This was one of the most fun engagement shoots I’ve ever done! When I first spoke to Elisabeth and Chet, we talked about doing their photos on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall since they had their first date at Yearbook Taco, and because Elisabeth used to work at a boutique on the mall. Also since their wedding was going to be on Chet’s family’s farm, with reception at historic Ash-Lawn Highland, I knew they’d end up with nice Virginia countryside and mountain view portraits, so the downtown mall seemed like a chance to get some fun downtown photos of this stylish couple.

I sensed that they might be up for something a little more adventurous too…so I threw out there “I’ve always wanted to do an engagement shoot where the couple goes all the way into some body of water and gets soaking wet!” They immediately said, Yeah- that would be fun! And Elisabeth quickly dreamed up an appropriate wardrobe change for the water scene photos. Now when I suggested this…I was thinking summer or early fall….I did not foresee that our engagement photos date would end up being in November! Did we scrap the water scene photos in 40 degree weather? Nope! They were still game, and I was still eager to see what photos we could create, so we forged ahead, and here you can see the results!