Erik & Kelsey’s Engagement Session Turned Surprise Wedding in Richmond, VA

Images: Denise Van

Meant to blog this for Monday, but here we are. We spent the weekend in Pittsburgh with two of our very best friends, meeting their new son (he’s adorbs). It’s taken me longer than expected to get back into the swing of the daily routine, but here’s hoping it gets back on track soon. We’re gearing up for Fall wedding season and 2018 booking season – while renovations continue on the Brookland home. I have a feeling it’s going to be a crazy few months. Here’s an adorable engagement session in a Richmond, VA park that turned into an intimate, surprise wedding ceremony!

From the photographer:

I was so excited to shoot Erik and Kelsey’s engagement photos turned surprise wedding ceremony! I’ve known Erik since even before my husband and I started dating. Erik is my husband’s best friend, and he was the best man at our wedding. When I first met Erik’s girlfriend Kelsey (long, long ago), she was introduced to me as “train girl”. Soon after, I found out why.

Kelsey and Erik met in the waiting room of an Amtrak station traveling from Washington, DC to Richmond, VA. A mischievous woman offered him the seat she had her luggage on and it happened to be beside her. Erik gathered up his courage, made a terrible pun about the TV show CSI she was watching, and struck up a train-ride long conversation with Kelsey and from there, it was history.

As the two sides of their family had yet to meet, Erik and Kelsey planned a family portrait shoot at Maymont Park in Richmond, VA (so special!). With both sides of the family coming up for the shoot, Erik and Kelsey decided to follow the engagement shoot with a wedding ceremony (Erik’s brother was ordained previously). They were never keen on the idea of a big wedding affair; a two-minute wedding ceremony in front of their closest family and friends seemed just the thing to do.

That beautiful diamond and ruby ring? Erik’s grandmother gifted her mother’s wedding ring heirloom to him and he proposed to Kelsey with it. And you won’t find that “The Little Companions” book anywhere else in the world. It’s one of a kind, written by Erik for Kelsey to read – with his proposal written into the book! Everything they brought to their shoot had some significance to their relationship, making their session just that much more special. I hope you enjoy viewing these images as much as I enjoyed taking them. This will always be one of my favorite sessions.