It’s a small world out there, but I never stop getting a kick out of meeting people from southwestern PA. Julie and Matt are from a small town a little south of Johnstown, where I spent a semester at UPJ. They went to colleges in the area that I’m familiar with, and we all were able to equally lament about scraping the ice from our cars in the morning (which, cruelly enough, Geoff and I had to do this morning in North Carolina before we went to the gym). Matt was also an education major (southwestern PA produces a lot of stellar teachers) and he likewise moved south to teach down here. Julie and Matt, in addition to having this eerily similar background to me, also have two cats and enjoy staying at home (SAME). Their cats’ names are Binx and Drogo and there was a lot of debate at the shoot as to who is the better behaved cat. They’ve been living down in NC for 4 years and are getting married up in PA next summer. And this PA girl is very happy for these fellow PA folks, and so glad I got to inject a little bit of “yinz” into their engagement session in Durham. ;)
Sarah and Dustin are the best type of people. They like card games and video games and pie picnics, but most importantly, they can weather an extremely rainy engagement session without so much as blinking an eye. The weather is so unpredictable in North Carolina in the summer, and we had already rescheduled once due to rain. The forecast for their particular day was about evenly split, but toward the evening it was down to almost a zero percent chance, and nothing on the radar. Of course, because of this, it rained literally the entire time. For no reason. The radar still said it was clear, and the forecast still said it was not supposed to be raining. It did not let up. It was primarily a constant mist, but it did become heavier on occasion, but despite all this, they did not complain once, and were some of the happiest clients I’ve had, rain or shine! They met in the Archives while attending school, and are getting married later this year on Dustin’s family’s land in Tennessee. They’re excited to later bring Sarah’s dog Moses into the mix (who’s currently living with her family in New Mexico) and vow to continue to remain united over their love of desserts. I’m super happy to have done their engagement session, and can’t wait to see what life has in store for them in future. Congrats, Sarah and Dustin!
We immediately got along with Elizabeth+Rich during our first consult for their wedding. And then we clicked even more so in person (we think, anyway, and it’ll be kinda awkward if Elizabeth and Rich think differently, but I’m going to put it out there anyway). Despite them being a lot more buff than us (Elizabeth does cross fit and likes to lift heavy things, and Rich climbs stuff), and a lot more caffeinated than us, and being dog people, we were like four peas in a pod (kinda a mutant pea… I guess). And by “dog people,” I mean we had to stop the session after Elizabeth started squealing and ran away from Rich and directly toward a small puppy being walked by an unsuspecting woman in downtown Durham. The puppy now has a cameo in this engagement session with two people she doesn’t know.
I think, if I would’ve permitted it, that puppy might’ve been in the entire remainder of the session…with Rich, ideally, although I think if it came down it, Elizabeth might have a hard decision trying to decide between a very small, cute puppy and Rich. I’m confident she’d eventually choose Rich, but I’m pretty sure she’d have to think it over for at least a few seconds. Rich, while not a puppy, does have a very illustrious beard going for him and knows science. He also likes wearing aprons a lot. This makes him stiff competition for a puppy, since puppies cannot know science and also have a hard time fitting into aprons. They also can’t grow beards. But, Elizabeth can easily lift puppies. I am not sure if she can easily lift Rich or not (I definitely should’ve asked her to). We’ll photograph them again in December, and I’ll see if I can find out.