Oh, these two. Annie and Max are a sweet, fun, and loving force to be reckoned with. This shoot took place on what most would consider a very long day- 6 hours there, 4 hours shooting, and 6 hours back. Yep, that’s a total of 16 hours! However, between the belly laughs, nose scrunches and friendship we all shared, time completely flew by!
Let’s rewind a few years- I met Annie waaay back in the day when we played basketball together. Although we’ve always kept in touch, we really reconnected last year when I shot her sister’s wedding. When the time came for Annie and Max to start planning for their upcoming nuptials, I think each of us knew we would be the perfect photographer + couple fit.
Back to shoot day- the drive to Fort Smith was filled with loud sing-alongs, playful banter, and only a couple mishaps ( I mean, we’ve all forgotten to actually get gas when we stop to get gas…right?) By the time we arrived, we were stir crazy ready for action. We stretched our legs and emptied our tanks in this incredible coffee shop and just went with it.
After exploring the oh-so-photogenic downtown with these oh-so-photogenic cuties, it was time to continue towards our next destination: Ozark National Forest. The plan was to end our shoot with a sunset session on Hawksbill Crag, but by the time we arrived at the trail entrance, we realized how we miscalculated sunset and realized there was a chance we were going to hike back in the dark. Undeterred, we set off onto the hiking trail determined to have less than 20 min. of light to capture the drama of the crag. We snapped photos along the hiking trail, catching the sunset through the trees in the most perfect, motion picture-esque fashion. Swoon.
We finally made it to Hawksbill, and much to our surprise, we were the only ones there. We realized that in missing the sunset, we also missed the crowd of onlookers! Relieved and motivated by our freedom to create, we got down to business, resulting in some of my favorite photos from the entire day!
By the time we finished shooting, the sun had long since set, leaving us to complete the 3 mile hike back to the car in complete darkness. Were we exhausted? You bet. Was it worth it? Absolutely.
I hope you enjoy going through this sweet blog post – meanwhile I’m getting ready to go shoot their wedding at the beautiful White Sparrow Barn!!
|| A N N I E + M A X ||
Rachel Meagan Photography is a North Texas Wedding Photographer based in the greater DFW area. Available for travel worldwide. She specialized in photographing ridiculously in-love couples who have a desire to document that love.
