Now that you know where we’ll be taking most of our wedding day portraits, here are a few of my favorite portrait examples. Close and smile-y… that’s how I like it. Also, see why I like the idea of shooting on a porch? So many of my favorites took place on one! Credits: Christian Oth, Kate Headley, Rylee Hitchner, Jessica Monnich, Tanja Lippert

Friends, let me tell you a story. For years (since at least as long ago as middle school), there has been one house that has been “my house.” You know what I mean. It’s my dream house. It’s the most beautiful house I’ve ever seen, with the most thoughtful architecture, the prettiest gardens, the most charming outbuildings, the loveliest porch… All of my friends and family members know which one it is, and can point it out on command. A few years ago, in addition to vowing that I would one day own said house, I started telling people that I wanted to take my wedding photos there. Of course, the first question my levelheaded companions always asked was, how exactly are you going to make this happen? Why, I’ll write them a letter, of course, said I. It wasn’t like I wanted to pretend that it was my actual house (that would be embarrassing) — I would consider it akin to a more normal person wanting to take photos at a historic property or mansion. So then I got engaged. And I promptly added “Contact dream house about portraits” to my Martha Stewart generated wedding to-do list (I use the online one – it’s great!). Month: July. And then a few months passed, and it was July. And I had to decide if I was really going to do this thing. Since I wanted to be able to address my letter personally, I did some Google sleuthing to try and turn up the names of the homeowners. They are probably a variety of ways I could have done this, but luckily, I was able to find an article in my local paper from a few years back about a renovation at the house that mentioned the owners by name