When Two Birders Get Engaged

So what happens when two Hipster Birders get engaged? Well, something magical happens. Ok, it's not that dramatic, but it is a very special thing. As you may already know, Nick and I didn't start out as birders early in life. We actually became birders together after we had been dating for about 4 years. We discovered our love of the outdoors and exploring as much as possible. And most significant of all, we fell in love with being together and sharing our experiences and adventures.

So when we got engaged back in October last year, as we mentioned in a previous post, I knew that our engagement photos had to involve birding somehow. We didn't want to just pose by a fountain or just stare into each others eyes (which I guess we did a little bit), but we really wanted to capture our outdoorsy spirit and birdiness. So what better way to do that than to photograph us in action in a place we love?!?!

                 



We picked out the very talented Jade + Matthew to photograph our engagement shoot, and they were immediately excited to take pictures of us funky, young birders. We decided that the best setting would be one of our favorite and very picturesque birding spots - Skidaway Island State Park. The scenery is lush and green and there are spots where the curtains of spanish moss above you are just truly majestic.

When we woke up in the early morning of our engagement shoot mid-December, my mouth fell to the floor and I almost had a panic attack when I saw one of the densest fogs I had ever seen. I just couldn't believe that as far as I could see over the marsh behind our apartment, it was just a blanket of gray. "What do we do?!?!" I called out to Nick. We were just hoping that the fog would lift some by the time we got to the park. Well, it didn't really, but it turned out to be a truly awesome photo prop that was completely unplanned for and worked out beautifully.

This one we call our "catalog shot." I hope Nikon, Kenn Kaufman, and David A. Sibley sponsor us for this pic ;-)

If we were really out birding, the fog would be cause for us to just call it a day and go home, most likely. But for photos, the fog created an erie sense of woodsy mystery. And the backdrop of those gorgeous oaks, pines, and palmettos just brought it all together. So, I know that we're revealing a little bit of intimacy here, but I think these gorgeous photos were just too fun not to share. So please enjoy!

All photo credit goes to © Jade + Matthew Take Pictures