From day one, their relationship has been fun, exciting, sweet and simple, their engagement photography session captures all of those sentiments visually and more…  
Laura and Jeff shared, “We decided to choose to work with you for many reasons. We had met at a Christmas party and really hit it off. When you mentioned you’re a wedding photographer, we went home and looked up your blog, website, Facebook, etc. and were amazed at the uniqueness and personalized aspect of your work which was tailored to every couple.”
She continued, “We really wanted something different for our wedding pictures, something that would set us apart from our friends (who are also getting married around the same time we are). We loved your ability to take a traditional portrait and put a unique spin on it.”

They chose the breathtaking Linwood Estate in Carlisle, Pennsylvania for their wedding venue and engagement photo site.  Jeff shared, “We originally chose Linwood as our wedding venue because there’s no comparing it to other venues in the area. Laura had been following them on Instagram since they opened as a wedding venue, and she always knew she wanted to get married there. Once we got engaged, Laura immediately scheduled a tour of the property and fell in love as soon as we drove through the front gates.”
For me, Linwood Estate has so much to work with, from a historic mansion to wide open fields and mountains, woods to a pond, it is just exquisite and one of my favorite places to work, it is an amazing venue and only a twenty minute drive from my home!  I captured some of the fall color, the fields and rolling hills in this image:

While I love capturing unique, candid wedding and engagement photography, I also enjoy capturing more traditional shots, too.
Here is a photo of Laura Jeff in front of the French doors off the flagstone patio– I think you can really see how happy and comfortable they are here:

In the next photograph I captured their silhouettes against the pretty windows at Linwood while also showing the fall foliage and mountains in the distance.  I like to have layers in my photos :).

Laura shared, “What I love most about Jeff is his ability to make me laugh pretty much all of the time. It’s been joked about among my friends that I have a pretty dry sense of humor and am pretty much “straight faced” all the time. But Jeff’s sense of humor is similar to mine and always brighten my day.”
You can see them flirting a little in this photo, they had a playful banter going on throughout their session.  You can see a bit of the Linwood Estate in the background:

Jeff shared, “Since I met Laura, everything between us just seemed to click. When we first started talking I told her everything, way more than you probably should tell someone you just met.”
He continued, “I never felt like I needed to pretend to be cooler than I was. Next thing you know, we were talking everyday and it was an off day if I didn’t get to see her some how.”
“From early on, I knew if given the chance, I would marry her. She’s always been someone I could count on and talk to that I couldn’t imagine spending my life with anyone else.”

Laura shared, “Champagne is one of our favorite things to indulge in – partly because it’s yummy and partly because it’s so fun to pop the cork out! It’s a great way to celebrate any occasion ;)”
She continued, “I always knew that he would be sweet, respectful, and supportive. After recently finishing my Master’s degree, Jeff was probably more excited than I was. We popped a bottle of champagne and ate cheesecake!”
“Jeff mentioned at least a handful of times how proud he was of me…it’s nice to know that I have someone to support me in whatever I may take on throughout my lifetime.”

They wore simple casual clothes with a simple fall color palette…
I love the soft, bright light in this next photo.  I let the sun in and it created beautiful orbs of light throughout this image:

Laura & Jeff first met at the Susquehanna Ale House in downtown Harrisburg.  The girls Laura was out with that night knew the guys that Jeff was hanging out with. Their mutual friends began chatting, which left Laura and Jeff to talk to each other.
They made small talk for a while, and eventually headed to the bar for a drink.  Jeff struck a deal – he said he would buy Laura a drink of her choice if she gave him her phone number. She agreed (and actually gave him her real phone number), haha.
After a long night of drinking, talking, and dancing, everyone headed back to a friend’s house to hang out. In the cab on the way to the house, Jeff was sitting on the floor between 2 seats and Laura was in one of the seats. At one point, he grabbed her hand and kissed it :).
If you look closely at this next photograph, you can see Jeff kissing her hand in this silhouetted reflection…

I love using creative photography techniques and using reflection and flare, I also like to capture motion by playing with my shutter speed as well.
Here I wanted to capture their energy and all of the beautiful fall colors and sunlight in one shot.  I like how there are a few elements in sharp focus while the rest of the image conveys movement:

I’ll end with a photograph captured in the place where Laura first realized that Linwood was the venue for her.  It was on her drive in through the gate.  I loved the golden glow of the sky and the equally gold fields of grain as well!

If you haven’t seen enough of Laura and Jeff, have no fear, this was just part of their engagement session.  I’ll be posting their football portion tomorrow.  🙂
Laura & Jeff, thank you for spending your evening with me and sharing your story.  It was a pleasure to meet you at Kevin’s party last winter and I am so pleased to be photographing your Linwood wedding!