Well ~ we missed St. Patty's day by a couple of days on this one ~ but wanted to share it with you guys anyway! From the lovely Lauri at Zoom Photography ... a fantastic engagement session with Jillian and Sean all centered around their mutual love of the Irish!

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Being that Jillian and Sean are both Irish, and after hearing Jillian's cute story about her connection to the Left Bank...we decided to create our love story around everything Ireland..stormy weather, Guiness beer, rainboots and umbrellas, and Jillian's beautiful claddagh ring. And last, I suggested my favorite location at Sutro Beach as I always find it wildly romantic and it has the perfect European flaire. After a SF morning of hail, rain, and thunder...the day cleared away and we had the most amazing and perfectly dramatic sky for our backdrop. {See the whole shoot here!}

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More of this amazing shoot in the SMP Photo Gallery!

Jillian and Sean's story ...

My older brother is Sean’s best friend. I was visiting my brother in Arizona one summer when Sean and I met. We decided to do a long distance relationship. I was in school at Indiana University. The first year of our courtship was spent on the phone and flying back and forth from Arizona and Indiana about every 4-6 weeks. On our one-year anniversary I transferred from Indiana University to Arizona State to be closer to Sean.

On our two year anniversary, Sean asked me to marry him. We spent our anniversary at a romantic hotel in Scottsdale. He led me to the rooftop over looking all of Phoenix/Scottsdale and the city lights. When I opened my eyes there were twinkle lights everywhere, rose petals sprinkled along the floor, my favorite champagne and Sean down on his knee. I of course said yes!

We are getting married May 7, 2011 in St. Helena, California. Sean and I both came from big Irish Catholic families. Both of our mothers are children of 10. We wanted to have a theme to our wedding that represented us. My Grandfather passed away in the spring of 2008. His funeral reception was at the Irish Bank in San Francisco. He would go there everyday and sit at the bar and order a whiskey. Everyone knew him by name. It was his favorite hang out spot. He would have been happy to know Sean and I had our engagement shot there.

We asked Lauri Levenfeld to be our photographer, because she combines artsy with traditional. She made us feel very comfortable right away. She is perfect for us. She really loves what she does and cares about her clients and telling their story.

Our congrats and best wishes to Jillian & Sean ... and a Happy Birthday to Lauri! (just a wee bit late)