Michelle and Derek and the many faces of their (video and photo) engagement session

From the very first time Scottie and I met with Michelle and Derek, we were in love. If you don’t believe that people can be both good looking AND have super awesome personalities, then Michelle and Derek are here to prove you wrong!

Because they are both of those things and so much more! They definitely have a lot fun energy (what my mom would call “spunk”). And they also have some extra doses of creativity thrown in behind those sparkling bright eyes they both have!

The creative part first became apparent to us when we were planning the engagement session and Derek emailed me to tell me about a little tradition they have that they wanted to include in their engagement session.

Basically, Derek is a film guy. He spends his days walking around with a camera in hand at all times, and the time they spend together is no exception.

So he has TONS of hours of footage of the two of them together. So much so that he made a promise to Michelle that for every 6 months of their relationship, he’d make a highlight reel of their time together!

So basically, Michelle is the luckiest girl in the world because she actually gets what I’ve always dreamed of but never thought was a possible… a montage of her life!

Having music actually playing out loud (not just in your head) throughout both the little and big moments in your life, that all get edited to make them look even better than they were the first time, that you can watch over and over again forever… who doesn’t want that?! That’s SO awesome and I’m SO jealous!

The camera has actually been so central to their relationship, that Derek’s proposal was based around it! He told Michelle he needed some film footage of him for his job so he handed her the camera (something she’s not used to getting to hold herself) and it wasn’t working. So he told her to change the batteries and when she opened the battery compartment, low and behold she found a diamond ring in there meant just for her!

(Re-enactment)

So of course, it only made sense that little Mr. Camera got to come along to the engagement session and be as much of a part of this moment in their relationship as he has been in all the rest.

Michelle and Derek shared their first 6 month video with us before the session so we could get an idea of their personalities and relationship, as well as the kind of role they wanted the camera to play in their engagement session.

You really should watch the video! It’s incredibly cute and actually laugh out loud funny! If you’re a romantic you’re going to die! Scottie and I were thoroughly entertained throughout the entire thing and I actually just took some time to re-watch it myself because I love it so much! Plus if you watch it, then you’ll know that I’m not lying when I say that such incredibly pretty people can still be incredibly awesome! 🙂

If the video doesn’t prove it to you (which I’m very sure it will actually) then check out these “spunky” pictures.

This how the entire session went down. They just played and we just took pictures of them playing together!

We felt like total jerks whenever we’d have to stop their fun to get a few looking and smiling, engagementy kind of posed pictures. But we had to do it because we had to get at least a few of those, you know, for their moms and stuff!

During almost every wedding, bridal shower, rehearsal dinner, etc., etc. I’ve ever been to, there’s bound to be a moment where someone says something to the effect of “the best advice I can give you for marriage is that you remember to play and have fun together”.

I’ve only been married 6 years (and this usually comes from people who are going on 25) so I don’t have a ton of experience with how extremely important this is, but I’m assuming there’s a good reason why it’s the most popular wedding line ever. So if it really is as important as they say, then I’d say Michelle and Derek are set for life.

I’m expecting a very long (they say laughter/happiness makes you live longer too!) and very happy life to be in store for the two of them.

Congratulations you two on finding someone who makes you so happy! I can’t wait to be alongside Little Mr. Camera as we both get to be a part of one of your biggest life moments so far… see you on the wedding day!

Click to see the rest of Derek and Michelle’s many faces engagement session!