I’m so excited to share this engagement session with you! It included an adorable puppy, an antique tractor, a vintage tandem bike and two beautiful ladies, Mary & Carrie, who are tying the knot this weekend! Set against the gorgeous backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains at Carrie’s parents farm I couldn’t have asked for a better location for an engagement session. Over the past year I’ve been working more film work into my sessions and for this session I made sure to load up on rolls and strap my film camera to my body during the shoot. This session is a hybrid of film and digital images and I have to say the soft colors of the film images had me jumping up and down as my scans downloaded from the lab!
As I drove up the mountains to Luray for this session I was overcome with all the memories of visits as a kid to the caverns with my dad’s Model A Ford club, those memories were followed by memories of my first vacation with David 8 years ago. I can’t wait to take my kids in a couple years and start making memories for them! I feel so blessed to live in Virginia where a two hour drive can take you to the coast or to the mountains! This particular day we were being chased by rain a bit and I just kept crossing my fingers that it would go around. In the end we did get caught in a brief shower but it produced a rainbow which led to a story that Mary’s mom had said wouldn’t it be nice if you got a rainbow at your engagement session and sure enough we did! How crazy is that!!!!!
As I turned down the road to head to the farm I noticed an old tractor sitting in a field to my right and I thought awesome I wonder if we can use this field. Turns out Carrie and her Dad dragged that tractor to the field just for us to use! Her Mom captured a cute photo of father and daughter on their tractors during the endeavor. When I tell clients I want their engagement session to be in a place that means something to them this is exactly what I’m talking about. Now when Mary and Carrie look at their engagement photos they are going to see that tractor and remember pulling it out to the field and the memories they made that day with Carrie’s family. I love that!
Let’s get onto some of my favorite images from the session!
Awesome vintage tractor that Carrie’s family owns!
Gorgeous! I love the mountains in the background :).
They are just too cute! Oh and totally stylish!
Meet Finnegan the goldendoodle!
Who could forget the moment someone drove by and hooped and hollered at us!
Such beautiful ladies!
I love the yellow on the bottom of Carrie’s shoes.
Two of my favorite images!
Tandem bicycle and a stunning mountain backdrop!
Vintage tractor, totally awesome!
I love a good black and white photo!
How gorgeous are their matching rings!
Love this family photo with Finn!
Finnegan is such a sweet puppy!
You girls nailed these!
They are standing in front of an old cattle chute, I’ve never seen one before.
I love Finn peeking through in this photo!
Melissa Arlena is an award winning lifestyle newborn photographer in Charlottesville and Richmond, Virginia who has earned her Master Photographer Certification from NAPCP in maternity, newborn and family photography. Her natural and simple work has been featured in magazines and online blogs worldwide. She has been named Best Maternity and Newborn Photographer in Richmond and Charlottesville, VA in 2023.
