A Grand Teton Engagement Session

This Grand Teton engagement session with Keri & Jen was such a blast! They are so full of passion, life, and deep, deep love. It was so special getting to know them and photographing their national park engagement session.

One of my favorite parts of this session was watching Keri and Jen take in all the scenes Grand Teton National Park has to offer. As east coasters, they hadn’t seen anything like it before! Their adventurous spirits brought them out on a mini National Park tour and as you can tell, this mountain filled evening did not disappoint!

From Jen

“My first impression of Keri is that she will bravely take the first step or ask the hard questions no matter how dark, scary, or unknown the path may be before her. With those questions, her empathy and kindness draw you in to feel an immediate and genuine connection. She radiates love to all those around her, and it’s contagious! In the beginning, it was everything at once! Fun, excitement, a little bit scary, but mostly, “How is it possible that this feels so right?”

Thinking about when I realized I wanted to marry her I can see that there was one small moment and one big one. The small moment: We were walking back from a brisk tour of a mostly closed Christmas market. It was a cold and windy day, maybe even rainy, visions of hot cocoa and ornament shopping dashed. She suddenly broke out into song in the middle of Center City Philadelphia. Like, for a while and at a theatrical volume. A few people looked at us. I thought, is this girl really turning this date into a live musical? I looked around nervously, smiled a big smile. She held her hand out, I gave her mine, and it was never the same again.

The big one – About a year ago we spent the afternoon at Fire Island beach. It was late fall and the beach was deserted. For hours we explored lighthouses, trails and took in a gorgeous sunset. There was nothing, in particular, that happened but just a long, small moment of complete quiet between us. I think we both knew.”

From Keri

“Jen and I met online. I was drawn to her funny emails. She had this new salutation every day. One of her first emails was signed “Wednesday, Jen.” She was so creative. I really wanted to meet her in person. I went on our first date with a fever and a terrible head cold. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Even then, I knew how lucky I was to find her. My first impression was that she was beautiful and her smile lit up the room. She ordered me a hot drink because I was sick. I did my best to keep it from her so that she would stay for a drink with me and that I wouldn’t lose her interest because of a head cold. I was drawn to how kind and sweet she was. I loved to hear her stories and how genuinely she would listen to mine. We had so much in common for having such different backgrounds. Her first impression of me was that I got her sick with the world’s worst head cold. I brought her tea and honey a few days later, very well knowing that she might reject the gift and not call me again. Luckily, she is forgiving.

It was around the holidays of last year that I knew I wanted to marry Jen. Holidays are so important to my family. She and I spent Thanksgiving morning together and watched the Macy’s parade. We cooked our own corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick’s Day and got our own Christmas tree. That’s when I started to feel like she could be my family, was when we started making holiday traditions of our own. When my family came over for Thanksgiving, she colored with my cousins and helped my great-aunts down the stairs. She came on our family vacation and everyone loved her and got along with her. I knew that I wanted to marry her over many small moments.”

The proposal

“Joni and many friends already know that I had planned on proposing on our Yellowstone/ Grand Tetons trip. I started saving up six months in advance, or more. I changed my mind just before the trip and decided to propose somewhere local and at a time when we would see the family shortly after, and I am so happy that I did. The proposal was at our house, on a Friday after work, when we were due to see her family that weekend and mine the weekend after. It was perfect because I had all day to set up the house with rose petals and lights and photos and music and flowers. We cried for an hour, and then called everyone. I was so happy we got to share it with our families right afterward. And our dog Oscar was there for both proposals, mine to Jen and Jen to me. Jen proposed on a hike. It was perfect. We jumped into a swimming hole just before the sunset on our way back from the hike. I couldn’t have planned it better. She knows me so well.” – Keri

LGBTQIA Engagement Session | Lesbian Engagement Session | LGBT Wedding Photographer

Grand Teton Engagement Session | Grand Teton Wedding Photographer

Destination Engagement Session | National Park Engagement Session | Adventure Engagement Session

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Joni Bilderback, Destination Wedding Photographer is a LGBTQIA friendly wedding photographer that is available to serve couples all over the world. No matter your orientation or identity, you are welcome here!

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