Portraits

Craig + Lauren | Married

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pulled up with the whole family in the car. The whole family consisted of Craig, Lauren, Holly and Sampson. Holly is the little one and Sampson is a one year old doodle and he was FULL of energy!! Of course Michael and I love anything “doodle” and I’m pretty sure that we’ll forever have puppies of some doodle decent for the rest of our lives! There is just something about them. I think it’s in their eyes… Sampson and Bokeh have very similar eyes and when you look them right in the face, you can’t help but melt a little bit. They are just the sweetest dogs. So Sampson and Holly started off the session with full family portraits!

Now I’ll be honest, I look and SOUND like a complete idiot taking pictures of dogs. I’m spoiled at home with a dog that will stop and pose for you when the camera comes out but the reality is, Bokeh is weird…. most dogs could care less that you’re taking a picture and so you have to squeal, bark, growl and dance all at the same time in order to get them sitting still and looking at the camera! Lauren told me that is we got just ONE of them all looking at the camera, it would be worth it… well, we did!! And it’s beautiful! These puppy pictures make me want to do a shoot with my little family right NOW!

Craig and Lauren have been married 1 year!! And because Lauren loves photography and all things wedding related, she stepped it up a notch with her anniversary shoot!  You can visit her wedding coordinating site here!  Her make up was done beautifully by Allison Barlow and her florals were from the amazing Amanda Veronee of Anthomanic and they were just perfect!! I absolutely loved getting to know these two and hear about their life, their love for the puppies and memories of their wedding day. Lauren is just gorgeous and I’m SO jealous of her beautiful hair! I mean, I have red hair but she has like 300% more of it!! It’s stunning!

I only get to shoot about 4-5 anniversary shoots a year and thankfully Lauren inquired about this around CHRISTMAS so we were able to save some time for them! I’m in love with these portraits, I hope you enjoy them too!! :)

Oh my gosh… what a cute family!! They all love each other!! I want one of me and bokeh boy like this! :) Lauren included a piece of her mom’s dress and a pendant on her bouquet! Lauren you’re beautiful!  awwww sweet Sampson! These were shot at Swananoa in Afton, VA!  So many smiles! Stunning!! Love Lauren’s style! I may have to go find this maxi dress!!! Beautiful couple!  Canvas!!! Let me tell you what, Craig gets a ton of awesome husband points for doing this shoot! He’s a keeper Lauren!

Thanks for reading!

— Katelyn

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