Dylan + Bonnie | Engaged

Explore Park Engagement Session | Lynchburg Wedding Photographer

This time of year is always up in the air when it comes to weather. Whenever we have weddings and sessions in September we are never sure if we are going to be freezing or burning up. Fortunately, and unfortunately, Virginia has all four season to shoot in but we wouldn’t trade it for anything! This session was a HOT one but our sweet couple didn’t mind the heat for their engagement photos at Explore Park! I don’t know how we get so lucky with the best couples!

I have actually known Bonnie since our middle school days playing basketball and we reconnected at Abby’s wedding this past February (Check out Abby’s wedding HERE). Fun fact, we both went to Europe when we were in high school and her aunt was my adopted momma for the trip! That was an amazing trip!!! I still have so many memories of bus rides for games, winning state titles & championships, and our fun team hang outs (yes I sound old… it’s because I am).

So when we saw each other again at Abby’s wedding I was so happy to catch up! That wedding is where I met her FIANCE Dylan! Talk about a giant teddy bear. I will admit that he intimidated me with his height but if I’m being honest, anyone that is over a foot taller than me makes me feel that way (and that’s a lot of people haha).

After hanging out with this guy for a few hours I realized just how perfect this man is for Bonnie. I love how so many of our couples met through college. These two met at Liberty University and Dylan actually played on their football team! I love seeing how God beings people together, I mean what are the odds of finding your soulmate in a school that you chose as a “kid”?!

Dylan is so sweet, funny, and easy going! His height came in handy for poses that don’t work for couples like James and I. We have a variation of prom pose that we love but James and I are so similar in height that it just doesn’t work for us. So they are prom posing pros! He also has MAJOR brownie points in my book for driving back to Maryland after the session (through the night) just to be at work early the next day. I mean WOW! That’s amazing!

These two had never had a session before but you couldn’t tell that by these photos. Their modeling skills were spot on even when we advanced their posing for a few shots!! Bonnie’s style has always been classy ever since I’ve known her but when she showed up with their outfits I was so excited! I thought both of her outfits were the perfect styles for the transition in weather. The leaves are starting to change now here in Virginia so it could be considered summer or fall. Their outfits could really be either style which is so hard to accomplish. So I’ll be taking notes to share with my future couples planning their engagement session outfit!

These two locations were also Bonnie’s idea which gave them the perfect variety in their images! Often times when shooting on the blue ridge parkway the photos all look the same but she had the idea of doing the photos at Explore Park too. It was our first session at this wedding venue and we will definitely be back! There were some beautiful backdrops for portraits and we found a new favorite overlook!!

The golden hour glow at this overlook is by far some of my favorite images we’ve ever taken on the parkway! This stunning mountain view was what we fell in love in with when we chose our Wedding Venue back in 2015 (On the Glen at Glenburn Farms). The mountains are the same ones you can see from Glenburn Farms! This overlook is very close to Vinton and Roanoke and super easy to get to so we will keep this on our list of engagement session locations for the future! I can’t wait for our next engagement session with these two at Liberty University!

Check out some of our favorites from this Explore Park Engagement session in Roanoke, Virginia!

Until next time,

Emily