I am not one to be late. I was the kid in college that just wouldn’t even come to class if I knew I was even going to be 2 minutes late. I show up early for everything. My parents are super hard workers and just instilled in me that being responsible and punctual were important qualities in a person.

The evening of Taylor and Casey’s session, I left my home 15 minutes earlier than I needed to in order to arrive early to their dream location (also where Casey proposed). After 6 years of commuting to Nashville every. single. day. I hardly ever go into town anymore. Even my clients from Nashville typically come out to our farm property because they are wanting a different look. But I know that the Nashville that I had grown accustomed to had changed profoundly and traffic is a nightmare. So I gave myself the extra time.

Long story short, I drove through one school zone and then missed my exit and drove into town during rush hour. I called Taylor to let her know what was going on and to apologize. I was so worried that this mishap would come across as unprofessionalism and she would be at the least annoyed with me or maybe even be worried about if this was a habit of mine and how that would affect her wedding day (yes, I stress… A LOT).

Finally, I got turned around and onto a “back road” and I thought, “YES! I’ll be able to shave off a few minutes on the GPS.”

Wrong.

As fate would have it, I came up on a wreck and had to wait for the wrecker to move the car from the road. After this, I went through yet another school zone. THEN as if the universe couldn’t get enough entertainment out of throwing me some shade, I came up on another wreck and had to be re-routed through a gas station parking lot to avoid it. I also took one more wrong turn, because - why not at this point?

A series of unfortunate events that one literally couldn’t make up at this point.

14 minutes after I was supposed to begin their session, I saw Casey’s truck and Taylor waving at me from the passenger window. I took a deep breath and prepared myself for an irritated future bride (and rightfully so), only to be met with the kindest voice and big smile that took up Taylor’s face. They both reassured me that there were no hard feelings, that they completely understood.

I typically spend the first 20 minutes with clients “breaking the ice” and that just wasn’t necessary with these two. They were super comfortable with each other and happy to have me there to photograph the beginning of their journey. They are laidback, farm-loving folks - definitely my kind of people.

After 6 years of dating, Casey proposed to Taylor on this very dock (covered in roses). They were introduced to each other through a mutual friend who reached out to Taylor saying, “I’ve found your dream guy!”.

They’ve lived together for 3 years. They have two pups and last night their “baby”, Orvis, let me get one shot of him before he attacked his dad for some play time. Typical boy.

Tennessee fall colors showed up and showed out for us, and the evening light only enhanced the colors.

Taylor and Casey will be wed this May and after talking with them about wedding details in our consult, I seriously cannot wait to photograph their wedding. I know it’s going to be just as perfect as their engagement session was!

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