There are some engagement sessions that feel like a beautiful photo session, and then there are others that feel like you are stepping into a small piece of someone's story.
This engagement session was the latter.
When I arrived at the home that Sandra and John had purchased together, I knew right away that this session was going to be different. Running Spring, CA maybe a little town but a town full of quiet and peace. A town where you trade views from palm trees to pine trees. It wasn't simply a beautiful location for their engagement photos. It was the beginning of something they had been praying, working, and preparing for.
They weren't living in the home yet. But John had been putting in the work—fixing it, preparing it, and getting it ready for the day they would finally move in together as husband and wife. It reminds me of the Old Testament story of how a groom prepares a home for his bride.
This wasn't just a house. It was becoming their home. He has been working on the house and preparing it for the day he can bring his bride home."My Father's house has many rooms... I am going there to prepare a place for you.” John 14: 2-3
They are young, but their relationship with Christ is not something they take lightly. Their faith is part of who they are individually, and it is becoming the foundation of who they are together.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:24-25 "Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock."
There is something so powerful about that image.A house can be beautiful, but what matters most is what it is built upon.Their foundation isn't simply each other.Their foundation is Christ."For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:11. John wasn't simply fixing walls, working on projects, or getting a house ready.
He was preparing a place for the woman he loves.
*Preparing your heart.
*Preparing your home.
*Preparing to serve one another.
*Preparing to love one another through every season.
*And ultimately, preparing to build a life that honors God.
Their engagement session wasn’t just taking photographs of an engaged couple.
We were documenting a moment they would eventually look back on and remember as the season when we were preparing for our life together.
The unfinished home became part of the story.
Their faith became part of the story.
And that is what I love about photography.
Years from now, when this home is finished and they are living in it together, I hope they can look back at these photographs and remember this season.
The season of waiting.
The season of preparing.
The season of dreaming.
The season before they became husband and wife.
Someone who will pray with you.
And most importantly, someone who is willing to keep Christ at the center of it all.
That is what made this engagement session so special to me.
I was photographing two people who are building.
Building a home.
Building a marriage.
Building a future.
Building their relationship on a foundation they believe will stand.
