Had to throw in some lyrics in today’s blog title because it just FITS. Our summer run of shooting has fully taken off and this super steamy session is the perfect example of the kind of fun we’re having in 2018! It was a HOT night with a couple of HOT people. Emily and Ever are getting married and I have the joy of documenting this wildly exciting chapter for them.
I connected with Emily first over instagram (and if you’re not following us there, please HEAD ON OVER! We are far more active on insta than the blog)! However, I ended up connecting with these two on a personal level so quickly. They are creative, inspired yet grounded types. With family from El Salvador, Ever grew up in Los Angeles and has a talent for photography. Emily, a painter and nanny, grew up in Louisville but has traveled the world over with chamber choir and teaching English. They found each other either at a dive bar and got to know each other more at a political organizing party Emily was hosting. After a more official date at The Moth in 2017, they began dating. A year later, they attended the same show and it was fittingly titled “Love Hurts.” Except this time, they discussed their future and together decided to go on and get engaged. According to Emily, there was “something about hearing triumphant love stories that inspires us to make big life changes with each other.”
Following the super rad example of her grandparents, they did the practical thing and went to the pawn shop to celebrate their engagement with rings. Imagine my embarrassment when I started shooting her ring solo and Emily politely asked if I would maybe shoot Ever’s ring as well. I love when a moment like that reminds me of the assumptions and stereotypes we often reinforce as members of the wedding industry. I can’t tell you enough how much I LOVE that Ever too has a symbol of their commitment. I remember Ganer telling me how excited he was to *finally* wear his ring on the wedding day. He told me that growing up, he loved the tan around his father’s wedding ring and he couldn’t wait to have that marking on his own ring finger. I thought, “why is it that I got to wear this ring for years before adding a SECOND, while Ganer was quietly wanting his own?”. So folks, I’m officially a big advocate of joint proposals and BOTH partners getting to celebrate their union with rings (and bonus points if they are amazing pawn shop finds!). These two totally affirmed that belief for me.
Given what I know about Emily and Ever, I had no doubt that they would pick amazing locations for us to shoot. They are thoughtful, artistic, and stylish. I was not prepared however for just how inspired I would be. We came across (okay maybe trespassed) a closed park in “Nulu” and all three of us were in agreement that we needed to thoroughly explore this spot. It was both inspiring and haunting to be in this space that was intended to create growth, but has since been abandoned. We explored the unique landscape, having it completely to ourselves.
We ended the session at the super cool Graverly Brewery. Seriously need to come back again to this spot with Ganer. The beer was DELISH. Shout out to the owners and employees there that tolerated us obsessively exploring and shooting. That giant boombox is a backdrop I could only dream of!
Y’all. These two KILLED it. I loved that every idea I had, they were equally excited by and then elevated. I guess that’s what happens when you let 3 creative people loose in Louisville to run wild creating magic. I’ll leave you with some words from Emily:
“You can see just how much fun we were having on our little adventure! More than anything, I just want to thank you for allowing us what have been some of the few moments of calm in what feels like a storm of decisions and planning. I felt like we really got to relax and connect, Ever and I. I was so stressed that day, but you can’t even tell and I KNOW it was because of your curious, creative, adventuresome energy.
There are so many “oh my God!” and “I love that one” shots in here! One photo definitely had us simultaneously turning to each other, eyes wide, and mouth agape in silent joyful astonishment. We are so grateful and excited and happy!! Thank you so so much! We’ll be looking over these for weeks. And our wedding photos are gonna be insane!! We can’t wait!”
Thank you Emily and Ever! I could not be more pumped to do it all again for the wedding!
