natalie + will – a new orleans engagement

Meet Natalie and Will!

It was my distinct pleasure to join them in New Orleans last weekend to capture their engagement portraits.

Like many of my other clients, I have known these two for quite some time. Natalie moved to our school when we were in eighth grade, and we’ve been pretty hard to part since. We have been through life’s highest highs and lowest lows together in the last 14 years. (Woah. 14 years. What? Are we really that old?!) She has been a steadfast friend to count on for a listening hear and a piece of advice to get life back running smoothly again.

As for Will, I can’t even pinpoint to a timeline of knowing him, because when you grow up in a small town like we did, you just know people. You always have. And when you say, “Oh, I’ve known him forever!” Well, you truly mean it.

Natalie and Will’s lives have been intertwined since Nat and I were about 16. Through a series of life events, they reconnected last year and all the stars aligned for a love a long time in the making. Their story is one of patience, understanding, renewal, and trust. And as they move forward toward planning their big day, they do so with great intentionality and purpose.

It is undoubtedly a special honor to photograph any couple and their love story, but it is an even greater honor and special treasure to have been involved in that love story from the beginning. To be able to say that I’ve literally watched these two from the before the beginning makes me a little teary even writing this.

You see, these two people are top notch, Grade A human beings.

Natalie is a nurse in the PICU. This gorgeous creature literally saves babies all day long, y’all.

Will is a children’s pastor at a Baton Rouge church. This handsome fella’ leads our future to Christ, friends.

Let’s just take that in. Two phenomenal people who are literally shaping this world’s future on a daily basis have found love in each other, and it is a truly beautiful thing. The way Will looks at Natalie is most definitely one in a million. And the way Natalie thinks Will hung the moon can’t be beat.

And because we’ve been best friends for the hottest of minutes, we have begun the wedding planning already. And let me tell you something…. it’s going to be a stunner, for sure.

I couldn’t be more thrilled for two of this world’s finest folks to be tying the knot later this year, and it’s even greater that I have a little hand in these special moments.

And one last fun fact before the big reveal… this is now my SECOND engagement to shoot in New Orleans. Who wants to make it a third??