Brandon + Amanda | Midland Engagement Session

Back in middle school, I met Amanda in band. I knew we needed to be friends when one day as she was putting away her alto sax, she starting singing that odd childhood “This Old Man” song in a strange voice… while staring into the void. There’s someone out there who is as weird as me!? She caught me tilting my head at her and furrowing my brow. After a moment of silence, we both busted out laughing. It was FATE. And so a fruitful friendship began. Once we graduated from high school, we attended different colleges about two hours apart. However, we found our friendship to grow stronger as we faced the transition into adulthood - while still having an absurd amount of fun. Before we knew it, we were graduated from college too and now living 6 hours apart.

Enter, Brandon. Ironically, Amanda and Brandon both attended Michigan Tech for college, yet never crossed paths. Amanda relocated post graduation to work for Dow Chemical. It was in Brandon’s hometown of Midland, MI that they would meet. The rest is history.

When I first met Brandon, I wasn’t so sure. He was pleasant, but seemed a bit reserved and I didn’t get a good read on him. Then I received the Snapchat that totally convinced me. Amanda sent me a video at a festival of some sort. There was a row of outhouses with their doors closed when BAM! One of the doors flung open and out came Brandon dancing zealously to the Macarena.

Yep, they were meant to be soulmates.

For their engagement session, they invited me downstate to visit them in their new home! We began the session with one of Brandon’s beloved cars, “GG” (AKA the Grocery Getter). We drove to the park where Brandon proposed, overlooking the vast industrial Dow landscape.

After the “GG” shenanigans, we headed back home to document a day in the life of Brandon and Amanda as new homeowners prepping to get married in their own backyard! OSHA wouldn’t approve of these photos, so folks, maybe don’t try some of these tactics and antics at home… like sitting in a tractor bucket and trimming tree limbs with a sawzall! Hahaha. However, victory laps for buying your first home with champagne on your ride-on lawnmower? DO IT.

This was SO. MUCH. FUN. Screw the same old Pinterest ideas. Your photos should be all about celebrating YOU. Quirky is AMAZING!

Afterwards, we moved inside for some realtime action of Amanda and Brandon laying out their new hardwood floors!

We made our way back out to the yard while the light of day was still strong. There were still lawn tasks to be tackled, so they fertilized their new grass and moved more things around with their tractor (and of course, made it way more fun than usual).