Natalye + Myles / Sawnee Mountain & The Avalon Engagement

Sawnee Mountain Georgia Sunset Avalon Engagement Portraits_0007.jpg

As much as we try to document our shoots as much as we can through instastories, blogs and the photos themselves, there are so many things that happen during a shoot that we wish we could show you, but can’t due to all sorts of circumstances. Unless we did a LIVE feed of our shoot or have three videographers record what we do in three different angles, not everything can be recorded. And that’s why, nothing beats actually experiencing one of our sessions yourself! Out of all the portrait sessions we’ve done, THIS one was the one where I wish you could’ve been there for every second of it. Why? First, Natalye + Myles are the coolest peeps EVER! Them being gorgeous is pretty obvious through the images, but seriously… they’re cool. Really, we want to be like them and yes, we want to be their friends. If there’s one word I have to choose to describe them, it would be HUMILITY. They’re both so easy going, laid back and HUMBLE. Gosh, I love that, and don’t you agree that we all need that these days? I think through social media and all the things happening in our world, everyone is so caught up on being right and forcing their opinions on others that we all could use our couple’s example in humbling ourselves a bit or a lot. If anyone hangs around us, I hope that this is the type of vibe they get from us.

And then… there were the adventures. It’s crazy how you can just meet a couple for the first time and share such fun adventures together like friends. We started off at Sawnee Mountains and just the hike in itself was so fun. We hoped that the weather was cooler, but I guess October is Georgia can still get pretty HOT! We loved talking to them during the hike. Even though we sweat a lot, there were no complaints from them. Natalye touched her makeup quickly (I mean, she doesn’t need much… that’s for sure!) and we were rolling! We were a little worried that we weren’t able to get a spot that we wanted because we saw an elopement going on, but they were gone by the time we got there, so it all worked out! Whew!

We then drove to the Avalon… one of my fav spots to hang out. I love taking my girls here to shop and just “be girls”. The atmosphere is so nice! I could just sit there on a bench and people watch all day with Jeni’s ice cream in my hands. We were happy that it started to get cooler as it got closer to sunset time. Speaking of sunset time… When we saw the sun beginning to drop, Craig wanted to hurry up and go to the top of the parking deck there. When we went up, we realized that it wasn’t the right deck. But, the deck that we wanted was literally right next to it, but it wasn’t connected if that makes sense. They were about 3 feet apart. Because we didn’t have time to walk around to the right spot (because the sun was dropping fast now), Craig of course had the idea of “hopping” over. Myles went first, then Natalye and then it was me… Ya’ll, I tried so hard to not scream because if any of us fell between the cracks, it was going to be a long fall. It didn’t seem dangerous at first, but when I got up there, nope… But, that was another one of those fears I had to overcome. Let me tell you… before all of these photography business adventures, I was not adventurous AT ALL. I was one of those girls that just wanted to sit at home, go shopping once in awhile at an indoor mall and that’s it. I never had any desire to go ‘outside’ and do ‘outdoor’ things. Now, I’m a full on camping girl… LOL! This business and having a spontaneous, ‘full of adventure’ husband left me no choice, but to change. So, if there are any of you out there who thinks that you can’t change in those ways, trust me, I’m definitely proof that you can.

Well, it didn’t end there…. we were about to end the shoot, but the security officer who checked our permit there told us of a fancy car that was parked down the street. (He was so nice!) And, you know Craig and fancy cars (even though we don’t have one of our own. lol)… you know, he won’t pass up on that! So, we found it and was it worth taking a photo of it with our fancy couple or what! That became Craig’s fav shot of the night! Just when I thought we had the best shoot ever, it became perfect when we got to see Phil + Megan, our previous clients, who referred us to Natalye + Myles. They’re all great friends, so it was so good to see all of them together! Wow, what a story we had for you in just 3 hours of shoot time! We just can’t wait to celebrate their union next summer in their sweet home Alabama! Natalye + Myles, I think we have spoken enough. :) Thank you for EVERYTHING, and we look forward to seeing you again next year in 2021. You guys are gorgeous, funny and so sweet…! Your wedding will be here before we know it, and we are super pumped about capturing your beautiful wedding day.

With much love,

Craig + Unchong