Ashley & Danny’s Frozen Engagement Session

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Ashley. My girl. My soul sister. I just LOVE her.

My favorite picture that I’ve taken of all time may be of Ashley. I was photographing her cousin’s wedding last March, the dance floor was empty at this point (it got a major work out later in the night, but in the early songs of the evening, people were still mingling) when Whitney Houston’s “I Want to Dance with Somebody” came on. Ashley, dressed in her sparkly Lilly dress and 6 inch heels, ran to the middle of the bare dance floor and put on the performance of a lifetime (although I’m pretty certain this performance probably comes out at every event Ashley goes to) all while managing not to spill a drop of her rum and coke on her pink dress. There were high kicks and I believe possibly even a flip or two. It was a one girl show of Ashley, her dance moves, and (all hail) Queen Whitney, and I knew I was in love with Ashley right then and there. Fast forward to this past Thanksgiving when I get a text from ITALY alerting me that Ashley got engaged on a gondola in Venice. Yes, Ashley lived out every girl’s dream who visits a romantic European city with her boyfriend and got the (most gorgeous) ring on her trip, proving that Danny, Ashley’s fiance is one brilliant man.

So when we started planning her engagement session, we knew we needed to do something that was as sparkly and unique as both Ashley and that ring on her finger. Luckily, Ashley’s family ski cabin happens to be right next to the Ice Castles in NH and it was a no brainer that we’d shoot there. Considering it was a giant castle made out of ice, we knew it would be cold, but we did not expect historic, “life threatening” temperatures, and I was checking my phone every day to wait to see if Ashley was going to cancel, or at least tell me she had decided to wear something other than the cute little dress and heels she had sent me pictures of the week prior. But the one thing you need to know about Ashely: she is a complete bada$*. The cold did not bother her one little bit and she never even once considered backing out or changing outfits. So we completely ignored the -1 temperature with -45 wind chill, and the messages we were getting from Alert Boston reminding us that it’s possible to get frost bite in 10 minutes, and Ashley wore her little dress and sparkly heels without even flinching. While Danny, Alex (my trusty assistant), and I all cried like little babies in our layers, Ashley stood with snow covering her feet and never once even mentioned that she had a chill…we actually had to force her into a coat after the first 40 minutes because we were concerned about her health. Her and her “I’ll do anything it takes to get the shot” attitude are a photographer’s dream. And if I had another hour or so to ramble on about Danny, I’d tell you all about how great he is–how he saved the day when he ran out to fifteen different stores to find jumper cables when our car was frozen and wouldn’t start, how he didn’t even complain when we ended up crashing his Valentine’s Day dinner, how he saved us all a trip to the ER by shutting down the outdoor portion of the engagement shoot after an hour and half even though Ashley and I thought we could stay for longer.

I am thrilled I get to not only shoot their wedding next fall, but call these two friends.

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See how cute she is! She doesn’t even look cold!
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We ended up at the cabin and Woodstock Inn which is absolutely adorable!
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You two. Thank you for an awesome weekend!
signatureJANELLE

Ashley & Danny’s Frozen Engagement Session

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