please note: Amanda uses they/them pronouns + Isa uses she/her
I drove six hours to be able to document Amanda + Isa in their absolute most favorite place. It was a magical experience and I am so excited that they invited me to join them. While phone service was completely unavailable, we were able to experience the beauty + sounds of the surroundings in the moment.
they stayed in one of the property’s cabins with an overlook of the valley. Fallin’ asleep to the sounds of the wilderness with the love of your life is an absolute dream.
The Beginning
Amanda and Isa met online in 2017 while living on opposite ends of the country. They started off talking as “just friends” for about six months, messaging everyday about their shared interests. In May of 2018 Amanda remembers them both sharing a very sudden “maybe we aren’t just friends” feeling and rather than dragging things out Isa booked a flight to New York a few weeks later.
Their first date was technically their first time meeting in person. They shared some Greek food in a beautiful field in Buffalo, NY and laid in the grass just excited to be together. In the five years Amanda and Isa have shared together they have come to love all of the things that make them who they are. Amanda shares that one of their favorite things about Isa is that they truly feels like Isa cares about them more deeply than anyone they ever known, it feels like they complete each other. Isa shares that she’s found a person who understands her completely and, whose soul reflects her own.
Falling In Love
Isa remembers the first time she admitted her feelings for Amanda, she drew a crude self portrait of them in a college art class in 2017 and captioned the drawing “I HAVE A BIG CRUSH ON AMANDA.” She knew it was downhill from there, while they both were casually dating other people Isa couldn’t ever keep Amanda off of her mind. Isa was the first to drop the love bomb when they officially met in person in May of 2018.
Amanda on the other hand was a bit more oblivious to Isa’s feelings and, their own. They do remember the exact moment that the feelings hit them. Amanda had just come home from a long day and thanks to their medication at the time, they were exhausted after forgetting to eat all day. They got a package from Isa of a book that they’d been wanting to read and, included in the package with the book was a letter and several sticks of honey. Isa had written that she knew Amanda would be getting home from work and wanted them to have a treat as they were settling in. Amanda felt so cared for even from a distance and, that’s when they knew it was love.
The Beginning of Forever
To celebrate Amanda and Isa’s journey to the wedding, they chose to have their engagement session at a place that means a lot to them, Beulahland. Beulahland is an art haven in Cameron Mills, NY. Amanda and Isa stayed there in 2018 as artists in residence, each year Beulahland hosts the “hours festival.” This year was 72 hours. Their project the “Gray Whale Archive” is a functional library of 72 books basing the idea off their 2018 stay where they brought piles of books for reference and finding a unique intimacy that comes from marrying together two libraries. They created checkout cards, a custom bookplate and annotated all 72 books to explain why they were chose.
Final Thoughts
Art, literature and some universal pull brought these two wonderful people together to share tea and coffee each morning while continuing to push each other to be the best people they can be for themselves as individuals and each other. They hope to travel internationally and continue to grow creatively and emotionally and eventually own a home and have children. As a wedding and engagement photographer, one of the best and most fulfilling parts of this work is capturing a couples love authentically. Amanda and Isa’s feelings are palpable. I am so excited to watch this process unfold for them, they are truly such a beautiful couple inside and out.
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