Living in a small town has many advantages. One of the biggest advantages, especially when owning a small business like me, is that you know everyone. So when someone gets engaged, you find out about it pretty quickly. News spreads like wildfire around small towns and when I found out Lauren was engaged, I secretly hoped she would call me to discuss her wedding photography. Lets face it, when you know a bride, it automatically makes it less stressful for her and what bride doesn’t love to have LESS stress in her wedding planning. Lauren and I grew up together. She was a year younger than me in school and I also saw her at church. Her father was my church choir director so I have lots of memories of Lauren and her family. Again, see the small town benefits here.

Lauren and Mark met through online dating. Mark lives in St. Louis and Lauren works from home in Steeleville so it was easy for them to meet. Having your own business has it’s advantages too because can work from anywhere. I haven’t known Mark very long, in fact we just met the day of the engagement session, but what I do know is that Mark is SO perfect for Lauren. He gets Lauren to do things she may never do on her own, like try out for Jeopardy. They would be watching the show and Lauren would constantly rattle off correct answers. Mark kept bugging Lauren about going online to take the test, to see if she would get an invite for an audition/taping. To get Mark off her back, she did the online test. To make a long story short, she ended up on the show and WON! I love that Mark brings Lauren out of her shell.

A July wedding at a new venue (Main Street Abbey) in Columbia, IL is planned and I cannot wait. Since the wedding will be out of the city, Lauren and Mark wanted to do their engagement session in St. Louis. We started the session at the St. Louis Art Museum. Lauren told me the trees there were beautiful and she was right! Amazing is the correct work and they were the most beautiful red/oragne colors. Then we made our way downtown and shot pictures next to the old Orpheum Theater. It’s one of my favorite locations in the city to shoot because of the architecture. Mark proposed by the Stan Musial statue at Busch Stadium so taking pictures there was a given. I didn’t know they were going to make arrangement to shoot IN the stadium till about a week before. Mark was like a little kid in a candy store when we walked on the field. Mark had just had surgery on his finger 2 days before so this was definitely something to look forward to. We ended the session walking around the new Arch grounds. It’s absolutely beautiful and if you haven’t been down there yet you definitely should.

I know this blog post is long but it’s so worth it when you see the pics below. I basically write like I talk and if you know me I talk a LOT. Enjoy a few of my favorites from my time with Lauren and Mark.