There’s nothing more special to me than the couples I get to serve, honestly, listening to their stories makes my heart so happy. We each have a story, something sentimental and unique about our relationship that makes us think we’ve found the best partner we could’ve hoped for. I never miss an opportunity to tell the story of how I met Caden, even though it’s usually to my own friends and family who’ve heard it a thousand times. But, when Caden and I go out to my photography sessions the couples we get to serve pour their hearts out to us. The joy is real and it deserves to be captured. More than that though, it deserves to be told. I’ve dedicated this blog to sharing the real, raw, and emotional stories of my clients, but I’ve realized…I’ve never told my own.

When I was 14, I never even knew that Caden existed. Ironically, we lived on the same road, in the same small town, just one grade level apart, yet I swore I had never heard his name. When I did finally meet him…wait I’m not even sure if you could say we met that day because I didn’t say one word to him. I was at the baseball field talking to a friend and noticed him. My friend knew exactly who he was and thought it was crazy that I didn’t! I kept telling her I thought he was cute but she looked at me and said, “Kaitlynn, I don’t know if he’ll talk to you.” (That friend was our biggest supporter for years once we were together by the way).

She wasn’t wrong, Caden did not want to talk to me and he made that very clear. He was working the concession stands at this baseball game and lucky for me my very own cousins were in there to help me get his number. They did what they could but once Caden saw I texted him, his exact words were, “I’m not looking for a friend right now, you’re annoying me, please let me alone.” (Spoiler alert: I didn’t). He kept texting me even though he claims he didn’t want to. There was never really a moment where we decided that we were boyfriend and girlfriend, he was just always around. There was never any big gesture just real and honest conversation that very slowly turned into a friendship, and then a relationship.

In May 2022 we will have started our journey together 5 years ago. In that five years things have drastically changed for the better. One of my favorite things about our story is that it’s still being written. We’re still learning about each other and I hope we always are. But, one thing we learned together is how important the story of a relationship is to the couples that I get to love and serve. We’ve witnessed it first hand and we couldn’t be more grateful for that opportunity–I’m just excited to hear more.