When Mong messaged me asking if I would capture her engagement photos, I felt so honored! I’ve seen her and Andy around town as we have the same friends but never really got the chance to get to know each other. Mong came up with the cutest idea for her engagement session and as soon as she said the words “tulle skirt” and “picnic” I was in! I love it when my couples come up with their own idea for their session because only they know what kind of story they want their photos to tell. While Pinterest has been super popular and many use it for inspiration, it should only be that – inspiration. When brides come to sessions OR a wedding with pre-set Pinterest ideas that they want their session to look like, that’s just not realistic and it often ends up in disappointment. When brides tell me they have a Pinterest board with hundreds of photos they want me to duplicate…I ask them one question “Do you want your wedding/session to be a copy of someone else’s or do you want YOUR wedding/session to represent YOU?” Trust in your photographer and let them use their creativity. You might just end up with photos that OTHERS want to pin from. 🙂 This is why I loved Mong & Andy’s session. She knew she wanted picnic and tulle skirt but left the creative ideas to me. I asked Mong to tell me a little bit about her and Andy and here’s what she said:

“A little bit over nine years ago I was a little spontaneous on Xanga (yes, online before MySpace or Facebook even existed ) and decided to say hi first. After several months of chatting it up on Aim along with countless late night phone calls, we finally met up and went on our first date. From there, you can definitely say that it was love at first sight.

On New Year’s Eve of 2013: 10..9..8..7.. it was only a few more strokes until midnight and we were surrounded by all of our family and friends. Little did I know that once the countdown got down to 1 Andy was also down on one knee. In that little moment things felt so magical that I was literally asking, “Is this for real?” Sure enough it was real and we rang in the New Year as a newly engaged couple. 155 days and counting until we say I do.”

Here are some of my absolute favorites from their adorable session.