Jeanine & Leslie || A Durham Central Park Family Engagement

Jeanine and Leslie were referred to us by our awesome friend Gretchen of RedBird Events, who is coordinating their wedding celebration for later this summer. (Jeanine and Leslie got legally married in DE last year, and are now getting wedding'd in wonderfully Durham-y style.) When I first started emailing with Jeanine, we uncovered some uncanny coincidences: She grew up in Hampton Roads (where Mike was stationed for his last five years in the Navy), she coached softball at Lafayette College (which is just a few miles from where Mike and I grew up in the Lehigh Valley), and now we have Durham in common--we're a match made in photographic heaven!

Since Jeanine and Leslie love Durham just as much as we do, they wanted to have their engagement session in a spot that's iconic for the city, and Durham Central Park made perfect sense. Their adorable twin daughters--who turned two the day before our session!--weren't about to get left out, and while they weren't super psyched at having to wait to get ice cream (who would be?), they pranced around, tried to eat some rocks, and snuggled with their mommies and were adorable all the same. (And I mean, their little coordinating outfits? Too much!) We can't wait for more hip cuteness from Jeanine and Leslie's August wedding! In the meantime, enjoy their engagement session images below! (More on Facebook.)

Note from Mike & Kate: Here seems as good a place as any to say, unequivocally, that we are proud and emphatic allies. While we love Durham and much about the Triangle, we think it's stupid that Jeanine and Leslie--and lots of other LGBTQIA folks--had to go outside the place they call home in order to make their marriage official. We aren't particularly fussed about how you structure your relationship, as long as you are cool people and fun to be around! Until the North Carolinian legislature and citizenry gets its collective head out of its collective butt and ratifies some sort of statute to grant same-sex couples what Mike and I (and many other right-thinking folks) conceive as a universal human right, we will continue to support all LGBTQIA dudes in constructing whatever sort of marriage/wedding/commitment/fill-in-the-blank celebration seems most fun and perfect for them. Yay!