Brett and I were so excited when we found out we would be shooting Mallory and Anthony’s wedding at the Cincinnati Zoo. We are HUGE fans of our zoo (go Cincy!), and the photo possibilities are just endless there.

Mallory and Anthony wanted their engagement session there as well. Why you might ask would they want all this zoo goodness? Well, for a couple reasons. If you are from Cincy, you know every spring they always talk about “The Zoo Babies.” (Insert commercial from the 80’s of zoo animals with James Taylor singing, “Smiling Face.” Remember?) Well as Brett said, Mallory is an original “zoo baby.” Her mother has worked there since before Mallory was born, and basically Mallory has spent her entire life running around and growing up at the zoo. (No, she does not act like a monkey, but she can answer any question about ANY animal there.) Also, she and Anthony both worked and met there. So you can see they have major history here, and it is oh so special to celebrate this next chapter in there life in such a beautiful setting. (WE CAN’T WAIT FOR THIS WEDDING!!!)

Here are some of our favorites from the session. It was a very beautiful but hot night. Luckily we were there after hours and Mallory’s mom escorted us around in a golf cart so we didn’t have to walk. We got the royal treatment. :)

The Cincinnati Zoo has such amazing gardens.

It was only like 95 degrees and sticky, sticky humid out so we decided go into the plant conservatory. If you have ever been in one you know they are HUMID (like you feel wet walking in) and it actually was cooler to us because of how hot it was outside! Since we were there at the zoo after hours, the Macaws were not very pleased we were interrupting their down time. They were CRAZY loud.

My angle of shooting….

Brett’s Macaw eye view. :) We both love this shot.

The cute carousel at the zoo. Mallory chose the hummingbird.

Ok, so I asked about shooting in the bamboo, and Mallory said that was always a favorite place for her growing up. WE WENT A LITTLE NUTS. The lighting, the bamboo…as my pal Bobbi would say, “Are you kidding me??!!” It was perfect. Like I could have done the whole session there.

My favorite.

Brett’s favorite….

As the sun was going down we went over by this huge, beautiful tree. I have an absolute crazy love for trees. Anthony told us it was an Oak that was probably about 500 years old.

Another favorite. It is so evident how much these two are in love. They are just so sweet with each other.

To close the evening we worked in Anthony’s one request…an Ohio State jersey shot next to the Buckeye tree. (It’s that little tree to the left of them.) Anthony is a major Ohio State fan.

Thanks guys for a wonderful evening. You two are awesome. We are excited for October wedding, and I know it going to be just beautiful. :)

We don’t normally take on large family group shots, but when our past client Jenny asked us to do one to document her family for her Grandmother’s birthday, we obliged. Lucky us, all **26** of us, that we chose the ABSOLUTE HOTTEST day of the summer. At least it felt that way. But despite the hot and humid sticky mess, this family really did quite well, with very little complaining. When they first walked up we did have one family member make an offer of $100 in cash if we could get it done in 5 minutes!!

If you have followed the blog for a while you may remember Jenny and Marty’s ADORABLE little red head’s from last fall. They have gotten bigger, and are cuter than ever!!

Here’s the whole family:

Here’s their goofiness (some of you could use some goofiness lessons!!!)

Pretty Hannah with her Uncle.

Here is precious little Molly with her Mama.

Molly and Sophia.

My favorite shot of the day!! I LOVVVVE Sophia’s face so much as she “explains” how to properly blow bubbles to her little sister. (Have to say, it reminds me of myself a bit.) :)