Marisa & Erik are ENGAGED! As a way to celebrate their love and upcoming Notre Dame Basilica of the Sacred Heart & The Armory wedding that we’ll be capturing for them next (2020) June in a little under 8 months from now, a couple weeks ago we were able to capture their Engagement Session in so many spots meaningful to they, their relationship, and their actual engagement! These two were engaged 8 months ago at The University of Notre Dame where the two of them work (and where Marisa went to school), so for their Engagement Session these two picked the Crooked Ewe (a favorite of so, so many of us) and Notre Dame since their first date was at the Crooked Ewe AND since Notre Dame actually brought them together via working there! Erik also (as we mentioned) even proposed to Marisa there on Notre Dame’s campus, so their Engagement Session covered so many pivotal moments within their relationship evolution! What better way to spend an Engagement Session than re-visiting so many momentous spots meaningful to your love and growth together?!
The evening just prior to sunset this fall evening started off at their first date spot: The Crooked Ewe. These two even managed to snag the actual table and seats that they were sitting in for their first date and reenacted Marisa’s entrance in to meet Erik there!
This restaurant/ brewery is a favorite spot of many of us young adults for its amazingly creative and delicious food and fantastic beers (two of our couples even stopping by on their wedding day), so we definitely approve of their choice of first date location!
These two will actually be having their wedding’s Rehearsal Dinner here as well, so it holds so much meaning for both the start of their relationship and start of their marriage together-!
After re-living such an important moment in their love story, we headed outside with these two for photos in a few more spots there along the river.
For their last Engagement Portrait spots we headed over to the place that brought them together: Notre Dame. For his proposal back in March, Erik literally mapped out the entire surprise (physically mapped it out in drawing & writing) for Marisa’s family to secretly join in the engagement. Though the day’s weather was not great that day with drizzle and classic South Bend just-2-weeks-post-winter weather, Erik heartwarmingly chose a bench outside of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart as where he’d propose. The Basilica is the first place that these two went to mass together, so it holds even more meaning to these two as it’s also where they’ll have their wedding ceremony next year-! Leading up to their actual engagement, Marisa became confused about why they were walking around campus for so long in such weird weather, but then serendipitously near the end of their long walk people started playing live music outside and added to the mood Erik was going for. With Marisa’s family hidden and photographing the events, Erik and Marisa made it over to the bench in front of the main Basilica doors and he got down on one knee and proposed.
During the engagement he had a large funny prop ring bigger than his hand outstretched to Marisa, so we just had to include both it and her real ring in the recreation of their actual engagement! After Marisa said yes, they headed into the Basilica to pray together and when they came out of the “God, Country, Notre Dame” side doors, Marisa’s family was right there playing live music for them (of course the Notre Dame fight song and more) and completely surprising Marisa!
After their engagement reenactment we headed over to Marisa’s old dorm for some portraits of the two of them there with the fall leaves and sunset flanking them.
We were getting close to actual sunset, so we then headed over to some portraits by the Golden Dome & the Basilica. Golden Hour was gorgeous covering them in warm light as the fall colors sparkled behind them!
Shortly after that we headed straight to the bench at the lake at Notre Dame that Marisa during the engagement day felt like Erik was maybe going to propose at.
Sitting together on this bench was the first time that they realized that they may actually end up together for good, so when Erik didn’t propose there as they were looking out at the lake during the actual engagement day, Marisa turned back to being confused about why they were walking around in the sprinkling rain just a couple weeks after winter (though they walked on).
No Engagement Session or wedding at (or just visit to) Notre Dame is complete without a stop at the Grotto, so we of course headed there. It nearly touches the lake, so we were already right there once the sun set. These two prayed together a bit on the kneelers and then lit a candle within the Grotto.
When all was said and done, we decided one last bonus spot would be nice and took a few last shots of them by the Golden Dome with their wedding date sign aglow!
All-in-all their Engagement Session at so many spots special to they and their relationship was both gorgeous and meaningful! It was wonderful to get a bit peek into their relationship story in the exact spots that their momentous relationship events happened and we were thrilled to get to capture and relive those moments with them! Thank you so much Marisa & Erik for taking us through those special spots with you! We cannot wait to deliver your photo choices to you (since your prints are done/ packaged & you should be getting in your package tonight or in the morning) and hope that the transition into November has been a good one for you two!
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Unrelated: Coming up in just a few days we’ll be capturing Cassie & Jimmy’s wedding here in South Bend all day Saturday! We cannot wait to capture their big day and share it with you all next Weekly Wednesday blog post-!! In the meantime, we happened to get 6 big printed photo orders over the weekend when we were capturing Engagement Sessions and Senior Portraits, so we finished printing those today, are packing them all up, and will deliver them either tonight or tomorrow morning! Amidst all of this we’ve also been editing 2 full weddings (thousands of photos) and the Engagement & Senior photos that we just took a few days ago over the weekend! Most digital photos we’re hoping to finish by Sunday, so we only have a few days left to edit 3 of them (tomorrow, Friday, Sunday) before we finish the last wedding and choose/ edit all of Cassie & Jimmy’s Teasers for a few days through Wednesday- whew!
For our current couples we’re also currently creating 4 wedding album layouts for Proofing as well as a whole lot of wedding invitations! We have all of November & December filled with TONS and TONS of products that we have to make for our clients, but we’re waiting on their wedding photo choices and Portrait Session choices, so most of our days after next week will be filled with making wedding album layouts, tweaking those as clients request, printing around 2,000 more photos, finishing 7 physical wedding albums, packaging up at least 15 packages, and more! We weren’t going to take ANY other clients for 2019, but have had some requests for late December and late January for Holiday Portrait Sessions, so we’re in the midst of potentially taking those on as well (though due to how close they all are to Christmas- a few days in advance- they will not be edited before Christmas).
This year we’re cracking down and making SURE that all of our couples and clients choose ALL of the prints & products that come with their packages BEFORE December 30th to ensure those costs of us printing & shipping are out of our business account and that we start 2020 out with the annual belated Christmas visit to immediate family out West, then come back hopefully a bit more relaxed ready to tackle UPDATING OUR WEBSITE with over a year’s worth of photography, then sharing our “Best of 2019” weddings on the last week of January’s blogs-!! We have so many things that we haven’t been able to share on our blog since we kept getting booked more and more throughout the year (with it being our busiest business year in 10+ years), so we’re hoping to share some of the more personal things with you coming up in January or February! Strap in for the rollercoaster that is holiday after holiday this month and next, then get ready to coast as we head into the new year! We cannot WAIT for 2020-!