I met up with the super lovely Melissa & Jon a few days before their anniversary to capture this sweet couple session in a Boston Cafe. The staff at Panificio on Charles Street, were extremely accommodating and these two lovebirds were able to relax, enjoy their cappuccinos and celebrate their relationship. Later we wandered the streets of Beacon Hill and made a visit the Boston Public Gardens to get more beautiful photographs which I will be sharing in the coming days.
“Jonathan and I met in an acting class in college at the University of Kentucky. I took it for extra credit and he took it very seriously! The final grade for the course was to perform a scene with a partner that was chosen at random. The day names were drawn, I was sick and did not attend class, but got a call from a friend telling me that Jonathan had pulled my name out of the hat. I was not surprised as I had a feeling that I would be partnered with him (or maybe it was because I was secretly hoping that I would be!). We spent the next few weeks rehearsing the scene – much more often than any other group in the class. We claimed the extra rehearsing was so that we would be prepared for our scene, but secretly, we both enjoyed the extra time together.
The next semester, I transferred schools, but we stayed in touch through social media and with the occasional text or call. Jonathan graduated two years later and took a job in California and a year after that I was presented with an opportunity to move to California as well. I had not planned to live near Los Angeles, but as fate would have it, my job and new place ended up being a 15 minute drive from his apartment downtown. We talked a few times while I was preparing for the move and he mentioned he would take me out and show me around once I got there. When he found out that I was driving cross country for the move, he sweetly volunteered to fly out and drive with me so that I would not have to face the trip alone. We spent the next three days exchanging life stories on a road trip that would be the first of many more adventures we would share together.
Within a month of my transition to California, we were pretty much inseparable. A little over a year later we got engaged and had a long engagement, during which we moved to Chicago, and finally planned our wedding once we were closer to friends and family in Kentucky. We spent three years in Chicago while Jonathan obtained his PhD and relocated to Boston in February of this year for his postdoctoral work.
Having a love for photography, I told him before we got married that I wanted us to have anniversary pictures taken every single year. Knowing that we would be moving often, at least for the first several years, I wanted a way to document each year that we spent together, where we were living, and how we had grown and changed together. Upon finding Gina, I knew she was the photographer that I wanted to capture our pictures. She chose to shoot in the most adorable café as well as around the beautiful Beacon Hill area of Boston. The setting could not have been more romantic and Gina was fantastic! She was sweet, personable and fun from the moment we met and really helped us relax and have a great time. I could not have asked for a better experience!”
– Melissa