Hanna and Zack’s Rockford IL Engagement Session was actually their first of two engagement sessions. (Stay tuned for part two!)

I met Hanna at the Stateline Splendor Bridal Expo. Well, it would be more accurate to say that I spotted Hanna, her mother, and her sister from across the room and I thought to myself, “Look at those three curly haired ladies! I would like to be their friend!” When they finally arrived at my booth, I spent the entire time talking about hair. They were polite, and then moved on to the next booth at the expo, as one does, and as they left I realized I wasn’t even sure if I had given her my business card. Truly, I am SUCH a professional.

For whatever reason, I’m choosing to think its that I’m super cool and sophisticated and not a crazy person, Hannah decided to take a chance on me and hire me to shoot a Rockford IL engagement session for her and her fiance, Zack. We picked a date and decided to meet downtown in Rockford. Little did we know we were picking what would be the hottest day of the year.

I’m not kidding, it was about 104 degrees outside, and in Northern Illinois humidity that is no joke. At the time of this session I was also about 6 months pregnant. Zack, the gem that he is, literally brought a Dewalt battery powered fan to our session to help us stay cool. Being on the river helped too.

When Hannah got out of the car for her session, she said, “I wore white, I hope that is okay!” And I thought to myself, girl, heck yes it is okay! Her white dress made for such lovely contrast in her black and white images, and I am truly in love with all of those shots. But white also just looks so bridal, and you really can’t go wrong with white when you’re a nearly wed.

When we were planning this session, Hannah had a dream of posing in front of the Coronado and having the marquee sign have their names and their wedding date on it for their save the dates. So after strolling around the marina downtown, we hopped back in our cars and headed across the river to the Coronado, where we took a few more shots with the plan that a graphic designer friend of theirs would add their names in later. The facade of the Coronado is so beautiful, and all of the lights and geometric shapes were so much fun to work with even in daylight.

Every time I look at this photos I am just so in awe of how beautiful Hanna looks. I mean, no shade to Zack, he’s good lookin’ too, but Hanna doesn’t even look sweaty, and I’m not sure how that is even fair, because I was walking around with a wet bandana tied around my head, and when we got in the car to go home I looked in the mirror and I was a red as a tomato. And just look at her! She’s glowing!

Also, just look how Zack is looking at her. That is love. You can’t really put love into words, but you can see it and feel it, and I think you can feel how much Zack loves Hanna when you look at these photos. And in the photos were Zack is looking at me and Hanna is looking at him she has this little smile on her face like, “yeah, this one is MINE.”

Anyway, I truly love these two human beings, and little did I know that this session was going to be just the beginning of something truly wonderful.