Alexandria, VA Engagement Shoot at River Farm :: Allison + Sten :: With Johnathan

Allison + Sten first met through eHarmony… having both been on the site for a few months, without success, they both gave it one last go and we’re so glad they did! Allison saw something truly special in Sten… she says it was easy to finally let her eHarmon subscription go.

What we love most about these two is how deeply they treasure each other and the small moments that have built upon each other to create their strong partnership. From learning how to have hard and honest conversaitons to car dancing and making dinner. They still hold hands across the restaurant table and we have a feeling they’ll be doing so for years and years to come!!

Of course we had to ask about their engagement session and what they’re looking forward to about the wedding…

What did you love most about your engagement shoot? Your photographer?

We loved our location! We both love the outdoors and wanted to feature that in our pictures. We originally visited River Farm as a possible venue; ultimately we picked a different venue but we knew it would be great for an outdoor shoot because we’d easily be able to utilize the variety of different landscapes all in one place to create a variety of moods, settings, and scenes for our pictures! We were highly impressed with Jonathan and his wife Ruth, whom we worked with during the photo shoot! They both made us feel relaxed and cared for! We appreciated so much their coaching us and giving us constant feedback so that we felt confident in our pictures and knew that were working with us to achieve the best possible results! It was a great experience and definitely helped us to become more familiar with and comfortable posing for photography!

What are you most looking forward to about your wedding?

“Seeing our vision come to fruition! When you start picking out vendors and pretty things it’s easy to get stuck in the weeds thinking about the little details for each category (food, flowers, decor, etc). Of course we have an overall vision but since many of the individual elements are coming from different places or vendors it’s tough sometimes to imagine what it will all look like in one place. So we’re excited to see all of our planning come together to create the atmosphere and vision we’ve longed for and worked for!”

Any tips for other engaged brides who are hiring their vendors (photographers, planners, caterers, etc.) or starting the planning process?

“Definitely! I think it’s important to take your time. As soon as you get engaged you don’t have to have all the answers right away! And I think it’s important to give yourself a chance to explore all your options before making big vendor decisions. For my fiance and I, our venue was the second venue location that we visited but we waited to compare it to a few other spots before circling back to it. By that time we both felt confident that we had looked at and considered all the options we were interested in and felt confident that it was the right choice for us! So do your research, take time to ask your vendors questions and read your contracts carefully so you know exactly what you’re getting. Also, stay true to your vision! I think it’s important to have a clear idea of what your vision is (I know mine has changed even since I started planning) so that you can confidently execute it. If you don’t find exactly what you want-keep looking and get creative! No need to settle for something that doesn’t fit and won’t make you happy!”

Congratulations Allison + Sten!! xoxo, The OLAS Team