Sometimes, as a photographer, we can get so excited and carried away with ‘concept’ shoots (a more stylized session than just your average look-at-the-camera-and-smile shoot) that we can sometimes drift from the main objection- to photograph our clients how they really are. to include things that are not just trendy or popular at the moment but incorporate objects that have special significance to the couple and speak to who they are and where they came from.

This engagement session was a photographers dream!  Kristi happens to be the daughter of one of the very first strawberry farmers in Plant City… you might say she could be the strawberry princess (so appropriate with the royal wedding this weekend, dont you think?!). Her freckles do happen to conjure up images of strawberry shortcake… i’m sure she’s never heard that before So when she told me that she wanted her engagement session to be at the family farm, I may have actually squeeled.   and the family’s estate is filled to the brim with strawberry-themed and antique memorabelia, so we picked out things that we wanted to incorporate into the shoot that had special meaning.  her Grandfather’s (C.T. Grooms) old strawberry crate, depression era crystal for the strawberry short cakes,  a mason jar filled with antique glass marbles all found on the family’s fields,  a road sign reading “Fancy Farms Rd” (the name of their farm), the family’s ice-cream parlor table and heart-backed chairs, Fancy Farms’ Strawberries, but most importantly, John’s quilt his mother sewed for him before she passed away.  it is absolutely breathtaking, well loved and worn. the edges are frayed, and you can just feel that it has kept boys warm and snuggly their whole lives…   i want to be able to do that for my own boys.

Kristi and John were so easy-going and natural, they had a comfort level with each other that you only see with couples that have been together for years and years and have a deep love.  it was such a fun shoot too… it’s not often we get to eat strawberry shortcake and drink cokes, climb up into barn lofts, and trek through strawberry fields and hay fields. Kristi sent me home that night with a crate full of strawberries, and that night we had strawberry shortcake and in the morning waffles with strawberries.  they were so tasty!

I’m so looking forward to their wedding in August at the Vinoy in downtown St. Petersburg! you haven’t seen the last of this couple….