p family ~ disney sweethearts

One of my friends from high school who lives in FL (we realized we probably haven’t seen each other since we graduated) reached out to me recently and told me that she, her wife, and their daughter were taking a trip up to NJ in March— and would I be able to squeeze them in for a family session while they were here? Of course I wanted to make that work! It is not every day that I have people from other states requesting my photography services… plus I was really looking forward to meeting her family.

I knew that she worked at Disney for awhile but I did not realize that she met her wife while they were both working ticket sales at one of the parks. (Is there any more romantic/fun/magical of a place to meet?!) Their daughter is around the same age as my youngest daughter and absolutely adorable. My favorite part, though, was watching the way that both moms were with her. Let’s just say that this little girl is very, very loved. It is such an interesting dynamic to see a friend from high school, who you last saw in high school, as a hands-on mom instead of the teenager that you remember her as.

At the start of the session, the little girl got very shy and despite trying a few different things, she would only hide from the camera. The trick that worked: food. After she ate, she was much more agreeable to photos, especially when we let her walk around and sort of “run the show.” If she felt like she was in charge, she was happy. (Good luck, moms haha). Luckily, as I mentioned, she was very cute so we let it all slide and ended up with some amazing family photos! Especially since I learned that this was their first photo session (ever!), I felt so lucky to have had the opportunity to capture their family’s beautiful connections.