Carrie Joy + Tanner // A Birthday Session

This session right here pretty much sums up the beauty of the internet. For all its annoyances and frustrations (helloooo, Facebook procrastination!), it has enabled me to connect with people I might not have ever met otherwise. Carrie Joy is one of those people. She’s a photographer who lives in the Atlanta area, but we began emailing back and forth and following each other’s work awhile back. She second shot Laura and Bryant’s Pine Mountain wedding with me (where we gorged on amazing food and flipped out over how charming that town is) and has since visited me in Birmingham a couple of times. (Last time I introduced her to the magic of Amelié over a bottle of white wine, and since we both love all things French, needless to say, it was a hit.)

So when she emailed to say that she and her husband Tanner wanted to plan a trip to Birmingham for her birthday last month, and that she wanted me to do some photos of the two of them to celebrate (and for her to use for her soon-to-be-revealed rebranding), I was all over it. She told me her new colors were going to be turquoise, mustard yellow, and watermelon red and asked for input for locations, and the first place that popped into my mind was my very favorite local lunch spot, O’Carr’s. (My friend Kelly and I eat lunch there together seriously once a week. And we don’t need menus because they know we’re getting the chicken salad and fruit plate every single time. haha.) Anyway, the colors of their chairs are exactly what CJ had in mind, and when I sent her photos to see what she thought, she LOVED it because it also reminded her of a hole-in-the-wall French café. We had a killing-two-birds-with-one-stone situation on our hands. :) So we met there for lunch (where we were also treated to a slice of their famous hot chocolate cheesecake as a thanks for bringing in out-of-towners… gah, I LOVE the South), and as the crowd cleared out, we seized the opportunity for a few photos. We then spent the rest of the afternoon hitting up a couple of my other favorite Bham spots, Pepper Place and Steel City Pops, and ended up at the botanical gardens as the sun was beginning to set. It was perfect!

These two are ridiculously cute together, and I hope you enjoy this peek into our day! I love my friends, and I love my city!