We met up with Staci and Joel at Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg for their engagement photography. The setting of their first date - an eleven hour journey for two that never truly ended. As we waited in the parking lot, we kept one eye out for our future bride and groom, and we kept the other eye on the horizon where storm clouds were gathering over the ocean. We’ve heard it said that in Florida it will either rain… or it won’t. But it was becoming increasingly clear that this engagement photography session in St. Petersburg was going to be a little soggy. Sometimes prospective clients ask us what we’ll do if it rains, and we basically tell them that we’ll take some great photos of them getting wet!
Sometimes we secretly hope for a little lousy weather. It’s something that makes the day more memorable, and when the couple looks at the photos, they don’t see a day that was ruined, they see themselves pulling through it together, getting rained on, blown around, chilled or cooked, and celebrating their love anyway because that’s what it’s all about, and love is an all weather activity. This time that’s just what happened But Staci and Joel did have their hearts set on a sunset, so even though we’d driven together into town and had fun posing under umbrellas and overhangs, we agreed to come back the next week and we had some more fun with them under fairer skies.
It wasn’t quite eleven hours, but we stayed until well after dark, enjoying the local stores and the rope lights in the tree branches. It’s so nice to have a job where setbacks are opportunities, customers are friends, and the tools of the trade are sunsets and smiles. We can’t wait to see Staci and Joel again on their wedding day.
