This snowy winter engagement shoot by DU SOLEIL PHOTO was initially planned to be completely outdoors, but Mother Nature had other ideas for Jessica & Thomas. Starting out at the Rodin Museum with its beautiful masonry backdrops in the center of Philadelphia they then ventured outside, but with the temperature dropping and snow starting to fall they soon took shelter at a nearby coffee shop. I think it was a blessing in disguise as you really couldn’t ask for a more romantic and graceful backdrop.
Minh from DU SOLEIL PHOTO tells us, “Jessica and Thomas met while going out with their friends when they were in college. Both of them hadn’t wanted to go out that night but ended up going anyway for their own reasons – Thomas was the designated driver and Jessica was celebrating with friends for a birthday outing. They spotted each other across the room, but it took Thomas a while to work up the nerve to approach Jessica. He offered to buy her a drink, but instead Jessica bought a round of shots for him and his group of friends.
Their first date was very memorable, especially for Thomas. He had been trying to plan a date with her for a long time and she finally agreed to go out for dinner with him. Being the impressive person she is, Jessica decided to arrive at the restaurant early and gave her card to the server to make sure she payed for dinner. She also arranged dessert to be brought out with a candle to congratulate Thomas on working so hard for his recent exam. Needless to say, Thomas was very surprised and probably extremely impressed with the kind gesture.
Jessica and Thomas are each other’s motivator, inspirer, shopping buddy and spontaneous dance partner. They are engaged to be married in September this year. As their photographer, I loved hearing about their story and connecting with them, as I feel it helps me better capture them and their happiness. It was the little things that helped us connect while we were out for their engagement session. It was one of the coldest and most snowy days of this winter (~20 degrees, and it was definitely one of the longest stretches of time that we’d ever had to be out in the freezing cold!), but we bonded over silly things like running and taking heat breaks in the car, defrosting from frost bites, making sure no one slipped on the ice, etc. In the end, it was all worth the freezing cold and extreme weather, and I cannot wait to photograph their wedding in the Fall.“
