I don’t know about you but I love coffee. I mean I loooooooove coffee. If I could, I would marry it! (a lame PeeWee’s joke I know) In addition to running a photography business, I also run a coffee shop. In fact, I have owned and run my coffee shop for twelve years and it’s partly why I started photography, ya know, to start photographing the coffee to post on social media. During the years I’ve had my shop I’ve had several employees and guests who have met their special someone at my coffee shop. I love that! I love hearing stories about how coffee brought people together. So you can only imagine how excited I was when an old barista and his fiance came and asked if I would photograph their wedding!
He was a barista while at school and she was a faithful guest who I recognized had a thing for my barista. I’m pretty protective of my baristas so I was a little leary at first but she won me over with her blueberry donuts and sweet smile. After graduating and a move to the northeast and then back down to the south they decided that it was time to say “I do” but they wanted something simple. As Star Trek fans, she walked down her living room aisle to the Star Trek intro theme song and their wedding cake topper were two of the characters from the series. Lillian and I were stoked! Why? Because we are Trekkies!
After a short family ceremony, they allowed us to drag them all over town for photos, one of which location is my coffee shop where they first met. They enjoyed their latte, which he made! And then they endured the cold windy weather all over downtown with us.
I feel so extremely privileged to hear such heartwarming stories and even more so when I get to be a part of them. Whether they meet at my coffee shop or I’m photographing a wedding, I feel a sense of awe and wonder, how small this world is and how connected we are. I truly believe coffee brings people together, as well as love.
A little more about me. I love coffee, high-quality coffee. I love it when I can talk “coffee” with other people. Whether it’s about where the coffee is grown, how it’s roasted, or just the flavors, I love these conversations and get pretty passionate when talking about it! I normally just drink black coffee with a dash of almond milk but if I’m feeling extra, I’ll get a cortado, which is two shots of espresso with lightly steamed milk in a small 5.5 oz glass tumbler. In the fall, however, I can’t resister a pumpkin spice latte. Call me a basic white girl, but I just love the coziness and the subtle sweet notes in the drink and it’s super fun because I was the one that was able to come up with the recipe to make our pumpkin spice syrup which is all homemade, it’s yummy goodness!
Also, Lillian and I met at the coffee shop! She has her regular drink as well, which we have lovingly called the Lillie, a chilled mocha latte, no ice because she doesn’t believe in mixing ice with milk. It’s pretty common to see us working and chatting at the coffee shop and in fact have a valentine mini session scheduled tomorrow which was inspired by our couple in the photos.
If you ever want a couples session or engagement session involving my coffee shop, I hope you’ll feel free to suggest it, because we are totally down for a caffeinated session. Because lattes are indeed for lovers.
Sincerley, the coffee queen, Cora