Read the Q&A with Stacy + Jay, featured below, to learn more about their engagement session inspiration and photography experience! To view all of the photos from their session and order prints, please visit their gallery on my online print shop!

1. Tell me about you! (The floor is yours: How did you meet? What activities do you enjoy doing as a couple? Who is your celebrity couple doppelganger?)

We met through mutual friends and knew each other for a few years before we got together. Serendipity struck one night at Southern Rail; we had an amazing conversation getting to know each other better, and the rest is history! We love to cook (and eat!), hike, play with our dog Pepper, travel, and do crossword puzzles.

2. Why did you decide to book an engagement session? Was there anything in particular you wanted me to photograph (or avoid…)?

We knew we wanted engagement photos; what else would we have used as pictures for our save-the-dates and wedding invitations? We’re a pretty ridiculous couple, so we knew we wanted our pictures to reflect that. We didn’t want “typical” photos, though of course we wanted to look amazing in them. We hoped to avoid anything that seemed to cliche or staged…we wanted something that showed off how we interact in real life (while also making us look incredible).

3. What was your favorite moment from the engagement session? Favorite photos?

Jay: My favorite moment was really a collections of moments: trying to persuade our dog Pepper to do what we wanted her to do. She never complied. My favorite picture is of me, cross-eyed and Stacy wearing my glasses. I also love the on(s) under the Davie Poplar.

Stacy: My favorite moment was climbing out over the creek in the North Carolina Botanical Garden. We weren’t exactly wearing outdoor footwear but we made it work! It was great to be able to have Pepper in these photos. I think my favorite shots are by the Old Well. It brings back great memories of our time at UNC.

4. What do you plan to do with the engagement photos? (i.e. Wallpaper the hallway? Internet fame? Make a collage of your pup?)

Fairly typical stuff- use them in our official wedding correspondence, frame a few and give them to our parents, stun our friends with how great we look together, the usual. Now that we have them, I am sure we’ll come up with some ridiculous ideas like print them on wrapping paper or coffee mugs.

5. Anything else you’d like to add?

We had a great time! Courtney made the entire session fun and playful. I think we were a bit nervous going in…thinking that there was a “right” or “wrong” way to do engagement photos, but Courtney put all our fears to bed and helped us get over any anxieties we had so that we could have fun and let our true selves show.

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Stacy + Jay, thanks for being your fun, goofy selves throughout this shoot! I had so much fun romping through the trails at the North Carolina Botanical Garden with you and revisiting our Alma Mater and expressing our Tar Heel pride. I hope you love your pictures and even get some laughs out of some of these shots. Enjoy!

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Since Anirudh and Suhana are both UNC alums, they chose The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for their spring engagement photo location. Any Tarheel living up out-of-state daydreams about campus in the springtime (especially when there is still snow on the ground up North!) We couldn’t have had a nicer day for this shoot in March- eighty degree weather and sunbeams illuminating the newly blossomed flowers made for a rejuvenating experience after the long winter.

Creatively speaking, one of biggest challenges of shooting at an iconic spot like The Old Well or Coker Arboretum is avoiding visual redundancy (I have lost track of how many times I’ve shot there!). One of my 2015 goals is to really push the envelope with making images- I don’t want to settle for what is comfortable or expected. To challenge myself on this shoot, I brought an assistant to help me work the reflector (thanks Kasha!). This is something I have just recently started doing that creates a more polished look- that extra pop of light makes a huge difference!

Anirudh and Suhana, thank you for making this session such a pleasant experience! I couldn’t think of a better way to spend the first real day of spring in North Carolina. I hope you love these photos, and I can’t wait to to photograph your wedding this August!

To view all of the photos from Anirudh + Suhana’s session and order prints, please visit their online gallery on my print shop!

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This sweet couple opted to have their engagement session during the late spring on UNC Chapel Hill’s campus. I always love an excuse to return to my alma mater, and with the diversity of flora and changing quality of light each season, no two shoots are the same.

This particular spring day was hot, but the light just before sunset was absolutely perfect. We hit some of the most iconic spots- The Old Well, Coker Arboretum, Davie Poplar, and the Forest Theater– but Beth and Anthony were not shy to go off the beaten path a bit and explore. We tromped through a less popular (but pretty!) field at the arboretum and found a fallen tree, which they gladly incorporated into the photos.

Beth + Ant, thanks so much for having so much fun with this shoot and contributing your own ideas to it! It was fun to collaborate with you both, and I can’t wait to work with you in 2015 for your wedding!

To view all of the photos from this session and order prints, please visit my print service.

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Katherine had always wanted engagement photos inside of a library, so we started off our shoot at the historic Wilson Library on UNC Chapel Hill’s campus. I had studied in the Second Floor Reading Room once or twice during undergrad and always felt out of place in the cavernous, elegant space that felt like something straight out of a Harry Potter movie. The window light is absolutely gorgeous there, so we had no trouble finding scenic backdrops for our shoot.

We ended our session at the Haw River Ballroom and the surrounding area in Saxapahaw, North Carolina, which is where Katherine and Caley will be getting married this March. I never get tired of shooting in Saxapahaw; the ballroom itself has so much character (and window light!), and the riverbed is beautiful any time of year.

Katherine and Caley, thank you so much for braving the cold with me for your engagement session! I loved collaborating with you on this shoot and had fun exploring both Wilson Library and Saxapahaw with you. I can’t wait to shoot your wedding this spring!

Prints from this session AVAILABLE HERE!

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The first time I ever photographed Yemeng and Chris was at a fort party hosted by my senior year roommates and I.  (It sounds like what it is: we built a massive fort out of linens in our Townhouse Apartment living room…the one with the graffiti walls). When I first photographed them they were wrestling and teasing each other in our furniture-deficient living room, and five years later they still had that lightheartedness to their relationship (but we all have more furniture). Our shoot was full of laughter and goofiness, and I really love that about this couple.

We spent the first half of our shoot at Merritt’s Pasture, a hidden gem of Chapel Hill that currently requires you to creatively enter via sewage pipe (walking across, not through).  Once you get past the somewhat precarious method of entering, you enter a beautiful field of yellow flowers…it looks like something from another part of the country!  We then trekked to the North Carolina Botanical Garden and finished our shoot at the Old Well and The Pit at Carolina.

Yemeng and Chris, thanks so much for being so fun to photograph! It’s always special for me to photograph college friends, and I’m looking forward to your wedding this spring!

Enjoy!

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