Welcome to the Blog: Our Love Story

Hey Friend!!

Welcome to the FIRST blog post of Jenny B Photography! You’re in for a treat today….

If you don’t know me, I’m Jenn, the gal behind the lens of Jenny B Photography! I officially started my business a little over 2 years ago, and have lovingly grown it into a platform that aims to cheer on my client’s relationships and tell their unique love story through my images. As a gal who’s passionate about this aspect of my business, I thought kicking off my FIRST EVER BLOG POST with telling my own love story of how I met my sweet husband, Bryan, was a great way to start out! Our story also helped contribute to my heart behind this small business of mine that I officially started up in 2018. So read on to learn how underwhelming the first time we met was, how I totally SWERVED him the first (annnnd possibly 2nd) time we kissed, how he popped the question, and how our relationship helped shape my passion behind my work. Ready? LETS GO.

 

It was a normal Thursday night at my college bible study….

Every week I looked forward to attending my church’s small group college bible study. Thursdays were my “social nights” LOL and I met many of my best friends there whom I’m still close with today. Oh yeah…..and also my future husband. SO ANYWAY, one evening in 2015 there was a new guy. Let me clarify- there was a quiet, kinda dorky looking new guy. I don’t believe we even exchanged 2 words that night and I’m pretty sure I was probably “talking” to some other guy at the time. The night ended annnnnd we didn’t see or talk to each other for another 2 YEARS LOL….all I remembered about him was that his name was Bryan, and that he worked with trees (or something). FLASH FORWARD about 2 years later in the winter of 2017 to another Thursday evening small group (only hosted at a different home) where I walked through the door and IMMEDIATELY recognized “that random guy who showed up to group once and never came again” standing in the kitchen, and even remembered his name was Bryan! Turned out he was away at college and had recently graduated, had come back home to work for his family’s tree nursery business, and was looking to get plugged back in the church! So that started us seeing each other every Thursday evening at group, which lead into him to eventually sliding into ya girl’s DMs…..now read on to learn how homeboy tried to move too fast for me and I gave him the ole sweeeerve……

 

Our (almost) First Kiss…

So at this point Bryan and I have been pretty much “talking” for a couple of months, and one weekend he invited me over to meet his parents (AW). When he was walking me to my car that evening he was saying how he wanted to take things slow with me, and then literately 10min later homeboy started to LEAN IN TO KISS ME and I was like UHHHHH WAT and then I did the good ole fashion “cheek turn” so he planted it there instead of my lips hahahahaha. (I still tease him about what his version of “taking things slow” was.) He later apologized for the awkwardness and I told him I didn’t want to kiss until he officially asked me to be his girlfriend. (Listen, I didn’t want to mess around with any gray areas. I needed some commitment first okay??) Oh, and not to mention I had never been kissed before……(But SHHH he didn’t know that yet…)

 

 

The First (finally) Kiss.

Now that I had made it clear to Bryan that he had to officially ask me to be his girlfriend before he could kiss me, he got on that real quick LOL. A couple weeks later at the beginning of June he took me on a day date to Annapolis, MD where he pulled a “promposal” and asked me to be his girlfriend with a little golf ball that he wrote “Will you be my GF” on. (Yes, he’s an avid golfer, and yes, I’m a sucker for corny romantic things like that haha) BUT I think I scared the poor boy off a bit because no, he still did not kiss me that day…..or the next week…or the next. However, my birthday is at the end of June, and my friends had planned a surprise party for me which he picked me up for; but before taking me there he took me to a park and gave me my birthday gift. Man, I could tell how badly he wanted to kiss me there buuuut I proceeded to still not give him the opportunity yet….but this time because of nerves!! It was going to be my first EVER kiss, so can’t blame a girl for being nervous!! The next day we took a beach trip and I was like “OKAY. THIS HAS TO HAPPEN TODAY.” It’s the BEACH. Perfect first kiss location amitright? So yes, after low-key rejecting this poor boy TWO TIMES, we finally shared our first kiss while taking a walk on the beach (I know I know, so romantic), and then that’s when I told him it was my first kiss. I can still see his face now….he was so shocked (and honored lol)! To this day I’m still so glad that my husband ended up being my first kiss. (cue all the “awwwwwwws”)

 

 

 

After that, we enjoyed the next 8 months planning fun dates together, getting to know each other’s hearts, and celebrating our first couple holidays together as a couple. Some of my favorite times together while dating included attending a Taylor Swift concert (he’s such a good sport), serving alongside each other as leaders in our church’s youth program, going deep sea fishing, experiencing a “Harry Potter” night at the Franklin Institute in Philly, dressing up as Forrest Gump and Jenny for Halloween, and getting to visit his college alma mater at Clemson University.

 

 

 

It’s a love story, baby just say YES!

In February of 2018 Bryan took me to Philly for the day, where he got down on one knee and locked me in forever. He also had our friend (and fellow photographer) Brandy in on the secret; she was secretly there capturing his proposal on camera! There was so much joy and giddiness that followed my “YES”, and I’m so so thankful she was able to document our special milestone so beautifully! (See for yourself below!) Proposing to me was the first thing he did when we got to Philly for the day, so it was a blast having the whole rest of the day to just be together and bask in our fresh new milestone while slowly telling our family and closest friends throughout the rest of the day! That evening Bryan had made fancy dinner reservations for us at a super cool restaurant in Philadelphia called “The Moshulu”, which if you haven’t been there it’s literately inside a giant historic ship rigged alongside the dock. The staff surprised us with free champagne and a letter of congratulations on our table….it was the perfect end to our day!

 

The Rest is History…

We knew we didn’t want to have a long engagement and we were eager to start our life together as husband and wife. So I got started right away on what I had been virtually planning on Pinterest for the past 10+ years…..my wedding!! (Seriously though, Pinterest is such a lifesaver!) I planned that baby in 8 months, and we tied the knot that October. Yes, it was truly the happiest day of my life.

Ever since I was little I had dreamed of getting married, and couldn’t wait to be a wife one day. Even in the months leading up to my wedding I read books on marriage, and just wanted to prepare my heart as much as I could to be a godly wife to Bryan. Learning more about God’s beautiful design for marriage and how sacred it is definitely fuels the joy I have for capturing the wedding days of others. Like, how amazing is it to have a job capturing the most beautiful and joyful day of someone’s life?! My intention with each one of my special couples is to do my best to cheer on their relationship, and tell their love story through my images. It really is true when people say “A picture is worth a thousand words”. I’m not kidding when I say I get so giddy on my client’s wedding days (basically an honorary bridesmaid LOL) and tear up at some point at every single one of my weddings! I know I know, hopeless romantic over here.

Well thank you SO much for taking the time to get a little peek inside Bryan and I’s love story! I can’t wait to share more of my client’s stories as well, and other fun wedding planning and marriage tips on this space!