One day, what seems like a very long time ago, I steered my Blaze into the parking lot of a bare-bones restaurant off Highway 52 in southern Minnesota. I nervously opened the door and walked toward the entrance of the bar, silently repeating uplifting mantras and begging my conscience to be conscience as I met this unknown bride-to-be for the first time. I remember feeling instantly comfortable in her welcoming presence; her smile lit up our cozy little booth and her eyes danced with mischievous laughter not yet spilled. As we planned, laughed and talked about their upcoming wedding, I had a feeling there were good things to come…
…fast forward a few years…
An engagement session at the most perfect of golden hours.
A beautiful fall wedding with the best groom’s dance I’ve seen with my own eyes.
<seriously; he did the snake and everything. awesome.>
The announcement of a new baby and beautiful maternity photos at a local park.
Baby’s first year filled with a new house, new roles, new boy, new feelings…awesome.
And then the announcement of another Baby.
A more relaxed, yet no-less powerful, year of learning, growing, giggles and love.
And then we found ourselves here.
Ronan Raymond’s first birthday. Walking. Laughing. Playing. Not cooperating. Laughing more. Crying a little…cake smash…
And as I drove away I thought about this family. This family who I watched as she excitedly held his hand at the place where they attended school together as kids while telling me about her first memories of him. His laugh and the way it made her whole self come alive. Their emotional wedding ceremony and the look on her son’s face as he walked his mother down the aisle. The photos between the ceremony and reception. Their dinner…their dance…their laughter and love. Their first child together, Vaughn Wolfe, and the smiles he’s produced. And now Ronan Raymond, turning one and completing this family of five.
People dream of life loves like these two. Finding each other when the timing was just right for them. And all the pieces, built painstakingly one at a time, to lead up to an overcast day at a house I had walked into almost a dozen times to photograph a family who I looked forward to seeing each and every session…
…how did I ever get this lucky.
