Hey everyone....keeping my promise to keep posting about the experiences I'm having!

October was such an insanely busy month that I hadn't had the chance to post again about this awesome engagement shoot that I got to do. 

I'm really honored because I am matron of honor for my best friend, Melissa! I wouldn't have let her choose anyone else to take her pictures :-) We had gone shopping for dresses before the shoot with our friend Anna who is also in the wedding. She picked out/bought a few dresses so I got to be surprised to see which one she chose. She did awesome! Melissa was even able to find a shirt for Clinton that matched the color of her dress perfectly. I had suggested we go to the Morton Arboretum in Lisle because it was the middle of summer and all the flowers were bloomed and that was the look she wanted for her engagement pictures. I had remembered a special spot called the Hidden Garden or something like that so I suggested we go there! Well, it is definitely hidden just like the name says. We literally drove around for 30 minutes looking for the entrance to this garden and we were about to give up and I was bummed because it is so pretty there! But thankfully our last "try" we found it and picture taking was on!

I used to be super awkward with posing people because when I had started photography my main hobby was landscapes and nature so I had stuck to that for the most part. I would say 4 years ago I did my first "people" shoot for two of my friends and I seriously got hooked! That shoot wasn't too bad, I don't think haha...but I knew I had a lot to learn because you're now working with other people who may not know what you're going for or who may be embarrassed, nervous or just plain awkward in front of the camera. It's been years since then and Melissa was definitely the subject of some of my "experiments" since then but it's been awhile! I took advantage of this shoot being her and Clinton because I am a person that says "just one more!" but yet that means like 50 more... So I definitely took the chance to do this with them while I had them! I feel like the beginning of photo shoots always sort of start out awkward, especially if you don't know the person, but every time I find it easier and easier to get people out of their shells and find out what makes them laugh, what makes them the most comfortable and how they prefer to have fun or make jokes. I especially liked asking Melissa and Clinton to dance in the middle of the street because not only did they at first think it was strange...but because they thought it was strange, they then started to laugh and it just became so much more than that, to actually get genuine smiles out of people is what I want to keep doing! Everyone is different and sometimes a little joking around will help and even look the cutest rather than the posed pictures. 

I'm super happy with how these turned out and even more excited to see some of these on Melissa and Clinton's Save the Date magnets! I can't wait for the wedding!!