Jess & Justin are the perfect example of why we love when our couples are on Facebook.   Within a week of booking us for their wedding photography back in December, the four of us were commenting on each other’s status updates and thoroughly enjoying our new found “online friendships” :-)  It’s been so fun to discover all the things we have in common!  When we started to brainstorm locations for their engagement session, it become pretty clear that these two didn’t want their photos to be typical.  They really wanted to include the things that they love and that says something about them.  So it was only appropriate that we started the session at their home in Chandler.

(Please sign the guestbook if you’d like to be notifed when the rest of their photos are online.)

Shooting in someone’s home is always unique.  You get to discover a whole different side of people when you see what type of artwork they have on their walls, what type of furniture they sit on, what movies and books are on their shelves . . . nothing tells a couple’s story more than the place where they live.

One thing that Jess & Justin really love is their pets.  As soon as we walked in, their dog Penny (soooooo sweet) and two cats Einstein & Cisco were extremely interested in what we were doing.  And of course, they thought that the photo shoot was all about them!  I think this next shot says it all.  Hello Penny.  Love it!

She loves to read and cook.  He’s an Apple man with a love of all things “techie”.  A match made in photo heaven :-)

Another appearance by one of the “kids” . . .

One of my favs :-)  Super sweet you guys!

Lemonade anyone?  We just couldn’t pass up this fun lemon tree in the backyard.  And of course, Penny had to get in on the action too.

For our next location we headed over to the Desert Botanical Garden. When we arrived, it was a beautiful Arizona day.  A bit overcast, but perfect for a nice stroll in the garden . . . and some cuddling too!

At one point, Justin wispered something in Jess’ ear and what followed was a good 2-3 minutes of hysterical laugher.  Such a fun moment (as soon as I realized they weren’t laughing at me of course!)

Love this shot!  Jess you look amazing!  You’re going to be such a beautiful bride.

As you may have noticed, there’s a bit of a size difference between these two!  Justin actually said at the beginning of the day that he was worried they look like Shrek and Princess Fiona together!  Justin, if you mean that you’re an adorable and completely loveable pair that’s totally meant to be, than I guess we have to agree.  Notice the tiptoes . . .

All of a sudden it started to drizzle and as we started to head for cover, it really started to rain!  We ended up spending  some time camped out under the patio of the “staff only” building waiting for it to stop.  After about half an hour of killing time we decided to abandon the garden and head for the great indoors.  Before heading for a rather moist speed walk to our cars, Jess & Justin braved the drizzle for one last shot.  The desert is always so lovely when it’s wet.

Plan B: Barnes & Nobel Bookstore!  Jess & Justin have been known to spend some time here . . . and it was dry so that was pretty appealing :-)

Awwww . . . I’m totally reminded of that Jimmy Buffett song, “Love in the Library” :-)  Except that the characters in the song don’t actually meet, or even speak to each other, and we were not technically in a library . . . ok it’s actually not like that song at all, but there are books, right?

Hangin’ out in in the Sci-Fi section.  Did I mention that Jess & Justin are going to Comic Con on their honeymoon?  Yep, they ARE that awesome!

One last shot:  this one just makes me smile :-)  Adorable!

Jess & Justin, we had a blast hanging out with you guys (and the rest of your cute and furry family!)  We can’t wait to be a part of your wedding day!  And I’m sure there will be many tasty food adventures in our future! ;-)

Make sure you click the slideshow button below to view more photos from their session!