A Tuscan Engagement

Abbey & Andrew’s proposal was just short of Hollywood awesome.  (In case you missed it, you need to go back and check it out here before you read another word!) So awesome, that the very next day as we were traveling through Tuscany down to Rome, I made Derek stop the car a couple times in the middle of nowhere so we could capture the most authentic Italian engagement photos EVER!   The first spot was a side road that we thought was a teenie road – turns out it went to someone’s actual house!  But the Tuscan country side with some dirt roads look pretty awesome, so there was our first stop.   Our second location, I truly had no clue where we were, I should have screenshot my phone’s GPS, so we could remember it.  Even the words on the building at our second location, “Sala D’aspetto” in a few of the photos, literally translates to “waiting room,” so they’re no help either.  Oh well.

So for this post, I had every intention of sharing some of Abbey & Andrew’s love story.  But, my luck has been fabulous the past few weeks, and I misplaced the chuckle-worthy answers to my cheesy questions, so I guess their embarrassment is spared.  However, I do remember how they met.  Abbey and Andrew had a few friends that kept putting them together on dates, insisting they would fall for one another.  They tried…and failed.   I distinctly remember Abbey reading aloud my questions for this interview with Andrew next to her and asking him, “was it love at first sight?” and Andrew snorted into his drink.  They highly disliked each other in the beginning, with she being too prissy and he being too nice.  They felt that they didn’t mesh well with one another and that their friends were beyond crazy for thinking it could work.  Well, four dates and eight months later, they FINALLY saw what their friends could see and officially began truly dating.   Clearly friends can be right, and I am forever thankful to those friends because if you see these two now, there’s no way they could be separated.

Alright, now let me stop talking and get on with sharing their fabulous photos from our great Tuscan adventure!

Friday, our day 4, was spent touring all there was of Rome.  We hit the Colosseum first thing in the morning, then headed off to the Roman Ruins, the Pantheon, Vatican City, Trevi Fountain, The Spanish Steps, and I’m sure a slew of a dozen other places.  However, the only place we were able to really have a few minutes for a photo opportunity was inside the Colosseum. But they looked fantastic! Especially considering how high the sun was and there was absolutely no shade, not even a blip of a cloud in the sky, for some diffused light.

Our last round of photos took place in Venice!!  We had chosen to meander toward Milan (our last stop before heading back home) so instead of getting lost in the countryside, we got lost on an island!   HAHA!  We made our way through winding narrow streets and thankfully everyone was still on board with letting me keep wandering until I found the perfect alley way.  I had even made a make-shift reflector with white foam core board and aluminum foil in case I needed some extra brightness to their faces…too bad I blinded them in the process with the aluminum side – still so sorry guys!!  But the photos look perfectly Venitian and for that I am thrilled.  And even though the photos in St Mark Square didn’t have the wow factor with the pigeons – I can still say I took engagement photos IN ST MARK SQUARE!!!! #photographerwin

I hope you had a blast checking out some fun and exciting engagement photos from ITALIA!  Check back next week for my sister’s senior portraits while we were there!!