Maureen & Alan – Rip Van Winkle Gardens – Jefferson Island

Hi everyone!  Man, this girl has been traveling….and if you saw my Freyday post, you know I spent the last week in Louisiana and Houston with my best friend getting her ready for her wedding, eating a ton of amazing food and doing what I enjoy best….take gorgeous photos!  Last Sunday we had a beautiful, sunny day awaiting us at the *amazingly beautiful* Rip Van Winkle Gardens on Jefferson Island, Louisiana!  I’ll be honest, taking my best friend’s engagement photos and flying all the way in from California was a bit intimidating!  She’s known me for 18 years, we’ve lived together on 3 separate occasions, she’s been there for me during my ups and downs and is practically my sister.  No big deal, right?  Right.

After a day of scouting and watching the weather channel like clockwork to see if the rain would stop, we planned to shoot late afternoon and found ourselves timing it just right to help capture the essence that is Jefferson Island, Louisiana.  The gardens were stunning in their ‘southern’ appeal with grand oak trees draped in spanish moss and I had to gather my thoughts for 5 min. to decide that we literally cannot shoot everywhere, but needed to try to capture their love and the essence of the location in about 90 min.  Fortunately for me and my slightly nervous couple who have never taken photos together, an incredibly nice gentleman who owned the cafe provided Maureen and Alan with a bottle of champagne to celebrate!  It helped everyone relax and let their guard down so that I was able to just go with the flow and watch a fantastic man show my best friend that he truly is the man that will take care of her and love her the rest of her life.  I’m so happy for them and feel so honored to have been able to spend such quality time seeing their love unfold in front of me and know that when I stand next to her on her wedding day as her Matron of Honor, I know she’s where she belongs, with Alan.  Congratulations you two, I love you and miss you already!!!  – Jessica

5 minutes into our shoot, the champagne came in handy for more than drinking it!  Poor Maureen got stung by a wasp, and like a champ she put some ‘ice’ on it and kept going!

There was a very ‘island of LOST’ moment when we came around the corner and saw this very random Thailand-type ruin.  I was excited to showcase it and loved the architecture it provided!

The main plantation home was just stunning and made for a beautiful location.  It’s also a Bed and Breakfast if you’re ever in the Layfayette area, check into it for a relaxing ‘southern’ feel!

Definition of Fierce: These two.  Love it!!

Since they live and met in Houston, Maureen really wanted to have some photos that identified with their life together…so we headed downtown and then to UHD’s outdoor patio, waited for the sun to go down and had some fun in the downtown district!

www.JessicaFreyPhotography.com