Getting the opportunity to shoot at The Kentucky Castle in Versailles has been a dream of mine since I moved to Kentucky five years ago, so when Larissa asked me during her first meeting if it would be possible to go to the castle for her engagement session I wanted to cry happy tears!

I am always thrilled to shoot in the Lexington area, I love it’s old world charm and all the history in the area. For Alex and Larissa’s engagement shoot we definitely played up the history and elegance of the state with our location choices. We started at the location I was most excited about, which made me nervous, because I typically like a little time for my couples to warm up and to get into my groove, but since The Castle had a wedding there that evening, we had a tight time slot of 12-1 p.m. to work in.

You might think that is the best time for light since there is the most of — it’s the brightest point of the day, it MUST be the best for photography. It’s actually the opposite, because the sun is directly overhead, the light is harshest, making it the hardest.

So I walked into this shoot, nervous and excited to shoot in one of my bucket list locations, with a dream couple with all the odds stacked against me.

I was determined to fully rock this shoot, push my skills by shooting in mid-day open sun and create images from this set that all of us would be obsessed with.

*dusts off shoulder*

WE DID IT.

Next location was the Henry Clay Estate. I love this historic ground and home, the secret garden feel to the landscaping gives a next level romantic feel to photos. 

As this day seemed to go, not only was it incredibly hot, Kentucky decided to dump a quick rain shower on us and then go back to hot and sunny. If you’ve lived or visited The Bluegrass State in the summer you know that’s recipe for INSANE humidity.

I’ve looked through this next set over and over, and Alex and Larissa did such an amazing job of not showing that the weather conditions were miserable.

Also, lets here it for Larissa’s hair that survived this!

Larissa did an incredible job selecting outfits. Not only are they classic, each outfit fits their personalities SO WELL. 

Our last location of the session was Keeneland. We actually took a break after the first two locations and this one. I can’t usually do that, but it happened I had friends in from California. They and Daniel had been touring Lexington and partaking in bourbon tours while I was shooting the earlier portion of the session — so when we took a break I was able to hang with them for a couple of hours, eat dinner, etc and it just made this day a little extra fun.

It turned out to be a blessing they were all there, because they all helped make this next part happen.

*cue confetti*

…literally.

P.S. I shot Alex’s sister’s engagement session at Keenland a few years ago (I’m pretty sure it’s the first thing I ever blogged). It was so neat getting to shoot here with Alex and Larissa now for that reason!

Thanks for being rockstars through the heat and humidity, you two. Your engagement session was such a blast, that I literally cannot wait until your wedding day!!