Brittany + Joe’s Wild St. Louis Engagement
They flew from St. Louis to meet with me in person before booking. It was the earliest meeting I had ever had and the day after a late wedding far from home. I’ll admit I was hurtin’ a little but they had a full schedule that day and wanted to get things going. I remember looking at my phone in the morning and having a panic attack when I realized I needed to leave the house in 15 minutes. All of that melted away as soon as we met. They were like old friends immediately. They talked in exquisite detail about their Versailles Palace, Paris proposal and plans to marry near their hometown at Lancaster’s Cork Factory Hotel in October 2019. I was entranced and adored them. The way Joe looked at her with those puppy dog eyes and poked fun at her good-humoredly paired with Britt’s kind and yet take charge, authoritative nature…it was fun to see them together and I knew I was going to love working with them.
Between my shooting schedule and Brittany’s intense travel schedule, we finally came to the determination that the only way to make their engagement session work was for me to fly to St. Louis to shoot it on a Friday. I had a family session scheduled for Sunday so I literally had to fly in, shoot their session and fly home early the next morning. Well, weather was not on our side. Apparently, there had been severe storms in Chicago and my first flight was already delayed at 7:00am. I was told the earliest United could get me to St. Louis was 7:30pm. Since their session was to start at 6:30pm this was not going to work. I talked with Brittany who threw it out there that Chicago was only a 4.5 hour drive to St. Louis. YES! I LOVE driving! DONE! And, since Brittany and Joe work for Enterprise…it was settled.
All along the flat drive through the Midwest I noted a storm WAY off in the distance and marveled at how I was able to see such a massive storm so far away. For 4 hours I watched this storm like it hadn’t moved at all. What was really happening was that I was driving on a collision course with the storm where we met on the outskirts of St. Louis. I literally drove past the “Welcome to St. Louis” sign as big drops of water started to hit my windshield. It was 5:20pm and I was almost there. FLASH! CRACK! BOOM! The storm hit. The wind swirled and the rain came down so hard I could barely see. The traffic slowed to a crawl. GPS had said I was 20 minutes away. Then, of course, the kids called to say goodnight. I put on my happy voice and told them how much I loved them and couldn’t wait to see them the next day and pretended to be able to hear what they were saying to me. Marc understood what was going on so we said, “nighty night” and “I love you” and hung up so I could concentrate. I’ll admit I wasn’t excited about the weather to say the least. My mind was already thinking through a rain plan based off of the pictures Britt has sent me of the location the week before. I KNEW I could still pull off a session even if it was pouring. And, hey, I love a good challenge, right?! I swear something about that positive mind-set changed the trajectory of my luck…and the weather. It started to clear as I pulled into their neighborhood at 5:40pm. We hugged and talked outfits and were ready to head out. We were in shooting position by 6:30 as planned and got one set of umbrella shots in as it drizzled before the rain completely stopped and we had the PERFECT weather for the remainder of their session. IT. WAS. EPIC. Like, they even got in a fountain epic. See for yourself! And, if you ask me this week if I will ever travel for a shoot again, I will probably say no but I know that’s also probably not true. I do love a good adventure and a new location to shoot in.
Britt and Joe, what to say? I ADORE YOU! THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING! From helping me to make it all happen, being so understanding, the gift you got for my kids to thank them for sharing my time with you, buying a step ladder so I wouldn’t have to check mine, choosing an amazing location, dinner and being AMAZING to work with….you are the best and I can’t wait for your Cork Factory Hotel wedding in October. I can’t wait to meet your families and friends that I have heard so much about. Enjoy this sample of my favorites from your session. And, because I know how hard it is to wait, there are some surprised in your inbox RIGHT NOW so go check!
XO - Megan
