Kathryn stole my heart years before her wedding day. We were living in Maryland and I had just recently been asked to serve as a leader over the Young Women in our local church. Kathryn was one of the Young Women in our group. along with her 2 younger sisters, and her mom, Angie was my YW President. I absolutely loved serving under Angie. I was continuously inspired by her ability to serve, seek out the lost sheep, and still maintain sanity within her own home and family of 5 children! I have had the opportunity to photograph Kathryn’s family several times, including in downtown Annapolis, as well as take Kathryn’s senior photos and her sister Emily’s senior photos.

This past winter, I met Kathryn’s fiance Eric and I witnessed one of the sweetest, most pure love stories unfolding before my eyes. They had been friends in high school, wrote each other while Kathryn served an 18-month mission in Puerto Rico, and still maintained a long-distance relationship after Kathryn returned home and then attended college in Utah while Eric stayed in Maryland. Their snowy and glowy Tibble Fork engagement photos had me completely smitten and ready for their upcoming spring wedding!

When we started chatting about the timeline of their wedding day, Kathryn mentioned the possibility of doing a First Look session beforehand, and of course I jumped on board. I love being able to take my couples’ portraits outside of the stress and timeline of a typical wedding day, and just focus on the two of them. This frees us up to take portraits at locations we might not otherwise have time for, and also gives them the freedom to be stress-free on their wedding day! Kathryn said she wanted to take a few portraits at the temple, so that come Saturday, she wouldn’t have to worry if it was a busy day or there were a lot of other brides there at the same time. She also said she wanted go somewhere “wild,” somewhere in the mountains. Obviously I loved everything about this plan!

The temple grounds were basically empty and we had all the angles to ourselves….this is usually not true on any given Saturday! After the temple, we drove up into Big Cottonwood Canyon….a “wild” location I had been dying to take a couple to for awhile now! Of course the rocks, trees, mountains, rivers, colors…all the sights and smells and views of the canyon did not disappoint!

At the end of the night, Kathryn and Eric were less than 48 hours away from being married, and their excitement was contagious. Stay tuned for their wedding day in all its glory and beauty!!