To celebrate another year of marriage, I booked a photo session with LovelyInk Creative (look below for a discount on booking your own session). I thought sharing the photos together on a blog post might be a fun way to tell the story and share the photos with friends and family.

But before I begin …

Confession: While I come across as a people person, I’m more introverted than many realize. I love connecting with friends and meeting new people but I absolutely need my own downtime or I’ll get super grumpy. True story. I like my own space and I really dislike being in front of cameras (I turn into Ricky Bobby from Talladega Nights, not knowing what to do with my hands). So I went into the session not excited to be in front of a camera at all and under the assumption that it’d be completely awkward. At least, that’s how I expected it’d go.

It all started around 9:00 AM on a Saturday morning (well, it started around 9:15 thanks to me being late). We planned to make our first stop Artisan Coffee in Akron, Ohio. If you’ve never been, it’s a cool place with great employees who were totally down for us taking over different parts of the coffee shop to take photos. Some of the baristas even joked with us and hopped in a couple pictures. Kortney and I just sipped on coffee, talked through stories of the last twelve years together, and followed Jude’s lead as she took photos. It wasn’t completely awkward — it wasn’t even a little awkward.

Kortney and I just sipped on coffee, talked through stories of the last twelve years together, and followed Jude’s lead as she took photos

Then we deferred to Jude to show us the next stop in the family photo session. We wanted to get some photos inside and some outside and she helped make it happen. After the coffee shop, the photo session picked up again over at the Springfield Bog Metro Park. Again we just hung out as we walked the trail and talked through funny memories while Jude thought through how to get the right pictures of us. It was super chill.

We just hung out as we walked the trail and talked through funny memories while Jude thought through how to get the right pictures of us

There’s a lot that goes into finding the right photographer (like how the photos are edited, how involved they are in directing the photoshoot, prices, location, experience, expertise, and much more…) — and I highly recommend Jude at LovelyInk Creative.

Like I mentioned above, Jude has extended a little deal for my friends, family and my followers. She’s offering a $50 discount if you book a portrait session (similar to this) of any kind and that includes families, couples, engagement, maternity, and fresh 48. To get the discount, contact LovelyInk Creative today and use the code BruecknerBucks when you book!