A Max Patch Engagement Session

Irini and Patrick’s engagement session started as a total nightmare.

This Max Patch engagement session turned out so wonderful, but first things first. When Irini and I discussed the location of their session she told me how she envisioned mountains and wildflowers as a backdrop. Well, whoever has been to Charleston knows that the entire area is flat as a pancake. I honestly don’t know where Mount Pleasant got its name 😀 The closest actual mountains, the Appalachian Mountains, are 200 miles west and about four hours away. But honestly, I was really excited for a change of setting and I always encourage my couples to think outside the box when it comes to their engagement photos.

After a little research and asking for recommendations we decided to start at the cutest little coffee place in Asheville and then headed about one hour east to Max Patch to end the engagement session with some stunning sunset pictures on top of the mountain. As a part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Max Patch is a bald mountain on the North Carolina-Tennessee Border with a stunning view and plenty of wildflowers.

Max Patch Engagement session, couple kissing at sunset — Max Patch Engagement session at sunset

People who know me also know that I am always on time, most likely even a couple minutes early. So, I packed my bags with the equipment the night before. One bag with my camera bodies, one with Martin’s camera body and one with all the lenses. As well as my little picnic basket, a blanket and other knick-knacks. We left early in the morning, grabbed the bags and left with a comfortable two hour buffer. We had a nice breakfast and after four hours we finally arrived 20 minutes early. Just then, Irini texted me that they are there and they parked right next to us. While I was about to greet them Martin was already unpacking our bags.

And then he asked the question that made my entire world shudder.

‘Where is the bag with the lenses?’ Wait, what? I was shocked. I hysterically started to look in the front and in the back – it’s a fairly big bag so there is no way you miss it — it wasn’t there. We had the stupid picnic blanket but no lenses. I became so hysterical, my head started rushing, my body shaking and then there she was. All dressed up, hair and makeup done, a big gorgeous smile on her face. Irini looked stunning and I was literally about to cry. How in the world could this have happened? I hugged her, smiled and had no idea what do to. At that moment I still thought we didn’t have one single lense — which would have been a disaster. I told Irini and Patrick to go inside the coffee shop and relax a little until we figured out the situation.

I looked at Martin with tears in my eyes and there it was!! The 50 mm lens appeared magically in Martin’s hand — the one I knew of other photographers use to shoot an entire wedding with. This little thing made me so happy that I knew my luck was still with me. However, I still asked Martin to go the next Best Buy to get another lens since we had three camera bodies and just one lens. Just so he could snap a couple photographs as well – that was actually the whole reason why he was there 😀 Long story short, I started shooting with the cutest couple and I am just so happy that they were completely understanding. I haven’t been in such an awful situation in a long time and Irini and Patrick made me feel safe. And guess what. It turned out to be one of my most amazing and fun sessions to date. Our locations were perfect, the sunset on Max Patch breathtaking and my couple simply the best. And I am pretty sure I won’t forget my bag of lenses ever again and I can’t wait to shoot their big fat greek wedding next year.