This weekend Ryan and I had the pleasure of doing an engagement session for Matt and Ally who will be tying the knot in December at the Val Vista Lakes Clubhouse in Mesa, Arizona.  Ally and I have been friends since high school, (in fact, she was a bridesmaid in our wedding back in 2004), so we were espcially honored when they asked us to do the photography for their wedding :-)

Matt and Ally decided that they wanted to do some of their photos in the Payson/Pine area, a couple of hours north of Phoenix.  Ally’s parents have a cabin in Strawberry and Matt also has family nearby so both have many fond memories of spending time there.  They also wanted to spend some time shooting at Val Vista Lakes, but rather than try to do both in one day, we opted to spend the day up north on Saturday and then head over to the Mesa location on Sunday afternoon.

I’ll post part two of their session, along with the complete slide show in a couple of days.  I normally prefer to post everything from a session at once, but I just can’t wait any longer!  I just might be even more excited that they are to show them off – and that’s saying a lot cause they’re REALLY excited!  On the drive home, Ryan and I teased them by looking through all the pictures and saying how great they were, but not letting them see them.  We’re so mean ;-)  Seriously though, we didn’t want to spoil the surprise by giving them TOO much of a sneak peak.  It’s against the rules!  Ok, that’s enough chatting – let’s get to the good stuff.

Here are some of our favorites:

We stumbled upon this cool old yellow truck and couldn’t resist including a rustic touch in a few shoots.

Shooting with Matt and Ally was so much fun! They were willing to try anything and let their silly AND serious sides shine through. At one point we asked them to cram into this tiny little space between a fence and a building and they were totally up for it. We came away with some great shots from it too! Here’s my favorite.

Matt works for Coke, so we just had to through in a little “product placement”. . .

What a cute couple! It’s always great to shoot couples, but it’s especially nice when they are REALLY REALLY in love. You can tell just by looking at these two that they have a long, blessed life ahead of them.

We happened upon some really amazing light in the later hours of the shoot.

This was one of our last shots of the day and I really love the way it turned out. We were having dinner at a cute little pizza place and I just couldn’t help myself. I think Ally and Matt were both just about to fall asleep, but they kindly put up with me for one last shot :-)

We’ll be posting the second part of their shoot in a couple of days along with the full slide show so stay tuned for more of this adorable couple!

Thanks so much to Matt and Ally for the amazing day. We had so much fun and can’t wait to be apart of your big day! We love you guys :-)