THE SSP JOURNAL

Joyful, fine art wedding photography for real couples. Serving Chicago, Washington DC and beyond.
Based in South Bend, Indiana. Available for travel.

A Colorful Elkhart Engagement – Cat & Greg – Elkhart Wedding Photographer

Thrilled is huge under statement when it comes to how excited I am for Cat & Greg’s wedding day next September! These two amazing human beings will be saying “I do!” at the Lerner next year… but first, their engagement session. Cat and Greg live in Fishers but a big part of Cat’s family lives in Elkhart. Her family owns several businesses and restaurants in downtown so we took full advantage of the VIP access. 😎

To start off their session, Cat and Greg met us at the studio for hair and makeup. Nidia of Blushing Beauty & Co. pampered Cat while the 3 of us talked about anything from wedding plans to favorite movies. I could tell right away that we were going to have a blast! 😊

After hair and makeup was finished, we hopped in our cars and headed to Elkhart. We started the session with a stroll in downtown by the Lerner.

So cute! 🥰

These two nailed the walk and burrito shots! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better burrito moment then theirs. 😍 (In case you’re confused, burrito is the name of this pose ⬇️)

We walked further down the street and Greg had the great idea for a piggyback ride. So perfect and made for the cutest photos!

Swapping kisses! 😘

Now it was time to go inside for the remainder of the session. We walked into Pool Tables Plus (one of Cat’s family’s businesses) for some fun pool playing photos. I had the idea earlier in the day to do the ring shot on a pool ball. Little did I know that it would be the best ring shot ever!!! I’m obsessed! 💍

The wall behind the pool table was pretty plain but there really wasn’t anywhere else in the show room we could move to, so this called for some creative thinking. I wanted to incorporate the colors of the pool table, the pool balls and their blue shirts into the images. To do this, I had to add colored gels on light stands that would illuminate behind Cat and Greg. I’ll admit, this took a hot minute to set up and almost an hour per photo in Photoshop to pull off… but boy was it worth it! 🤩❤️💙💜

Once we finished playing pool, we walked next door to Cat’s family’s newest event space that connects the pool hall with their restaurant. Cat and Greg sat at the bar and shared a glass of wine (it was really just ice tea lol). 😆

Our last stop was 523 Tap & Grill, Cat’s family’s restaurant. They weren’t open yet so we had the place to ourselves. I wanted to create a natural setting for Cat and Greg so I had them sit down at a table and pretend to order their favorite dish. I shot close up, far away and through chairs in order to create the authentic moment of two people enjoying a romantic dinner together. Anytime I can put my couples in an everyday setting, they feel more comfortable and act naturally as if I wasn’t there. This makes for the best photos!🍝

This is me hiding in a booth. ⬇️

So cute!!!❤️

Perfection to the end! 😍

To Cat & Greg – Words can not describe how excited I am to be apart of this journey with you! I could tell from the moment we met that we were going to have a ball; and the engagement session only reenforced that. Thank you for your patience as I set up each difficult shot and of course, thank you so much for waiting while I was on vacation. I knew your photos would be incredible so I didn’t want to rush through them before I left. I hope you love them as much as I do. Merry Christmas! All my love – S

To see their full session, click here.

Vendors:

Photography: Sarah Sage Photography LLC
HMU: Blushing Beauty & Co.

Venues:

Pool Tables Plus

523 Tap & Grill

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