Hello Friends!

Last week I had the  absolute pleasure of shooting Mary and Jeff’s engagement session!

I’ve been friends with Mary since I was 10 years old so I was SO happy and honored when she asked me to shoot their wedding!
Mary gave me a little back story on their relationship and it’s just too beautiful not to share!

Jeff and I met through music when we were 14. We played in a band together with the Musician’s Workshop. But a year later Jeff and his mom actually moved away to Washington. It’s kind of crazy to think that if they hadn’t moved back, we wouldn’t be where we are today. I’m SO thankful they moved back.  After that he and I became inseparable. We were and still are best friends. After about three years is when he admitted that he’d loved me as more than a friend for a long time and I admitted that I felt the same way. As for when I knew I was IN love with him? That’s kind of a whole other story, but basically when Jeff was 17 he ended up in the hospital with a collapsed lung. We were still just friends at that point, but as I sat there and watched him sleeping in a hospital bed, not knowing what was going to happen to him, it completely hit me that my feelings for him ran so much deeper than just friendship.

All of this beautiful furniture that you see was provided by Touched By Time Vintage Rentals.

Owl Creek Farms provided the perfect backdrop for this shoot.  Look at this tree!  AND THE SWING!?

Our proposal….he told me we were going on a day date one Saturday but he wouldn’t tell me where we were going. We ended up in Laguna because he was born there and knows the area really well. We spent the whole day shopping, eating, site seeing. We ended up on the beach after lunch and we climbed this giant rock and just stared out at the ocean and took pictures. As I took a picture of us together, he said “I’m glad we’re getting pictures right now so people can see where we got engaged…” and I flipped out. I thought he was playing a really mean joke on me haha. My ring is actually his grandmother’s ring. She gave it to him as a surprise gift. It means SO much to me to be wearing her ring.

I love this setup and the fact that they used Mary’s grandmother’s china.  such a beautiful and sentimental touch.

I really love that my girlfriend, Niki is my second shooter!  Its so cool to get different angles and compositions that you wouldn’t get with just one photographer!
While I shot these two…

Niki snapped this.  LOVE.

Mary and Jeff.  Thank you SO much for allowing us to document your amazing love story!  We CANNOT wait for your wedding in October!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Photography | Justin & Niki of Justin Critz Photography
Furniture & Props | Touched By Time Vintage Rentals
Venue | Owl Creek Farms