Their Session: Garrett Mountain

The second Heather and Bryan’s session started, I knew this was going to be a fun one!! I LOVE that they brought their fur babies along for their sesh too, because their family isn’t complete without them! Their pups have super fun and spunky personalities, which means that they can get a little rambunctious at times! No biggie though, because Heather and Bryan brought along one of Bryan’s cousins to be their designated doggy-sitter! It was suuuuper helpful to have her on deck, so we could easily capture pictures with or without the doggos! Thank you, Kait!

Heather and Bryan picked SUCH a killer location with awesome old ruins, stunning light, and really beautiful views as the sun set! When they were deciding on locations for their session, it was really important to them that the locations represented aspects of their relationship that are especially meaningful to them, like being out in nature and ICE CREAM! I loved that they found a cute local ice cream shop for us to stop at before the session ended! At the shop, they grabbed some sweet treats and played cards together just like they always do. It was so awesome to see more and more of their personalities come out as we got further into their shoot! They were truly so in their element as we got to ice cream and cards time!!

Their Love Story

Heather and Bryan met through their mutual interest in running! They started off running together and they had an instant connection! They first bonded over conversations about running, races, training, etc. and then eventually over their mutual love of dogs. Heather says that, “Once we started talking about dogs, I began falling for him hard.” One day, Bryan asked Heather out for drinks, and even though she wasn’t looking for a relationship at that time, she found herself immediately saying ‘YES!’ When Heather was describing their relationship to me, she said, “I have pretty much spent every day since that first night with him and I still feel the warm fuzzies that I thought were just in books and movies. From very early on, I knew Bryan was my person.”

Around Easter, Bryan suggested that her and Heather do an Easter Egg Hunt! Heather was so excited because she had always loved doing them as a child and Bryan had promised that he’d hide some of her favorite treats in the eggs! When Heather told her co-workers about their egg hunt, they gave her the idea to do an adult Easter Egg Hunt with beers for Bryan! So, once Easter morning came around, both Heather and Bryan began searching the house to find their eggs. Heather remembers sitting down to open an egg she found and instead Bryan handed her a different one. When she opened the egg, there was a stunning engagement ring inside! Heather says, “I just remember saying no a lot (in disbelief) and then saying well obviously yes! I know he got down on one knee, but I couldn’t stop staring at the ring!”

Heather and Bryan,

I loved getting to know you both on such a deeper level! I adored our conversations about fostering dogs, wedding planning, and your epic love story! You two were so wonderfully mushy and SO in love, and I love how you can make each other laugh in an instant! Especially because that made photographing you lovebirds so much fun! Thank you both for being so incredible and up for all my crazy ideas! You are such troopers, and I can’t freaking wait for your big day at Rock Island Lake Club in October!! Xoxo