Deck the halls!  A romantic, winter engagement in Bethlehem Pennsylvania…

Jennifer was born and raised in Bethlehem, PA.  She shared,”Downtown Bethlehem is THE place to be when it comes to the holiday season.”  For Jennifer & Brian it is even more sentimental as it is the location of their first date, proposal and wedding (at Hotel Bethlehem).
Jenn stated, “We were thrilled to go ‘back to the beginning’ with our engagement session.”  While I love to catch more candid, romantic photos like the opening image, I also really enjoy capturing beautiful, traditional portraits of the couple as well.  I could just imagine this making the perfect Christmas card…

Here Jenn and Brian cross Main Street– I wanted to capture the setting of historic Bethlehem and made sure to fit the brick crosswalk, building and historic streetlamps….

After some time outside, we hopped inside of Hotel Bethlehem to warm up.   You can especially feel the heat in this next photo ;).
The sun was setting on the horizon and  brought that warm glow right through the window…

We hopped back outside and saw that the sky was no longer gold, but purple!
I silhouetted them against the branches of winter trees…

In order to capture all of the Christmas lights, we scheduled to have the majority of their session after dark.  I really wanted to play with some interesting lighting techniques and invited my friend, Jim Heine, to come along and assist.  Here Jim held a light as I snapped a shot using the same exposure above, but this time exposing their faces…
Hotel Bethlehem‘s lobby is decorated by gigantic, sixteen foot Christmas trees flanking either side of the front desk.
The lobby was quite busy with  people checking into the hotel and restaurant, but I composed the photo to look as if they are the only two people there and completely engulfed in the spirit of Christmas. 🙂

When I asked Jenn & Brian what made them choose me to photograph their wedding, Jenn shared, “You were highly recommended by a co-worker of mine. He raved about your professionalism and pure photographic talent. I was immediately impressed with your friendly, professional demeanor and your photos that specifically captured at Hotel Bethlehem…. We were more than impressed with what we saw!”
I love getting creative and finding beauty in unexpected places.  This was captured in a puddle in the parking lot :).  I really liked the blue color…

Jenn shared, “Brian and I realized pretty early on that we were on the same page with all of the ‘important stuff’.” She mentioned the importance of family to both of them as well as their shared Christian values.  It was a real bonus having the same favorite sports teams, too! 😉
Moravian Stars are an icon of Bethlehem and a nod to its historic roots.  I knew I wanted to capture these during Jenn & Brian’s engagement session.  We were looking for classic Moravian stars in a shop window and walked along the entrance to the Moravian Bookshop.  Bone Appetit generously allowed us to use their window.
I think this really captures that cozy, holiday feeling well… Jennifer shared their engagement story, “I didn’t see it coming!   We met at the Brew Works for a quick drink, then cut through the Sun Inn courtyard to where Brian had pretended to park. Two gentlemen sat puffing on their stogies. I tried hurrying Brian along, in an effort to avoid the smoke, and couldn’t figure out why he was taking his good old time reminiscing about our relationship. In fact, it wasn’t until he reached into his pocket that I finally understood what was happening. He proposed at the very spot we had our first date. The surprise and shock was intense to say the least, but could not imagine a more perfect experience, cigar smoke and all!!!
Here is my favorite photograph from their engagement session– it kind of wraps up the entire romantic holiday evening feeling in one single photo.  It could totally be an add for Musselman’s Jewelers engagement rings, haha!

Jenn & Brian, thanks for introducing us to some of your favorite places in Bethlehem!  Kris and I are eagerly anticipating photographing your Hotel Bethlehem wedding in September!  Happy Holidays!!!