What a treat!  I re-visited Meredith & LR’s wedding venue, this time photographing their baby bump, we all enjoyed a beautiful evening of trekking in the woods (my absolute favorite) and revisiting places like the tree where LR proposed, Meredith’s favorite field and witnessing an incredible sunset…

Meredith shared, “We chose you as our photographer because we were so pleased with the photos that you captured from our wedding day. They were unique, authentic, and creative. We were hoping to have photos that captured our personalities- two lawyers that enjoy nothing more than breaking out of our work attire and book it out of town to our “special place” where we are surrounded by nature.”

How chic is this pregnant woman?  Wowza!!

Meredith explained, “I first fell for LR because he immediately saw potential in me that I never saw in myself. I was planning to go back to school to obtain a degree in business management and he encouraged me to look into legal studies. Our first date was a “blind” date and we ended up talking for three hours. We instantly connected and I remember calling my Mom on the way home and telling her that I met the man I was going to marry.”
White dress and wedding rings, this time with the baby bump 😉

Re-visiting their wedding proposal site and the initials LR carved in the tree

Meredith shared, “We loved that you wanted to re-visit significant places with us, like the engagement tree where LR proposed. We knew that we always wanted to remember that special spot, so LR carved our initials into the tree along with the date we got engaged.”

Meredith explained, “I first fell for LR because he immediately saw potential in me that I never saw in myself. I was planning to go back to school to obtain a degree in business management and he encouraged me to look into legal studies. Our first date was a “blind” date and we ended up talking for three hours. We instantly connected and I remember calling my Mom on the way home and telling her that I met the man I was going to marry. I love that he always makes me laugh when I’m having a bad day.”

She continued, “We chose the location because it’s where we got married and we love the outdoors. The land specifically is important to both of us because LR has been going there since he was little and he’s spent a lot of weekends foraging through the woods. To me, the land is special because it’s a place that we spend a lot of time with my in-laws and my brother-in-law and I’m excited to see our child grow up having the woods as a permanent vacation spot where she can foster a love for the outdoors.”
This “ring of honeysuckle branches reminded me of the floral wreath that was part of their wedding…

Revisiting their wedding chapel, this time with a baby bump!

The chapel in the background is the place where LR & Meredith were married a few years ago.  They and their family members built it together on their land and the brick walkway where they are standing was one of Meredith’s special projects.  She found all the brick and laid (and re-laid) it with LR until it was totally level.  They were both amused at the grass peeking through between the bricks.  You can see the wooden “pews” and the chapel arches in the background.

Breaking it down…

Meredith shared, “When I was considering what to wear I wanted something whimsical and elegant that also showed off the baby bump.  I chose the white lace dress because I felt like it gave us the perfect amount of elegance, while the hat kept things more playful.”

Speaking of playing, I love to play with reflections, here is one of them off of the surface of their pond.  I love the color palette that the reflected sky brings into the image:

Meredith admitted, “I have a Type A personality and he balances me out by just going with the flow.  I started planning the nursery layout and design two years ago. For LR, I think this time period brought out his typically calm demeanor. He handled most hiccups during this time with ease and was careful to balance out some of my more hormonal reactions.”

Meredith laughed, “Surrounded by nature- being in nature is our happy place. We don’t need fancy restaurants or vacations but give us a few days up in the mountains and our souls are restored.”

She shared, “LR can build, fix, and create anything that I set in front of him. There are so many unique items that are one of a kind in the nursery because they are handmade and I am so grateful to have a husband that is handy and can bring all of my visions to life.”

“I am most excited to see LR become a father. I think that the new role will look quite good on him.” –Meredith

I thought it’d be fun to re-create a few of their favorite shots from their wedding day.
Meredith shared, “Spinning like we did at the wedding was such a fun picture to create and really reminded me of our wedding day. It was so nice to be able to recreate some of my favorite wedding pictures.”

Meredith, you are stunning!

Prepared and calm in a crisis:

Meredith shared, “We inherited a piece of furniture from my late Uncle and we painted it, added new hardware, and LR extended the width of the dresser to accommodate our changing pad and accessories. In February, LR started talking about Covid-19 and how it was likely going to hit us hard. I immediately purchased all of our big pieces of nursery furniture to ensure that nothing was out of stock and to avoid shipping delays.  He knows how to take care of me and us and I can’t wait to see him as a father.”

Growing something new together:

Meredith explained, “A perfect example of our love and personalities can be seen throughout the past few months in how we’ve handled Covid-19. For starters, I have been saying for months now that all I want to do (other than parent our new child, of course) is to spend some time in our garden.”

Meredith elaborated, “I researched for the majority of last winter and had all of these grand ideas for what our garden could look like this year- brand new drip irrigation system, companion planting, adding fresh dirt to the garden beds, etc. However, with the impending pandemic, I was quickly losing hope that my dream garden would happen this year- I thought the nurseries would close, the garden centers would close, and there go my new plants and fresh dirt.”

She continued, “Despite LR thinking it was a bad idea, we headed out to Snavely’s Garden Corner and secured ourselves a dump truck of new soil. We worked during quarantine to fill up our raised garden beds with new soil. We started a few plants from seed and then, as the restrictions began to lift, we headed out to Lurgan and selected some new plant babies to come home with us. This was my first and only outing into a retail location since the first weekend in March and it was well worth it!”
The mountains and that sunset, lots of purples…

Meredith summarized, “So, despite me giving up hope on having my dream garden this year, LR worked through all of the details and, as always, brought my dream to life! ”
LR added, “I love that we can spend enjoyable time together while working to accomplish something, we plan to raise our child with the same work ethic.”
She added, “He is always teaching me to slow down, not panic, and look for solutions instead of the problem.”

By that time the sun had sunk low behind the mountain and purple turned to indigo, the couple was quiet and just taking it all in…

Meredith and Lawrence, thank you so much for reaching out to me both on your wedding day and to capture your pregnancy.  It has been such a treat for me to watch your family grow through this time and to visit the land you love.
To see more of Meredith and LR, check out their wedding blog, here.