Remember sweet Sara and her dapper son, Carter, from a session in the summer? Well, they’re back at it again, but trading in the beach for central Virginia’s rolling fields and wineries. I mean, not a bad trade when a tasting comes with it. 😉 Sara has been my constant supporter throughout the entire start-up phase of my business (Random thought: When do businesses graduate from the start-up phase? A question for another blog post another time, I suppose!). She has sent me ideas for sessions, other photographers’ Instagram pages to use for inspiration, knowledge, and education, and agreed to be my model for two shoots now (probably more if we count high school and college!). Honestly, I can’t tell you guys how thankful I am for her and her insight into the wedding industry. Oh, yes! Forgot to tell you—she’s a wedding and event coordinator at Early Mountain Vineyard in Madison County, Virginia, so if you’re looking for a romantic, picturesque place to get married, get in touch with her. You won’t regret it.

It’s been two years since Caleb and I have moved to the coast of North Carolina, and we really don’t get to see the leaves change. Occasionally we will see a tree or two that looks like it’s on fire, but it’s really a rare occurrence. When I went home to take photographs for these two, I was overwhelmed by all the colors—green, orange, yellow, red, even the brown was pretty! So naturally we had to have a leaf throwing image! My younger clients always love those. 😉

We were able to explore all that Castle Hill Cider has to offer. I even learned something new about how they make their cider. Some selections are buried in a clay egg inside of the ground to get earthy undertones. I am probably way under-explaining that, and I really apologize if I am butchering the delicate process. But it just so happens that Sara is part of the Castle Hill Cider Club, so yes, we did do a tasting. 10/10 would recommend. My favorite was Celestial 2016—try it. Try it now. You won’t regret it. Promise.

Castle Hill Cider is also a gorgeous wedding venue with a beautiful white barn that is partially enclosed to host a rustic reception area, a pond, a pasture, and an outside pavilion complete with corn hole and beautiful scenery. How could we not take pictures in ALL the places?! As always, I did my best to capture Carter in his natural state, which is running. Seriously, he takes after his uncle who ran cross country and track during his four years at the University of Mary Washington.

Please enjoy a little bit of my life by taking in some images of my beautiful best friend and her baby boy in the place that I hold so dearly to my heart and call home!