The night before our session, Mariel sent me a message: What if it rains tomorrow?

I told her the truth. If they didn't mind getting a little wet, I'd actually love it — overcast skies, soft light, the whole moody thing. And if they'd rather stay dry, we could always reschedule. No pressure either way. She appreciated the honesty. And as it turned out, the forecast had nothing to worry about. Just clouds. The good kind.

That's a pretty good summary of how Mariel operates, actually: she thinks ahead, she asks the right questions, and then she shows up ready.

Ryan holding Mariel's hand up, engagement ring visible, both looking at each other from above in a low-angle frame — Photo by Love Story By Aira Photography

Why April, When the Wedding Is in October 2027

Mariel and Ryan are getting married in October 2027 — which means they had time. A lot of couples wait until closer to the wedding to book their engagement session, but Mariel wasn't interested in waiting. She wanted spring. Specifically, she wanted green — the kind that's lush and easy and hasn't been flattened yet by summer heat.

And she was right to want that.

There's a practical reason most couples book their engagement session eight to twelve months before the wedding: the photos actually do things. They go on the wedding website, get printed on save-the-dates, become the image that greets guests at the welcome board on the wedding day. Having those photos ready early means less scrambling later. But beyond logistics, an engagement session is also just a good thing to do for yourselves. It's time you carved out — from work, from planning, from every other thing competing for your attention — to just be together and be photographed. A morning that's only about the two of you.

Mariel understood all of this intuitively. That's why we were standing in Kentlands Green on a cloudy April morning, a full year and a half before the wedding.

Ryan kissing Mariel from above as she leans back on the bench, brick townhomes with a red door in the background

Ryan leaning down to kiss Mariel as she sits on a bench, brick townhomes and a spring tree overhead at Kentlands Green

The Location: A Park They Keep Coming Back To

When I first talked to Mariel and Ryan about where they wanted to shoot, I sent them a range of options — indoor, outdoor, natural landscape, urban. I mentioned, as I always do, that I'm genuinely happy to go anywhere. Because the location is just the backdrop. The people in the frame are what make the photograph.

They came back with Kentlands Green — a community park in Gaithersburg about twenty minutes from where they live. A place they've been to many times, a place that felt familiar and easy. Not somewhere chosen for aesthetics. Somewhere chosen because it was theirs.

I love that answer every time I get it.

I arrived forty minutes early and walked the neighborhood on my own. Community green in the center, spring flowers coming in along the paths, a row of charming brick townhouses that the light hit just right. Near the Art Barn on one side, I found a sloped ramp with iron railings — the kind of spot that photographs beautifully and looks completely natural because it is. I was already mapping the route in my head: where we'd start, how we'd move, which backgrounds to save for when they were more comfortable in front of the camera. The goal, as always, is to use every good spot without backtracking, without making them walk more than they need to, without letting the logistics show.

How the Session Actually Felt

We started easy. A starting position — just the two of them, sitting together on a bench by the open green, figuring out where to put their hands, remembering that I exist. This is normal. Almost everyone feels a little stiff at the beginning of a session. I don't rush it.

What I do instead is add small movements. Lean in. Look at her. Now look away. Not directions toward a pose — more like permission to keep moving. And slowly, without really noticing it, they stopped performing and started just being. Ryan's hand finding the small of Mariel's back. Mariel laughing at something he said under his breath. The ring catching the light between them.

We moved through the park — the open green, the bench near the brick townhouses, the trees that were just full enough with spring leaves to give real shade and texture. I kept my camera up the whole time. The in-between moments are usually the best ones: them walking side by side, her hand in his, neither of them looking at me.

The couple’s kiss reflected in a white-framed window on the brick wall of the Art Barn

Mariel laughing with her head thrown back in front of the brick Art Barn

Ryan smiling toward Mariel in the foreground, shot through a blurred foreground near the Art Barn ramp

Mariel and Ryan talking and laughing on the ramp outside the Art Barn

The Detour That Made the Session

About three quarters of the way through, I asked if there was anywhere else they'd been thinking about. Ryan mentioned that Inspiration Lake was just across the street. They'd been there before, loved the water, the wooden bridge that crossed it.

I said let's go. We went.

The walk over was its own thing. I didn't put the camera down. Them crossing the street together, arms around each other, unhurried — those walking frames have a quality that you simply can't manufacture by asking two people to walk toward you for the camera. They were just going somewhere they wanted to go.

At the lake, they leaned against the wooden bridge with the water behind them and a sky full of clouds overhead. Ryan kissed her. I was maybe ten feet away. Nobody was thinking about me.

Mariel and Ryan kissing beside the wooden bridge at Inspiration Lake, Kentlands Green Gaithersburg — Photo by Love Story By Aira Photography

The Last Few Frames

It was around eleven when we drifted toward the tree line on the far side of the green. The clouds were still there, but the sun had started finding gaps in the canopy — the kind of light that falls in pieces through spring leaves and lands on people's faces in a way that you can't plan for, only wait for.

They stood under the trees together, and I watched. Mariel tilted her head back slightly. Ryan held her hands between his. It was quiet.

When we wrapped up, Mariel turned to me and said: That went so fast. It felt so easy.

That's the goal. Not just good photos — though I hope these are — but a morning that felt worth having. Something closer to going for a walk with the person you love than standing still while someone tells you where to look. An engagement session should feel like an activity you'd have done anyway. Just with a photographer who knows to stay out of the way.

The couple leaning against a tree trunk side by side, looking in opposite directions, holding hands — Photo by Love Story By Aira Photography

A Note If You're Thinking About Booking Yours

If you're engaged and on the fence about whether to do an engagement session — here's my honest take: do it. Do it early, before the wedding planning takes over every spare thought. Do it somewhere that actually means something to you, not just somewhere that looks impressive. And don't worry about whether you're photogenic, or whether you'll feel awkward.

Don't know what to do at first? That's fine. Nobody does. It gets easier faster than you think.

Mariel and Ryan's October 2027 wedding is still well over a year away. But they already have photos that tell their story — the park they went, their spring, their hands, their ring, the quiet moment under the trees. That's not a small thing.

If you're planning a wedding in Maryland and you want an engagement session that feels easy, real, and completely yours — let's talk.