When your bride tells you she wants to keep the engagement session scheduled even though it’ll be 34 degrees outside when you meet, you know it’s going to be a fun session!!! Hope and Ryan are down for anything! And I’m really glad they are because these photos turned out soo lovely. And I’m so so so soooo grateful and and excited to be their wedding photographer for their Austin wedding next month!

The first time Hope and I chatted about the wedding I think we talked for over an hour just on a quick FaceTime call. Listening to her sweet, excited voice talk all about the wedding and how much she loves Ryan reminded me so much of how I felt when I was planning my wedding years ago. Hope and I have so many similarities, actually! She’s currently a youth pastor, and when I was engaged I was a youth pastor, too. So I feel like I know so, so much of what this engagement experience has been for her. It’s so special to have all your girls be so interested and involved in your engagement, and it’s also really special to walk out an engagement in front of eyes that are watching your every move, looking to see how you handle big life moments and transitions. And Hope and Ryan are taking this season in such stride, with a healthy side dose of big smiles, too. I mean, they smile all the time. Like, all the time. Big, real, so-happy-to-be-together, authentic smiles. Like, if you’re feeling a little blue one day, just watching Hope and Ryan interact with one another would make you feel better. They’re just happy people! And also stinking hilarious together. So much so that Hope actually cried laughing during this session and we all just had to belly laugh for a few minutes. The deep joy these two possess just seeps out of their every interaction and makes your heart glad that real life people can be so light-filled!

I just love what Hope and Ryan are about. They’re very much a team. They honor each other, they laugh a lot, and they desire so deeply to bless other people and keep Jesus at the center of everything they do, including their marriage. You just won’t meet two more genuine souls than Hope and Ryan, and I’m so pumped that I don’t have to wait months to hang out with them again and celebrate their marriage!! Congrats you two! You guys are going to take marriage by storm and have a dang good time while you’re at it!!