May 6, 2019

Alexis + Shelby’s Bozeman Engagement Session

I’ll set the scene for how this Bozeman, Montana engagement session first came to be. There I was lying in bed, maybe close to midnight earlier this year; I heard my phone buzz twice, which I know means I just got a message or inquiry through Honeybook (because it buzzes once through the Honeybook app and once for the email I get to my Outlook). I rolled over to see what it said and screamed and bolted up in bed when I saw the name of the person inquiring: ALEXIS SAGASTUME. I went to high school with Alexis and graduated with his now fiance Shelby (we also lived on the same dorm floor in college!) so I knew when I saw his name pop up he had either just proposed or was planning to. After I calmed down and read the message, I learned that he was planning to propose within the next month, but wanted to see if I was available to shoot their engagement photos when they were out in Bozeman, one of their very favorite places, for Shelby’s cousin’s graduation. I was sworn to secrecy because no one else knew he was planning to propose soon (not even Shelby’s family!!) and we started planning some initial details and then waited to plan the rest for when Shelby had the ring on her finger.

Flash forward a few months and I was on a plane from Cedar Rapids to Denver to Bozeman to meet them for their session. They picked me up from the airport (how sweet!?) and we headed to our AirBnb and stayed up way too late eating pizza, planning our route for the engagement session on the map of the Bozeman area, and catching up/laughing about memories from high school.

The next morning, we headed out and spent the day exploring and taking photos through all the beautiful scenes of the area. We stopped at the side of the road near the Gallatin River, Big Sky, and West Yellowstone and finished up at Cliff and Wade Lakes near sundown. We also took a mid-shoot break to get lunch and a few drinks at the coolest little mountain town called Ennis. They took me to a distillery they had been to the year before—Willie’s Distillery—and I tried two of the best cocktails I’ve ever had. One was a strawberry margarita with their own jalapeño-pineapple-infused moonshine (yum) and the other was cream soda mixed with their Huckleberry Sweet Cream Liqueur (even bigger yum).

After we finished up at Cliff and Wade, we headed back to Bozeman and finished the night soaking at the Bozeman Hot Springs. I seriously couldn’t have asked for a better time out there and can’t thank Shelby and Alexis enough for letting me third wheel them at the end of their trip. Scroll down to see my favorites from their session and stay tuned for round two next May for their wedding at Rapid Creek Cidery in Iowa City!