if i may, i would like to offer a morsel of photographic wisdom i gleaned from emily and dave’s engagement session. here ’tis: if you want to make the evening more convenient for your subjects by offering them a ride to the shoot location, do NOT be a complete airhead driver! yeah, that was i. the doofus who thought he could rely on an out-of-date gps and his manly instincts to lead him back to this lovely couple’s car, parked just a couple miles away. the intention was good. we would park at the hotel where emily and dave first met on a kind of “blind date.” (that’s the spot in the image above.) then we would drive together to shoot at atlanta’s centennial olympic park — you know, to make parking a little easier. the first part of the plan went well. the return trip was a different story. one missed exit, then a fateful u-turn that landed us in “motorway” hell (as our british gps would describe it). this athens boy never could have imagined the chaos that is friday night traffic in atlanta. we’re talkin’ irritable businesspeople laying on the gas, the break and the horn simultaneously, already tipsy students hanging out of hummers, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria! a couple hours later we completed our journey down the street. (we could have walked it ten times faster!) 😛

on a positive note, eileen and i got to spend those two hours with this extraordinary couple — getting to know them and their story a lot better. we were amazed how many correlations we found between their love story and ours. first, the fact that the beginning of their relationship, like ours, probably couldn’t have happened before the existence of cyberspace. then there are the fun little idiosyncrasies of our dialects and culinary customs — very distinct between our families. (dave being from a very italian family up north. emily being a contemporary southern belle.) and of course the many strings of “coincidences” both they and we experienced  as God bringing us together. but similarities aside, emily and dave also shared with us some very curious chapters from their unique fairy tale. among my favorites is the account of dave’s first visit to meet emily’s grandmother. upon that early meeting, even before emily and dave had reached any “understanding” in their relationship, emily’s grandmother must have sensed something unmistakable in dave. with complete assurance, she explained to emily right then and there that dave was “the one.” she proceeded to give her own ring to dave, giving him permission to do with it as he wished. the ring, as you might have guessed, found its way to emily’s finger.

a huge congratulations, you two! we’re so happy for you, and we can’t wait to celebrate new chapters (maybe even new road trips) with you in the near future.

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