Murphy’s Law was definitely at play for Renae and Shamus’s Longwood Garden’s Engagement Session. Their shoot was originally supposed to be this past Sunday, but we moved it to Saturday to try to avoid the rainstorms they were calling for that day. We also noticed that Longwood Gardens had longer hours on Saturday, so we would be able to utilize “the golden hours” for photography and start the shoot at 5:30 p.m.

Well, somehow on Saturday, it started raining anyway! I couldn’t believe it, but I knew we could handle some light rain, no big deal. I arrived at Longwood ten minutes early, and the couple texted to say they were running late… okay, no biggie. Then just before they arrived, I noticed A LOT of people leaving the park, and even though I knew it could have been because of the rain, I went in to double check the hours anyway. Apparently, those “late” hours were for AFTER May 27, and the park was closing at 6pm! I texted the couple and we both started brainstorming. The only other location they had been considering for the shoot was Valley Forge Park, which was estimated to be 20 minutes away. We decided to move the shoot there.

After an already 20-minute late-start, we headed over to Valley Forge, and instead of taking 20 minutes to get there, it took 45! It wasn’t even due to traffic, that was just how far it was. That put us at almost 7 p.m. by the time we started shooting, and the dark rain clouds combined with the late hours meant I had to use flash to get any kind of quality pictures. Now, I LOVE the look of flash, but without an assistant, it is SO time consuming to set up, tweak to just the right settings, and take down for every new shot. On top of that, the park was so large we couldn’t walk from one location to the next, and the drive was 5-10 minutes from one spot to the next. We literally got to two different spots within the location. We tried for a third, but by then it was pitch black out and way too dark to shoot outdoors. I took about 1/3 the number of pictures I usually do. When I got home, I knew Renae was upset about missing out on Longwood, so I did something I’ve never offered to do before in my career:

Go back the next day and shoot at Longwood for a little under an hour…

Longwood was gorgeous, but very crowded. It was an interesting challenge to try to get images without other people in them, but I think we did pretty well overall.

Not to be left out, the photos from Valley Forge Park came out really nice as well. Shamus was pretty shy, but such a sweet guy when you get to know him a little. He and Renae have been together for five years and make such an adorable couple!

To Renae and Shamus, with everything that happened, I really commend you for being so absolutely awesome throughout the entire ordeal. As frustrated as we all were on Saturday, we somehow managed to keep the mood light and positive, and not only was that a deciding factor in my decision to offer the next-day hour, it really shows in the pictures. You are both, overall, really good people, and I’m so glad you found each other. I feel privileged to be shooting your wedding!