The sweet smell of lavender rose into the mountain air and over the acres and acres of farm land.  It had been one year since my younger sister Ali married the man of her dreams and they had picked the perfect location for their one year anniversary photo session. As we pulled up to Mountain Farm, a lavender farm in beautiful Asheville, North Carolina, Nathan took Ali by the hand and pulled her into the rows and rows of deep purple fields.  As the sun slowly started to set behind the blue peaks in the distance, I captured their many laughs, smiles, and obvious love that I believe is even stronger today than one year ago when they said “I do”.  After their one year anniversary session, Ali described the experience like this:

“I may have been just as excited to celebrate my one-year anniversary with my husband as I was to marry him on our wedding day. I knew I wanted to do a one-year anniversary photo shoot with my husband to document what our first year of marriage has been like for us. Although I am currently in law school and my husband works long hours as a coach at a sports performance facility, our first year as a married couple has been magical and I wanted our photos to reflect that. When I stumbled upon Mountain Farm’s quaint and fairy-tale like lavender fields among rolling hills hidden in North Carolina’s mountains, I knew it would be the perfect spot. As the sun was setting, I could not help but reflect on what a blessed first year we have had together. I continue to love my husband more and more every day and I know we will always cherish the memories we have made during our first year of marriage.”

I couldn’t wait to share Ali and Nathan’s gorgeous one year anniversary photo session at this pretty lavender farm in Asheville, North Carolina!  Enjoy a few of my favorites below!

The sweet couple that lives at Mountain Farms has been there for years and years!  They were kind enough to allow us to have the lavender fields to ourselves for Ali and Nathan’s one year anniversary photo session.

Ali and Nathan are high school sweethearts.  They dated long distance through college, Nathan in Tennessee and Ali in Georgia.  They moved to Charlotte, North Carolina after they were married last June.

Ali is entering her final year of law school and Nathan is working towards his masters.  Even though they are studying a lot, they still find time to play tennis, go on hikes, and cook together on weekends.

We arrived at Mountain Farms the day before their annual lavender festival.  Needless to say the fields were gorgeous!

LOVE.

At sunset, Ali and Nathan sipped on blueberry lemonade and cut into the pretty top of their one year old wedding cake!  They admitted it was not as delicious as it was last year.  🙂

Cheers to many more happy years together!

Ali put together all the details for her and Nathan’s one year anniversary session.  She actually made this “1 year” sign herself!

After their picnic, Ali and Nathan cuddled up to look through their wedding album.  They couldn’t believe it had already been one year!

This law book and resistance training book were so appropriate in telling Ali and Nathan’s story as this couple spent much of their first year of marriage studying.

I will end with this lovely photograph of Ali and Nathan walking through the lavender field right after sunset.  Congratulations you two!  I wish you many more happy years together in the future.