A couple weeks ago I gave the world a sneak peek at the engagement session I did with Jessica and Ben. Since my first meeting with these two, I have yet to stop squeeing about them to others and internally jumping for joy at their cuteness! When we first started to talk about their session, it promised a world of pumpkins and rainbows with a dash of offbeat geekery. All of these things meshed into one simply delights me. Colour, autumn and geeking out can easily be used to describe me, and I am in love with the fact I was able to play with a light saber in the changing leaves.

Jessica and Ben met at a festival called Transformus. It is a beautiful story filled with what seems to be fates colliding – but I will not delve too far into their personal tale. The day Ben was set to pop the question, he turned the key of a wooden gumball machine, and out popped a ball with the quote “I will love you till even the ruins are dust”. Later on he met the maker of the gumball, who showed him the comic (that if I remember correctly) his wife had picked it out from.

As you can tell from Jessica’s BEAUTIFUL engagement ring, she is a lover of rainbows and bright colours. Her ring is one of the most unique pieces of jewelry I have ever had the pleasure of photographing. It is a beautiful blue stone surrounded by an arch of rainbow gems. She is so bubbly and fun and is an amazing hula hooper. Ben came to the shoot in the best tshirt ever – Thundercats! He brought his Jedi robe and light saber and didn’t even mind me making a swooshing noise as I walked down the road with it. These two together are such a beautiful, creative and loveable duo. Our day was filled with honest, tender moments and genuine laughter and I couldn’t wait to share them with the world.

Our session started out with nerves simply because as I pulled into Belvedere Plantation – it started to pour. I’m not talking about a grey day, or light misting. I’m talking about some good old fashioned umbrella-and-gumboots-or-stay-inside type rain. Not pleasing to someone who envisioned fields of corn with the golden hue of sunlight cast down upon a couple in love! Giving myself a mental reset – I channeled my inner Ryan Brenizer and told myself “we are not just photographers – we are problem solvers”. I started to think of ways we could turn this situation into something great. Let it be grey, that will just make the colours these two brought pop even more! The rain had died down enough that when Ben and Jessica arrived, we could indeed shoot outside. I was prepared with plastics and towels, and they were prepared with rainbow umbrellas and hot cider inside their Renaissance Festival Mugs. I appreciate when couples bring things that are personal to them – it means we can create something not only beautiful, but something meaningful will be captured in the state it was intended to thrive in.

We had an amazing day going from garden – to corn maze – to hay ride – to pumpkin patch. I could go on and on about how much I dig hanging out with these two because I find we are very like minded individuals with similar interests. I am so excited to share their session and I just might have to check out Transformus next year and meet some more cool folks!