I love when I meet a couple and feel like they’ve breathed fresh life into me. Every couple I get to work with is special to me, but when I feel challenged in a new location and just freaking nail it? Ooh, that’s the stuff that makes me feel alive as a photographer. With that said, I’d love for y’all to meet my new friends, Sam and Emma! Randy and I drove all the way up to Grafton for their engagement session at Lion’s Den Gorge Nature Preserve earlier this month and I am so excited to (over)share some of my favorites from our time together.

Sam and Emma met at work; they’re both educators, and ended up working at the same school district. They saw each other at the opening day in-service and immediately was like “oooh, who is THAT?!”. Emma even purposely tried walking out at the same time as Sam so she could possibly talk to him but it did not work. Then, on the first Friday of the school year, one of their mutual friends who didn’t know Sam at the time and only knew he was single went to his classroom and said “There’s a girl who works at the elementary school and likes tennis and cats. You like tennis and cats. You guys should definitely talk.”

Then after walking out of the building at the end of the day, Emma asked Sam “Hey how was your first week?” We then talked about how both of our weeks consisted of puke, poop, and a broken arm (He didn’t know that I was the girl our mutual friend was talking about, but apparently secretly hoped I was). After that initial conversation Sam reached out to Emma on Facebook and asked if he could take me to do something where we could talk about something other than bodily fluids (oh, the romance, hahaha!). The rest is history!

Photographing their engagement session at Lion’s Den Gorge Nature Preserve was even more special. Why? Because not only was it the site of their first date, but it’s also where Sam asked Emma to marry him. How freaking awesome is that!?

Sam & Emma

Engagement Session at Lion’s Den Gorge Nature Preserve

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A GRAFTON WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER??

Hey there, I’m Ashley Durham, a Wisconsin wedding photographer specializing in unposed, authentic and romantic intimate weddings that capture the love, fun and realness of couples and wedding days. I am happy to serve couples from Milwaukee to Madison, all over Wisconsin and anywhere airplanes will fly together with my husband Randy. Are you ready to have an incredible time together for your wedding?? Message us today!