Amanda & Darren

The second family wedding this year is Amanda and Darren's wedding. I was able to take their pictures during our family session as well, but we also did a separate engagement session a few days later.

Here are two favorites from the Provo pictures. (I have more favorites from Provo, but this is already going to be a picture-heavy post.) This was the first one I shot of the two of them.

I loved this one from the bridge behind the movie theater. I got some more fun bridge shots, but I didn't want to blog any possible invitation or wedding website photos just yet...

Amanda and I met up with Darren later in the week in Salt Lake to take some more pictures. We started out at the Salt Lake City Public Library. I know - you're thinking, "Library? Boring!" You are mistaken. It's one of the coolest buildings in downtown Salt Lake.

Amanda is an amazing person. She's a hard-working-type-A-personality-outgoing-funny-considerate young lady. I think the thing that excited me the most about moving to the Boston area was that I would have a chance to get to know her a little better while she attended Boston University. We live far enough away from the city that we didn't bug her (at least, I don't think we bugged her), but she was close enough that if we were in town for something, we could meet up with her. Or she could come for the weekend every once in a while and hang out with us. The best thing she was there for was when our little G-Man was born. I loved that his older sister was one of the first people he got to meet.

I also love this next picture. It's quickly becoming one of my favorites.



Another fun thing about having Amanda in Boston was that we got to meet her friends and were able to get to know them too. (We ended up "adopting" one of them so we could get an XBOX360 up to a dorm room. It's a long story. However, we're very proud of our "son" Mike.) She has a great group of friends and we loved the chances we had to spend time with them too. That's another wonderful quality Amanda has - she's a great friend. As busy as she was (and she was busy - majoring in Space Physics with a minor in Mandarin Chinese. She was also the president of the Relief Society women's organization in her student church congregation during her junior year and worked in the physics lab for her mentor. Among a million other things.), she always worked hard to make time to spend with her friends. I admire that kind of balance.

I love this next picture. This happens a lot...

Darren is originally from Utah and attended Harvard University. He served a mission in Korea and returned to Harvard afterward. He is a fantastic singer - he sang in the University Choir at Harvard and was also chosen as one of the Choral Fellows. He was also involved in Harvard Model Congress. (which involved some very cool trips overseas) Darren studied Computer Science and worked in one of the computer labs in his "spare" time. (Really, as busy as they both were, it's a wonder they had time to date at all.) Amanda had been in Boston for a year before they met and was friends with some of his roommates. They started out as friends and started to date two years ago. They got engaged right before the two year anniversary of their first date.

It's been really wonderful to watch their relationship grow from friendship to flirting to wondering if they should date to dating. Seeing how they've matured together and made difficult decisions together and relied on each other is inspiring.

And with all that maturity, they still tease each other and act silly.

They both graduated from their respective schools in 2008 and both ended up in Seattle, Washington. Amanda is pursuing her doctorate at the University of Washington and Darren works for Microsoft. After getting married this summer, they'll make their first home in the Seattle area.

I have a lot of favorite shots of the two of them, but these last two are the most memorable shots of the day. For this first one, I saw a ledge and said, "Hey guys! That would be fun if you did Toyota jumps off the ledge and landed in the snow!" Blank stares from both of them. Cricket sounds in the dead of winter. They had no idea what I was talking about. When I described the "Oh, What a Feeling!" ad campaign, we were at least able to find a common point of reference by describing the jump as a "High School Musical" jump. In the end, I took this shot and they didn't even realize. Such a fun memory. Of feeling old.

After trying to find a good location to shoot on Capitol Hill (high noon sun + hills full of freshly fallen snow = lighting nightmare), we got some good shots in open shade on one side of the hill. They wanted to climb to the first balcony outside the building to try and get some pictures with me shooting below, so I stayed where I was while they climbed the stairs. The sky was so blue and beautiful, I just clicked. And I really like it. (Especially since the moon is right above Amanda and she's actually a rocket scientist.)

Darren & Amanda - I'm thrilled for you guys. I am so grateful you had me take these pictures. I have great memories of all our time together, but especially this day. We're so excited for your wedding this summer!