We've had a string of awesome people willing to get together with us first thing (and we definitely mean first thing) in the morning to run around and play photos, and Erin + Raff were our latest awesome couple. We're shooting their wedding first thing next month, and we can't wait. They are absolutely adorable, and the wedding is going to be so rad.

This was the first time we'd met Erin + Raff which actually happens quite a bit for us with the amount of WNY couples we have coming back from out of the area for their wedding, but they were super cool, relaxed and just killed their photos.

I think I'm gonna shut up and just let the photos do the talking. :)

So, I desperately want to talk all over Megan + Brian's post and tell you how they are two of the coolest and sweetest people you'll ever meet, but at the same time, we told Megan her post would be up tonight, so I don't want to be all talky, but you can take my word - they are awesome. And the minute I walked into Megan's mom's house and met her family, I knew exactly where she got her awesome from. And it's funny - a lot of wedding days, people tiptoe around brides. I mean, I get that it's a big day and people are stressed that a bride is nervous about standing up in front of a few hundred people or that it might rain or whatever the case may be, but I always ask how my brides are doing, and not one yet has burst into tears as an answer. :) And I loved that Megan's house was just full of happy people being happy together about her + Brian's day. As a photographer, it's exactly the house you want to walk into the morning of a wedding. And I didn't get to meet Brian's side until much later, but they were equally fantastic. It really was such a fun + fantastic day. Except for the stinging nettle :)

Aaaaand, here I am getting all talky. So, to sum up - these two are awesome; the wedding day was full of awesome family; M+B scoped out a totally rad spot for us to play in the woods. Let me stop talking and get into their photos!!

Yes! I'm so happy this post is finally here. Anytime a bride is like, "We went out scouting for a perfect photo location - what do you think of this: (imagine a photo of those awesome pine trees above inserted in an email here)" after she and her fiance have already taken us out on canoeing trip for their engagement photos you know we're going to work really well together. I feel so close to our brides and grooms and we get so into these wedding days that I'm straight up buzzing when we get to write these. Hey - plus it's a total surprise after editing the whole wedding to see what you select and how you see the story unfolding. I love that about this damned blog.

Thanks - yeah we take a ton of photos on a wedding day. It's something we've debated since, well, basically the start of our business - we could give people a few hundred really amazing and awesome photos, or we could give all the usable, well-taken photos. And I always go back to it being a wedding day and who are we to edit it. You know? Like just because the photos of Aunt Sue weren't our favorites photographically, it doesn't negate her importance of being at the wedding, so we're going through a TON of photos after the wedding, and getting to cull it down to our favorite 100 for the blog is really fun (in a hugely dorky photographer nerd kind-of way.

Um, also really fun? Showing up to the ceremony and being told that not only is it cool if we move around, that we SHOULD go behind the altar and shoot back at our couple. HUGE win!!

It's a story, a really big story. While we pride ourselves on getting to know our couples enough to get it right and accurately portray everything and everyone, we also have to take some chances and admit to ourselves that we don't get to make the editorial decisions about what's happening.

I think Brian and his brother being up front helped since they were OGs of the church. Before the ceremony they were telling me all about growing up in and around St. Ben's and Brian was pointing out were he went to kindergarten, etc. Coming full circle like that is pretty cool in my view and I think that for folks who grew up in a community church setting like that, having this huge life event take place there, too, is pretty special.

Also awesome - Megan's great grandmother giving Brian a kiss there directly above.

Awesome woodland photo setting? Super fun college pre-reception shot? Amazingly fun reception? Yup, yup and yup! I'm going to stop going on now since I don't need to narrate how much fun the reception was - it's pretty evident, and it's pretty much time for M+B to get to see these. You guys - you know we think you're the coolest. Thanks so much for having us with you! Oh! I almost forgot - Megan - Murphy and I put together a summer fun bucket list and guess what one of his activities was... making (people-friendly) polar bear pops. So, thanks for that - I can't wait to eat a fish-sicle. :)