Whenever we book a wedding with a bride and groom who live in a different state, we’re always worried that we won’t get the opportunity to get know them before their big day.
We’ve discovered that the better we know the people we’re taking pictures of, the better their pictures tend to turn out because they feel like friends are taking pictures of them rather than strangers.
So when Jay and Tonia booked us, we set out right away to find a way to get a chance to hang out with them! Luckily they needed to make another trip down to plan their Sedona wedding so we set up an engagement session in that great land of red rocks!
We started out at the shopping area called Tlaquepaque (I’m not kidding, that’s seriously the name of it) where we got some old European city looking pictures…
…but we were itching to get out and explore the real beauty of Sedona which lies in the great outdoors!
We picked a spot to shoot and found all kinds of cool things there! Giant trees…
…a place where people have built hundreds of little of rock piles all over…
(it’s a lot harder to build them than it looks!)
…the famous red rock mountains
…and a BEE-AUtiful sky!
While we were very grateful we found some interesting backdrops for our shots, they really weren’t that necessary because the people we were taking pictures of were interesting enough!
(They’re definitely one of the first couples we’ve ever had do a chest bump for a picture! Ha ha, you guys didn’t know I was actually going to put that one in did you?!)
Jay is one of those guys who has a very straight faced sense of humor, like you never really know when he’s kidding. I (Breanna) happen to find that style of humor absolutely hilarious!
So all day I’m there, trying to aim and focus my camera, while having a major interruption due to my hysterical laughing at some little side comment Jay made. As you can see, I’m not the only one who finds him funny!
I loved the random little faces and gestures he made towards Tonia to get her to laugh… his quest to crack her poses was definitely a success!
From beginning to end, Tonia and Jay were laughing and having a ball with each other!
If they felt at all uncomfortable in front of the camera, they hid it very well!
I think the trick is that they are comfortable enough with themselves to just be who they are whether there’s a camera on them or not. It was really fun to watch them interacting and having fun with the session.
It seemed like they just decided it was going to be a fun day when they woke up in the morning and they just rolled with it.
So thank you Tonia and Jay for having such a great attitude and for feeling free to let us into your world a little bit.
We are so glad we got a chance to hang out and get to know you both a little better, it makes us very excited for your wedding! We have so many more photo opps to come with the two of you, and it’s good to know that no matter what, we’re going to have fun doing them! Can’t wait!
P.S. Thanks for the Picazzo’s Pizza… we’re addicted now! 😉
Click to see the rest of the photos from Tonia and Jay’s Sedona, AZ engagement session!
Beautiful shots as usual. And beeeautiful sky 🙂 I love how you make the couple always seem so comfortable with a camera pointing at them.