One of the best parts about booking a wedding package with me is the complimentary engagement session (or as I like to call it—practice for the wedding!). Melissa and Alex were super excited about their engagement session, but they couldn’t figure out where they wanted to do the shoot. We could always go to a nice park, or a local walking trail…but nothing was feeling right.
Then Melissa contacted me and said: “We thought of where we would like to do our engagement photos! Alex and I love food, it’s a big part of our relationship. And some of our best summer + fall afternoons are making homemade pizza together. Could we do our engagement session at home, doing just that? We were thinking of getting some shots of us rolling the dough and assembling the pizzas in the kitchen, cooking the pizza in our smoker in the backyard, and then eating our pizza and drinking wine :)”
My reply in the following email was “YES YES YES!”. Honestly…sessions like this set my soul on fire. I know that sounds cliché…but it’s the truth. I was crazy excited to be a fly on the wall and document them doing something they love.
So, I got to their house late Wednesday morning, and I started photographing them making their pizzas. Photo’s always start out a little awkward for the couple, but after the nerves were gone, these two looked like pros. They were tossing the dough in the air, laughing like crazy, and having the BEST time. There may or may not have been a flour fight 😛
While the pizza was cooking, we cracked open some wine and did some cozy shots around the house.
Finally, the pizza was done, and our stomachs were grumbling! We very much enjoyed this little break to stuff our faces with AMAZING pizza!
This shoot was seriously the best (and not only because it involved pizza). Melissa & Alex took this opportunity to document something that is very important and sentimental to them, and they are going to have these memories for a lifetime.
So, as I tell my clients—I don’t just want some cheesy photos of you and your love in a beautiful location. I want photos of you guys being exactly who you are, doing things you normally do. That is what makes a beautiful photograph.
– Christina Stirpe [Owner]
