Andrea and Tommy are Engaged

Jump to Comments

Last weekend I was in Des Moines, Iowa again. It is beginning to feel like my second home. (my fiance is from Urbandale, a suburb of Des Moines, so I guess it kind of is like home.) In September and October this fall I will be there nearly every weekend! Every time I visit I love it more and more. Everyone I met from there is amazing and Andrea and Tommy were no exception!!

I met Andrea the last time I was in Des Moines in April. We met for coffee and I knew right away that we would get along great. I think we would have talked all day if our schedules allowed it. Since the moment I met Andrea and heard all about her and Tommy I could not wait for their engagement session! Andrea was full of fun ideas for the photo shoot. -I think she actually looked at more magazines and photography sites than I have. Which if you know me this is very hard to do. I am a magazine junkie, especially wedding and photography ones. I used to be bad before, but now that I am a bride-to-be myself its ridiculous! Well I loved that she knew what she wanted. She sent me examples so I really got to know what style she liked and a vision she had for the day. Andrea had scouted the locations, she had a list of where we were to go. At first I wasn’t sure her large list was possible. However, in the end we had so much fun the time seemed to fly by! Thank you Andrea and Tommy for a fun filled Saturday! I hope the photos live up to your visions Andrea.

My apologies for the long post, but I had such a hard time picking my favorites, there were so many!

After meeting at Dairy Queen we headed to downtown Des Moines. There is a bronze looking building across from the Capitol Building that has a great reflection of the Capitol Building and a beautiful green lawn.

I love reflections!

And I love shadows!!

After hanging out at the Capitol, it was off to Gray’s Lake-but first a detour! Its always great when I can ride with the couple so that I can scream, “Pull over there!” when I see something cool. In this case I saw a decorated wooden wall.

As an added bonus it was across the street from the new Western Gateway Park in downtown Des Moines which includes the “John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park,” named after the donors of the sculptures. Here we are having some fun in the Nomad by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa. Fun fact: Plensa also designed the Crown Fountains in Chicago’s Millennium Park.

Then I got to see Des Moines’s “beach” at Gray’s Lake.

I thought the giant people outside the bathroom walls were so funny. I never seen anything like it. So Andrea and Tommy humored me by taking some photos with them.

So we really were lucky, it seems like everything was perfect for the engagement session. We had perfect weather, mid to high seventies, mostly blue skies and sunshine, and a little wind for fun movement. And every where we went we found little gems! Like at Gray’s Lake we found this beautiful patch of tall grass (something I look for in every shoot-it’s really a Tina Jean shoot when I am laying on my stomach photographing through the grass!). It was a little marshy like, but Andrea and Tommy were troopers and sat on the ground anyway. Thanks guys! I think it was worth it!

Then we went across the street to Water Works Park. I was hoping to find an Apple tree or Crab Apple tree with the blossoms, and my fiance’s aunt, Denny, suggested Water Works, she said it was in full bloom. I was not prepared though to find possibly the most beautiful Crab Apple tree I’d ever seen with pretty pink blossoms! It was breathtaking. Andrea (and myself) couldn’t stop smelling it!

I found out later, according to the Water Works website, the park has one of the world’s largest collections of flowering crab apple trees. I recommend everyone in the Des Moines area see the trees in full bloom! And call me next Spring, I’d love to photograph there again!

And finally we went to Ankeny, a town north of Des Moines, to Andrea’s aunt’s place. She had a beautiful piece of land and there was an old farm nearby. Sadly most of it is under construction, because the town of Ankeny is trying to build a ramp from the interstate right through the property! It was sad to know that in a short time the beautiful land would be filled with cars and highway. I wish Andrea’s family the best in their fight for the preservation of the land.

Sometimes people will ask me to recreate an image I made or they saw somewhere. Which is always interesting. I love when people share ideas and I keep them in the back of my mind. However, each love story is different. And no two photos are the same. But sometimes when you are trying to recreate something-as was the case with one of my own photos that Andrea loved-you get something else that’s just as great and it’s something unique to the couple. You may see a resemblance to a photograph from Jenny and Eric’s session on my website and on the blog’s banner, however I love them both for their differences too!

And here is maybe my favorite one from the day (although that’s tough to choose)

Andrea and Tommy I had so much fun! I can’t wait for your wedding in September in the Rose Garden at Greenwood Park behind the Art Center!

3 Comments

Filed under Engagements

Tags: Andrea and Tommy, Ankeny, Capitol Building, Crab Apple, Des Moines, downtown Des Moines, Gateway Park, Gray's Lake, Iowa Engagement, Jaume Plensa, Nomad, Water Works Park