When Elisa mentioned incorporating her love of reading into their session, 2 images immediately popped into my head – one was of them standing among stacks & stacks of vintage books, a million feet tall, looming all around them like crazy book-skyscrapers. The second vision was them laying on a blanket, with tons of books again, except this time they were swimming in them. Either way, I figured we would need a googelplex of books.

So the next couple weeks were spent collected hardcovers, coming across gems from the 1940s from my dad, with the corners of the pages all brittle & yellow, and the prettiest collection of novels {those would be all the pastel ones you see} from Scott’s mom. I was seriously driving around town with bags & bags & bags of books in my car and it sort of made me crazy excited that I pretty much was in a mobile library & at any given time I could just stop and read them ALL (didn’t happen, but exciting nonetheless). And though, by the time the session came around, we didn’t end up with quite enough books to tower 18 stories above Elisa & Andrew or to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, I was quite super giddy with the more realistic versions of brainstorming that we brought to life!

But Elisa must have figured that super giddy wasn’t quite giddy enough, because she had a second genius idea up her sleeve. She brought to the session a handcrafted GIGANTIC red heart kite. A kite. That was a red heart. That she put together, WITH HER HANDS. It was perfect & combined with Elisa & Andrew’s super sweet & silly personalities, it made for the funnest of fun photos. GIDDY X 1000!

I so loved everything about this session – the foresty location (the woods! I love shooting in the woods!), Jill & Jamar’s stylish outfit choices, the sweet lace parasol they brought along… and of course, the fact that they are so cute together & so very much in love. I was completely head over heels for the ethereal vibe of it all. After shooting around the woods(!) we headed on down to the beach where we traded in the parasol for Jamar’s trusty surfboard, for some more shots against the last golden bits of light.

Jill & Jamar are such a kind & laidback couple and spending the afternoon chatting and laughing with them made me even more excited for their wedding this fall! It’s going to be at a studio backlot which pretty much automatically gives it 10,000 points of awesome :)

On a rare lazy Sunday, Scott & I visited a little overlook I had been wanting to see to enjoy a bit of the outdoors. We brought our cameras {including our new film cameras – more on that soon!} and had fun snapping away at the amazing skyline, the gorgeous wildflowers, each other — but I couldn’t help but secretly think (okay I lied, I thought it very much out loud) how I wished I had a fabulous couple to shoot at this new Best Location In the Universe.

I actually was SO SO ANTSY that I called my sister on the drive home, told her I had found a photographer’s paradise, and asked if her & her awesome bf Kenny would be up for a photoshoot that very week. Luckily, my sister is a photographer as well, completely understood my crazy photographer needs, and agreed without a second thought. I firmly believe my little sis is way more stylish & photogenic than I am, but see any sisterly resemblance? :)

A big thank you to my sister & Kenny for agreeing to this shoot and braving the craziest of winds for these photos. I am so so excited we could work out this shoot even in the midst of wedding season.

P.S. Note to anyone having a heart attack at this moment (aka Mom) – these are just for fun & NOT engagement photos :)