Alex and Brenda's Salt Lake City Engagement- June 2015

I met this wonderful couple at Alina and Jackson's Sacramento wedding, which you can view here if you'd like.

In case you didn't know, I just really love photographing proposals, so when Alex asked for my help proposing to his girlfriend, my answer was "absolutely, yes." Alex made a photo book for Brenda called, "20 Reasons I Love You", and I pulled it out of my back pack and handed it to Brenda randomly while we were walking up the beautiful Rock Canyon in Provo, Utah. The last page of the book said, "Will You Marry Me?" and Brenda's face when he drops to that knee is the sweetest! It was personal, and private, and meaningful, and just perfect really.

We set up an engagement session for later in the year, and these images ended up being my favorite engagements of 2015! We got to drive around Big Cottonwood Canyon in the summer and play in the Utah mountains with perfect golden evening light, and then head to downtown Salt Lake City for some fun urban shots. Their style was cool, Brenda's hair was long and gorgeous, and their smiles were real. Happy couples make my job so easy.

Shoutout to Eva Small Plates and Drinks in Salt Lake City for letting us sneak in and sit at a table for a few minutes to get these cute shots!

Caleb and Hillary's WV Clay Center Wedding- May 2015

Sigh. What can I say about this couple? A lot actually. My older brother always had boys over at the house when we were growing up, and Caleb was the friend that always made my awkward middle school face turn red every time he spoke to me. (He could do backflips on a wakeboard, and he won Prettiest Hair in high school..) As I've grown older, I've seen my brother lose touch with a lot of high school buddies, but not Caleb. He's there for my brother and my family to this day, and we love having him around.

The first time Caleb brought Hillary to our house, we fell in love with her too. She has a "I'm down for anything" spirit that makes her really easy to talk to and so fun to be around. It's now a usual occurrence for us to invite Caleb and Hillary on our Heywood family vacations, and we wouldn't have it any other way!

Caleb proposed to Hillary in Paris, France.. like a boss, and I jumped up and down when they asked me to document their wedding day at the Clay Center in Charleston, WV as well as their open house reception in Salt Lake City, UT.

Favorite moments from the wedding day:

• My brother Austin surprising everyone by stepping away from the groomsmen at the last second and officiating the wedding ceremony with his crazy long hair. He did such a great job and sealed the deal by saying, "By the power vested in me by the state of West 'By God' Virginia, I now pronounce you husband and wife."
• Hillary's mother/daughter dance instead of a father/daughter dance to "Hey Momma" by Kanye West. It was funny, gangsta, and totally heartwarming.
• Caleb's dad "Big Mike" Redington cutting in right in the middle of Caleb's mother/son dance to dance with his wife Penny. 
• Getting to see so many old friends from my hometown in one place dancing and celebrating together! It was a perfect day. 

Here are some of my favorites from their West Virginia wedding and Utah open house:

Here are a few from the Salt Lake City, Utah open house:

This is what happened when I told Caleb to be a "GQ" model, and he pretended to be a "DQ" model: