It finally happened!
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Wedding couple in beautiful Sedona, complete... and I want to do it all again!
Originally it wasn't supposed to happen this way, so the story makes it extra special.
Let’s rewind to 2020, just after Jonelle and Jamie decided to have me (and my amazing personality) be the photographer for their 2022 wedding. It was still quite far away so it allowed a lot of time to plan something special for their engagement session.
I’ve been trying to get a couple to meet down in Sedona for a couple years now. Whether it be for a wedding or just a couples session, it really didn’t matter. I wanted to do both. So when they took me up on it, I was super excited and the planning started.
Now, fast forward to 2021. All the planning was done; tickets were booked and we were ready to go. We were all super excited! Covid was still very active in the world and yet again caused problems for the travel industry. Although for me it wasn’t really a problem (I could take the chance of getting stuck there a little longer), it wasn’t the same for Jonelle and Jamie. They couldn't take the chance. Boo!
I was disappointed, but still ended up going.
Side note - that was probably the best flight I had ever taken. There were only 37 people on a 200 person plane. I’ve never had 10 rows all to myself lol.
When I go to Phoenix, I always make a trip to Sedona. It’s one of my favourite places in the world. Even though they didn’t come, I decided to still make the trip. After posting a short reel to my Instagram, I soon after got a sad message from Jonelle. She was super disappointed and I could tell she was serious just by the messages I was getting. I felt so bad for sharing the reel. I felt like I had just rubbed it in. To make us both feel better, I suggested we go after their wedding. Wedding After sessions are actually a thing, so why not? PLUS… I think their wedding album would look much better ending off in Sedona than starting it.
SHE WAS SOLD!
Jonelle and Jamie were bringing their tux and dress for a trip!
March 2023 came along. Covid was almost non-existent. We started the adventure.
They didn’t expect the adventure they were about to be brought on….
The sun was way too harsh to take photos right off the start, so we did a simple 2.5 hour hike around Bell Rock; roughly 7km. When we got back, we decided it was worth taking a few shots in the sun anyway. But, clouds even started rolling in for us!
Continued below...
From there, we went for lunch while we waited for the sun to set a little before going to our main photoshoot location... Hike #2 at Cathedral Rock (the mountain in the background of field photos above). Brittany and I had done this hike before, so we didn't think much of it. This hike is where all the excitement started though. Little did Jonelle and Jamie know they were about to climb one of the steepest slopes they had ever done.
The fighting of fears was real...
...but they survived and made it look easy (even though it didn't sound like it lol)! We were also a little rushed because we needed to take the hard part down before it got dark. Oh and did I mention there was a sign saying the trail was closed? Oops, we must have missed that on the way up lol!
We finished off the session half way down the trail (before the "closed trail" sign). Somewhere we all felt a little more comfortable and able to get some cool angles. Some of my favourite shots are the ones from far away. The pure majestic red rock and scenery wows me every single time.!Little do you know, Brittany is behind a rock telling them what to do, while on the phone with me as I'm taking photos. What a great team, eh?
Walking down at the end of the photoshoot, we couldn't help talking about how amazing this day was. Fears were tackled and the feeling of having faced them was a pure adrenaline rush!
Would Jonelle and Jamie trust us on another adventure again?
Not too sure...
A couple days later they invited us on a hike to Camel Back Mountain. We figured it was going to be easy since they chose the trail... but, boy, were we all wrong. It was even harder than the first day. Even I was a little worried.
Such an amazing trip! So much fun hanging out with these two! We hope we now have some new adrenaline junkie hiker buddies for whatever the next adventure will be!
