Castles + Vineyards: Charlottesville Adventures with Meredith

You’re going to be seeing a LOT of this girl throughout the rest of the summer! I can’t believe a year ago Meredith wasn’t a part of my life. Over these past six months or so of texting and the few times we’ve gotten to hang out, she feels like a best friend I have known for forever!! She is such a blessing to me and so encouraging and just a great accountability partner, even if she doesn’t realize it! Last week she invited me to a meetup for Charlottesville area wedding vendors held at Pippin Hill Farms + Vineyard! I have always wanted to shoot a wedding at Pippin Hill, so seeing it in person was so much fun! I also got to meet a few really amazing wedding creatives (like Josh Gooden and Serena of Love by Serena) and see some other photographer friends again like Annamarie Akins and Aaron Mallory! It was such a fun evening between the gorgeous view of the mountains and watching the craziest summer thunderstorm roll in over the hills. It was breathtaking! It only rained for 10 minutes or so and then there was a DOUBLE rainbow stretching over Pippin Hill! It was soo gorgeous! Just one of those evenings you never forget because everything felt so unreal. Definitely going to be one of my favorite memories from summer 2014 for sure! :)

Meredith and I met up outside of the city to do some exploring! She took me to Chile’s Peach Orchard first… and if taking pictures in the orchard wasn’t awesome enough, we got to try some delicious peach cidar… soo good!

Isn’t she stunning?! So photogenic!

I love this image on the right because it was kind of an accident but it’s so reflective of the photographer lifestyle with the camera bag on the groun and camera in hand and the concentration on her face. Idk. I just liked it :)

Then she took me to Swananoa, an abandoned old mansion built in the 1800s… it was so. cool.

And then after some socializing and storm watching at Pippin Hill, we finally gave in to the temptation to leave the party and take some pictures at this gorgeous place. Wedding portraits here would be to DIE for!

Next week Meredith and I head off to Elkhart, Indiana for a week in the Midwest!! I’m SO excited to show her around where I grew up and the Elkhart County 4-H Fair that happens every summer! It’s one of my favorite summer memories and places to be! And you KNOW there are going to be a ton of pictures taken next week with the both of us being photographers… probably going to need a blog post dedicated to each individual day ;) As long as my Mark III gets back from repairs in time!!! Fingers crossed + praying so hard!! Life feels so empty without my camera…! At least I have some backlogged pictures like today’s to play with and share :)