It’s that time again. It’s time to look back at some of the best photos from 2014. Everyday we’ll be taking a look at a new category. Voting is open till midnight and the winners will be announced Monday. The winning entries will each receive a 16×20 print.

Today’s category: Engagement Sessions

Take a look at the entries then vote at the bottom of this post.

1. Bike: Calley & Will love to bike together.  Calley is faster than Will.

2. Sunset: Nothing beats a sunset together.

3. Cook: Mike is a killer chef. JoDee is a killer wife.

4. Wood: Nothing like making out on the family business.

5. Bridge: You know what’s cool? Bridges. (And Breelyn & Tyson.)

6. Carnival: Who doesn’t like going to the State Fair?

7. Vineyard: Nothing says we are engaged like going to a vineyard.

8. Balance: These two love to slackline together. (Google it. It’s awesome.)

9. Beer: That time your favorite bar put your wedding date up with all their custom beers.

10. Band: Sometimes Drill Team instructors fall in love with Band instructors.

Kaylan & Trent are my favorite kind of people.  The kind who don’t take themselves too seriously.  So when she proposed a State Fair engagement session I was all in.  When she said, she wanted to make sure and get some gross things like old corn dogs in the photos I knew we would be best friends.  AND.  When she told me she is going to have a carnival themed wedding I was like… let’s hurry up and get to the wedding.  :)  Consider this a practice session for the “real photos” to come next month.  You guys were a blast.

So marriage can be a really strange thing.  You get engaged and spend months planning this wedding where everyone is involved and giving you advice.  Then, once you are married, people just kinda forget about you and assume that you totally know what’s going on.  One thing I would love to change is how nebulous and unknown that 1st year can be for couples.  There are tons one great recourses and books out there on the topic, but let’s be honest, if you are on a wedding blog that means you are in full creeper mode right now.  Let’s seize this moment and learn a little from Becca & Brad who totally got married 1 year ago.  Take a peek at some of their images and then keep scrolling to hear what they have to say about the first year of their marriage.

1. What do you miss most about the single life?
Sharing everything. You no longer are just thinking about yourself in decisions.

2. GIve us your best cheapo/fun married date idea.
$5 fillets grilled on the grill from wal-mart (actually pretty good) and a $5 matinee show .

3. What have you liked most about your first year being married?
That through hard times and the good, your no longer having to do things alone!

4. What’s been the hardest part about being married?
Getting through the financial struggles…us both having good jobs at the same time to pay off our debts.

5. What surprised you the most? (Either good or bad.)
We have grown closer to the Lord together and have now finished a book learning about the other person’s love language so even though things are great now…we maintain meeting the other persons needs. If you both focus on the others needs, your both loved and happy. It’s an excellent book.
(7 bucks on Amazon.  Go buy it.)

6. What have you fought about most and why?
Every fuss usually originates from stress about money! I brought debt into this relationship due to college loans and neither of us seem to get our perfect jobs at the same time.

7. What was the biggest thing you were nervous about? How has it turned out?
To be honest …nothing, we were friends first and nothing has really changed for us after marriage!

8. Do you have any advice for couples about to take the plunge?
Best advice…put God first (the couple is never doing things alone) and always be always honest about how you feel. It may cause a fuss at the moment but getting through those, learning everything about the other person, and always being honest sets your future up for success and will keep you from having things build up. Those explosions are never good for anyone. Most of all love your partner and meet their needs.

Thank you two for begin brave, opening up, and letting us peek into your life.

What up party people? You know what time it is. It’s Top 10 time. That’s right, it’s time to take a quick look back at 2010 and see what some of the best images were. We will be looking at a 5 categories this week and we are kicking it off with some smoking hot engagement images.

Quick run down of the rules. You can vote on each category once. There will be a new category every day this week. Then the polls are closed and the winners will be announced Jan 17th. Each category winner will receive a 16×20 print of their winning image. So pick an image, vote, then get on your Twitter and your Facebook and make your friends come vote. :)

Here are the images.

When Becca mentioned to me that they love any type of thrill ride I knew right away that the State Fair would make the perfect setting for their engagement session.  I would blab on and on about how much fun we had but I’ll let the photos to the talking.  Also, make sure and watch the little video I put together of our evening at the end of this post. :)

Here is the video I made.  I’m thinking of offering something like this with certain engagement sessions.  If you are interested let me know. :)