A Boyce Thompson Arboretum Engagement Session by Phoenix Wedding Photographers Ryan & Denise

There are some couples that we just can’t WAIT to get in front of our cameras. Sam and Dustin definitely fall into that category. In their case, we’ve been waiting about six years ;-) We met Sam in our first year of business while Ryan was working part time at a mall. He came home one day and told me that he’d become friends with a cute girl who worked in the store across the way. Chances are good that most wives would not be thrilled at the news that their husband had befriended a “cute girl from work” – in our case, I was pretty stoked about it.

Here’s a little known fact about being a wedding photographer – when you meet a cute girl, the first thing you do is check her hand for an engagement ring. And not so you can hit on her (at least not in our case), but because you start to think about what a beautiful bride she’ll make and how awesome it would be if she booked you to shoot her wedding.  Seriously people, when we see a sweet couple on the dance floor at a reception, our eyes go straight for that ring finger! It probably sounds kind of silly, but you can ask any wedding photographer out there – it’s totally a thing.

When Ryan found out that his new cute friend Sam was dating a wonderful guy named Dustin, he came home and told me how awesome they both were. He talked about how nice and bubbly Sam was. And how he could tell that she was head over heels in love with Dustin by the sweet things she said about him. He was pretty sure, even way back then, that these two were meant to be and he was right on the money. We could not be any more excited for these sweet friends to become husband and wife!  And we’re so honored that we get to capture such a special time in their lives and celebrate along with them.

(Please click here if you’d like to be notified when the rest of their photos are online.)
AND don’t forget to click “love” under your favorite images along the way!

How adorable are these two? I LOVED their choice of outfits. Bright bold colors among the natural tones of the arboretum = perfection.

Sam – you are going to be such a stunning bride! April 2015 can’t get here fast enough!

Love!

We had to off-road it a bit to get to our next spot, but these two were up for anything in the name of beautiful photos.

Kind of love the little hummingbird hanging out on the bird feeder behind them :-)

Same location – two different perspectives.

We popped inside the old ranch house for this fun, dramatic shot.

This girl has model written all over her! She can rock a killer serious look and then go right back to her bubbly personality like it’s nothing.

Just have to through in a little “Rawr” for this shot! So gorgeous!

We may have gotten in trouble for staying past the parks hours a bit, (sorry!) but it would have been a real shame to miss out on this pretty light and our last few minutes with these two.

LOVE!

Sam and Dustin, we feel truly blessed to be your photographers and can’t wait to document your big day! Thanks for hanging out with us on your birthday weekend Sam!