week a fantastic party for all their friends to enjoy!  So we are headed over there in September for 5 days of planned out fun with their guests!  All kinds of tournaments, tours, etc. are happening in Hawaii and we get to be hanging out with many of the same people from the party, just snapping our cameras away at it all!

So now that we’ve met their close friends, heard background stories about why they’re all important to Katy and Shaun, we feel like we’re headed over to Oahu to hang out with our own friends (instead of strangers).

Seriously, could there be a more perfect way to go to Hawaii than to get to share in peoples lives, wedding, and relationships like that?!  Not to brag, but sometimes I think we have the best job in the entire world.  How else would we get to meet and work with such beautiful people as them?!

THANK YOU Katy and Shaun for bringing us into your world so early on and letting us get to experience life as you see it so that we can better capture it and reflect back the true stories and emotions behind your wedding day.

Your gracious, honest, and humble attitudes will serve you very well when it comes to your wedding pictures because we really feel like we’ve been set up well to tell the true story of your wedding day with heartfelt honesty.

I mean, look at how intense the story of just your engagement session is!  I might have to write your wedding blog in like 3 parts!  Thanks and we can’t freaking wait to see you there!!

Click to see the rest of the photos from Katy and Shaun’s “Tour of Venice” engagement session!

It only took about half a second after we explained how we do “creative” engagement sessions, for Diana and Hector to know exactly what they wanted.

There are two things that were integral in bringing them together… music…

…and poetry…

…so they knew that having a session centered on those two things was a must!

We started out by checking out the poetry and music at a bookstore.

They got to flip through their favorite books and albums, while enjoying their day together… while we just happened to be taking pictures the whole time!

OK, we did bother them enough to grab a few poses in the bookstore!

When we left the bookstore, we took some time to get a few photos of them flipping through their CD’s.

They said that when they thought about what they do together… sitting in the car, deciding what CD to play consumes a lot of their time!  So of course we couldn’t miss that special moment! :-)

Next we moved onto Mesa Arts Center where we took a few more standard engagement session type of shots.

We also took a minute while we were there for them to read each other poems they had picked out just for the session!

Such a cool idea on their part!

Once we felt like we had what we needed from the arts center, we moved on to one of our favorite walls… the music wall!

When I heard they wanted a session centered around music, this wall was the first thing that popped into my head.

Diana and Hector…

…thank you both so much for putting the energy into planning a creative session… it was a ton of fun for us!

We hope you love the resulting product from your engagement session imaginations!

Click to see the rest of the photos from Diana and Hector’s music and poetry engagement session!