{THE STEVENS FAMILY} ANNIVERSARY PORTRAIT SESSION | GRAFENWOEHR, GERMANY

In May this year I met Angelique and her wonderful daughter Erin when I did Erin's senior portraits. Back then Angelique told me she wanted someone unique and with a vision to document her daughter's photos and we spent days creating the session that to this day is one of my favorites.

As the summer was coming to an end Angelique reconnected with me once more and this time it was for her own session. Her husband Michael and her were going to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary at the end of November and Angelique really wanted me to be there to document it. When I got her into my studio once more I asked her what made these years together special and why did she want a photoshoot now and not before. She told me she wasn't romantic. Michael is the romantic in the family and that this time around she wanted to do something very special for him. Unfortunately they couldn't renew their vows where they wanted to because they are not back in Colorado just yet, so an anniversary photoshoot was going to be something different and unexpected for them so that's when I got super excited. 

I asked both Angelique and Michael to write each other a letter. This letter would say everything that these 20 years meant to them, how they felt about each other then and now, and what they wished for each other in the future - this was my way of asking them to renew their vows - but in a bit of a different setting. 

We went to their favorite look out in Sulzbach-Rosenberg, a place they once stumbled upon on accident and fell in love with. Now was my time to fall in love with the place and commemorate their connection on the top of a hill they will forever hold dear in there hearts. There is something about the lookouts in Germany - they are just straight out of fairytales. There is something captivating in the red roofs of the old towns. 

We recreated, unplanned, a series of photos from their own wedding day, only regretting one thing - the chilly wind. That wind finally brought us to a cafe where all we wanted was to warm up with a cup of coffee, and this is where Angelique and Michael shared their intimate letters  with one another. I am not going to lie - my glasses were foggy from the emotion I was feeling (even though I could not actually hear them reading their letters). 

Thank you for letting me be a part of this and document these memories for you.

And here is their anniversary journey through my photographs.