A Pretty UT Gardens Engagement Session
As we were trying to decide the location for Jess & Dean’s engagement session, they told me they wanted to have colorful trees in the background of their photos. They had picked a date in late April, and at the time of that conversation in February, I would have definitely thought late April would be the perfect time to get blooming trees in the background. I quickly recommended Baxter Gardens because it is by far the most colorful location in Knoxville in April. As we waited for their UT Gardens engagement session to get here, two things happened: 1) it got really warm really early for a few weeks and then got really cold again, causing all the trees to bloom early and drop their blooms to the ground quickly and, 2) Baxter Gardens made an official announcement that they were no longer allowing professional photographers to use their property for photos. I hated delivering this news to Jess & Dean, but we made a decision to pivot and have a UT Gardens engagement session instead. It is the next most colorful spot in all of Knoxville, and to be completely honest, I think it ended up being MORE colorful than Baxter Gardens this year! While we couldn’t get a ton of blooming trees in the background, we did a lot of blooming flowers in their photos and I have to say, I am really in love with these!
One thing that Jess & Dean do really well is interact so naturally. I love having the engagement session before the wedding day because these are things I learn about each couple. Some need me to direct them the entire time. They need me to tell them where to put their hands and create something funny to laugh at. Others do the fake laugh like it’s real so easily and is constantly doing cutesy candid things in between the posed moments. For couples that are more of the latter, I can be a little more hands-off as far as my coaching. They want me to be a little more hands-off in those candid moments so I can capture just a very natural exchange between them. That was Jess & Dean. They were so good at just being goofy and cute and in love. While I did coach them through some poses, there were other moments when they just did their own thing and I clicked away. I really do love their UT Gardens engagement session so much!
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