Lauren and Hunter have the funniest backstory. In 2017, Lauren was celebrating her 21st birthday at FSU, and her friends made her take a picture with the bartender and make a drink behind the bar. Later that summer, some mutual friends invited them both to a Rays baseball game. They were sitting at Ferg’s before the game when Lauren leaned over to Hunter and said, “This is so random, but we have a bunch of photos together from my birthday in March.” Hunter was the bartender from her birthday! How crazy is that? A few weeks later, they had their first date at Frenchy’s on Clearwater Beach. They started officially dating in October 2017. Almost five years later, Hunter surprised Lauren with a beautiful proposal in front of Opal Sands Clearwater on the beach.
I always send questionnaires to my clients before engagement sessions. This gives me a feel for their style and personalities and gives the couple a chance to choose the location of the session. Lauren and Hunter live in downtown Tampa, so downtown is kind of their heart. They love the city style, so Hyde Park was the perfect choice for their engagement session. There are several gorgeous boutiques that create the perfect background.
We scheduled their session for the beginning of fall when rain is totally normal for Florida. So, of course, on the day of the session, it had been raining all day. Lauren had her makeup done professionally, which I highly suggest for all of my brides! Using a makeup artist gives you a chance to practice before the session and really accentuates your features in the photos. Even though she had just had her makeup done, Lauren wasn’t afraid of a session in the rain! Bonus points for her! Rain can make for some fun and unique portraits. Normally we would move to a covered area in Tampa, but we totally lucked out. The rain stopped right before the session, and we had the most perfect lighting. Lauren and Hunter were so fun and adventurous to work with. They brought a bottle of champagne with them, and we popped it at the end of the session for some exciting celebration portraits. I highly recommend this to all of my couples! It was so much fun to document this moment with them.
