Matthew & Marianne

This was really the perfect session to start the new year. Matthew and Marianne are so laid back, fun, and up for anything kind of people… and if you’ve ever taken photos with me, you know that laid back photo shoots are sort of my thing. It was a chilly evening at Rocky River Park, but the sunshine tricked us into thinking we were warm (except for our hands.. RIP fingers..). The beach was covered in little icebergs that had melted and re-frozen together, which made for a beautiful wintery backdrop, but we quickly realized that stumbling across a sheet of bumpy ice is not so pretty. Somehow, we all made it with no broken ankles (although there were a few close calls). After over an hour of standing on frozen Lake Erie in the wind without mittens, impromptu snowball fights, and chilling (literally) on frozen rocks- there was never a single complaint from these two, who seemed so content to just be hanging out together. I love that.

Marianne’s family owns a bake shoppe a few miles from the park, so after our arctic photo shoot, we warmed up our frozen hands with some hot cups of coffee. As 6 o’clock approached, the workers closed up shop, leaving the three of us with the whole place to ourselves. Side note: did I mention this bake shoppe is also basically a greenhouse? I was in heaven. I mean, just look at that plant wall! We sipped our coffees and talked about everything from wedding planning to relationships to Oprah (heyy Oprah heyy). Somewhere in the middle of our conversation, I suddenly felt so lucky to do what I do. I get invited into the space between two people to capture what their unique love looks like and give them memories they will cherish for years and years. And in the process, I get to make new friends.

Ok, enough with the feelings.. let’s get to the photos. Here are my favorites from Matthew and Marianne’s arctic adventure/greenhouse cafe engagement session! Enjoy!

Photo locations: Rocky River Park, KB Confections Bake Shoppe, Lakewood Ohio