A Walk Through the Woods

So as you already know, today we had our engagement photo shoot!!  After all the anticipation and unnecessary stress the day went better than I could have imagined (although, in my perfect world it would have been about 10 degrees cooler, but I can't control the weather now can I?).  Our photographer was wonderful!  He gave us great direction and had such a good eye for lighting!

A little side story about how we ended up with our photographer:
My method for searching for a wedding venue, caterer, florist, etc was to check out local photographers' blogs (I highly recommend this method to any brides to be).  My thoughts were if it looked good for a client's wedding it should look good for us too.  I stumbled onto our photographer's website during my research phase and instantly loved his work.  I thought he did a wonderful job capturing moments and used nature and light to it's fullest.  I shot him an email requesting further information and in the meantime I scoured his website for more wedding inspiration.  It wasn't until I clicked his bio that I realized my fiancé and I went to high school with him!  It was fate, I didn't think twice, I knew he was the perfect photographer to capture our special day.

So back to today: I had known for a while that our location was a strong contender for where I wanted to have our engagement pictures.  The only problem was, as I spoke of the other day, the logistics of everything.  We ended up making it work.  My sweet fiancé lugged a duffle bag containing our outfits and other primping necessities.  Other hikers may have seen a bit more of me than need be, but all in all I think the trek was worth the effort.  It gave us a little time to catch up with our photographer and possibly burn off that extra slice of pizza (well, I'll just tell myself that...this girl has not been sticking to her wedding diet).  We obviously don't have any pictures to share yet but I thought I would give you a sneak peek of the location.  Enjoy one of my favorite hidden Raleigh gems:

A huge thank you to Jon of Jon Black Photography for a great experience and for hiking a few miles to make my vision a reality!