Saguaro Lake Bridal Portraits

Oh goodness friends.  I left Phoenix with a full, excited heart.  I landed in Cleveland later than expected and crawled into my warm bed with my husband by my side.  In the last month, we’ve only shared a bed fourteen nights.  This is hard on my heart.  If you’re a loyal blog follower you may have heard me mention my love language a time or two.  If you’re an LJ Bride, we’ve had at least one conversation about our love languages.  You see, by love language is quality time.  And in the last month, that has lacked…a lot.  Josh and I are chasing dreams and marking things off of our personal bucket lists.  He marked off a “dudes hunting trip out west” for two weeks and I marked off shooting a beautiful bride in the desert.

When it was decided that I was going to attend Showit’s annual conference for wedding photographers again this fall, I reached out to Lindsi who I met her last year at UNITED.  When I told her I thought about doing my own styled shoot instead of following a crowd around UNITED, she was beyond excited.  If it wasn’t for this girl, none of these photos would be possible.  She spearheaded everything for me.  Lindsi’s a Phoenix local, so she had all the hook ups.  She had the ideal location that screamed Arizona, knew a skilled makeup artist, and is best friends with an insanely talented florist – Charissa from Flowers by Roo.

When Lindsi sent me screen shots of Saguaro Lake east of Phoenix, my creative heart burst into tears of joys.  I think God showed off when he painted this masterpiece in Arizona.  Last year I never ventured far enough off the resort to see beautiful landscapes like I saw last Sunday night.  I’m so thankful for Lindsi’s willingness to be a tour guide and even volunteer to model.

She’s not the only one who stepped in front of the camera.  Charissa and her husband Ryan also modeled.  This past October they celebrated nine years of marriage.  It was a special night for Charissa and Ryan to put their wedding attire back on for “wedding photos”

I can’t express my gratitude enough to the three ladies who were apart of making this shoot happen.  It was wonderful to not only shoot in the beautiful desert light, but to also shoot for myself and have fun.  After a crazy fall, I was reminded how much passion I really have making people feel beautiful and loved in front of the camera.

I hope you enjoy these Saguaro Lake photos as much as I do.  I wish I had a valid reason to print a 30×40 canvas of some of these photos!  If only I shot more weddings in Arizona… ????

Thank you to the following for allowing my creative heart a chance to do it’s own thing:

Florals | Flowers by Roo

Makeup | Monique Flores Hair and Makeup

Models | Lindsi Rian Photography