“Uhh, what just happened?”

We have been so lucky that all of our clients have been people with whom we really connect — we always come out of our meetings feeling like we just spent time with old friends. What we usually don’t expect at the conclusion of these meetings is joining forces with the couple to buy an entire corner of a bar in a trendy part of Oakland shots of Tito’s while sending semi-incendiary messages of "MAKE LIKE BEYONCE AND PUT A RING ON IT" to the unsuspecting boyfriend of a cool bar patron April and Christy just met. Life surprises you sometimes though, and it thankfully snuck up on us in our first meeting with Christy and Sidney, making us question what had just transpired, but in a good way.

Speaking with this couple over e-mail, we should have known that buying drinks for complete strangers was a possible trajectory for the evening; they were both intensely gracious and super friendly, but Christy especially had a special bombastic energy that came through even in text. It was more “big” than loud, and it made sense when we found out that she is actually originally from Houston, and obviously, everything’s bigger in Texas. Either way, we met that at MUA in Oakland, and immediately, the good times were rolling. The ladies bonded over talk about Barry’s Bootcamp and the wonderful buttkicking therein, while the guys found a lot of common ground in their geek lives over games that they’ve both spent too much time in.

We actually didn’t actually speak too much about the details of their wedding, but thankfully Christy and Sidney took it as a good audition anyway, good enough to book us in the end, but not before we capped the night off the aforementioned rounds of Tito's for strangers and some night time Humphrey Slocombe Ice Cream nearby. After some heartfelt goodbyes, Sidney and I were glad we were too ensconced in detailing the finer points of our Fallout playthroughs to not be included in all of April’s and Christy’s merry/friend making at the bar to get all of us home in one piece.

Like we said, it all worked out, and we set a date for their engagement session. The Winery SF on Treasure Island is a place that they both loved and were members of, so it was only natural to take advantage of it — it ended up being a really cool place with great pockets of light which were useful because of the on and off rain outside. We ended up having to dodge inside at times to avoid the worst of the weather, but were usually greeted by some great doorway or skylight in the SF Winery interior. Christy and Sidney, despite misgivings about being on camera at first, were an absolute joy to watch and work with. For all of Christy’s Texas bombast, she’s met a cowboy who’s clearly wrangled her heart /I’mSorryAboutThatOne . We didn’t have to do much to get that look of genuine comfort and excitement from them — it’s so obvious why they’ve chosen eachother.

After The Winery SF, we made the best of the various environs of Treasure Island still dodging the weather, but eventually ending up at Fog City SF along Embarcadero for some snacks and drinks while we waited for night to roll in. Thankfully, by this time, the weather had dried out, allowing us to get out on Pier 7 and adjacent spots where Christy and Sidney had their first kiss.

We have to give this couple special kudos for being so up for pushing through the weather and needing to touch up makeup/hair constantly — the wind was doing no one any favors, and it took real courage for Christy to rock her very cool but bare-armed dress when the wind was kicking. Either way, we loved the way this session turned out, and we can’t wait to spend more time with them on their wedding day this fall!

Special thanks to makeup artist Charrie Lanette Carter and her wonderful work with Christy :-) Follow her on Instagram at @CharrieLanetteMua