Aviation, Intention, and Intimacy in Amanda and Jordan’s Engagement Story

Amanda and Jordan Met While Learning to Fly. Their Engagement Session Was Always Going to Be at the Hangar.

Jordan was the flight instructor. Amanda was the student. Somewhere between takeoffs and landings, something clicked. That is the whole origin story and it is a good one.

So when it came time to do their engagement session, going anywhere else would have felt wrong. They went back to the hangar where it all started. Keila Bottiglieri of Abby Jiu Photography was there to document it.

On the approach

Engagement sessions live or die based on one thing: whether the couple actually feels like themselves. The ones that fall flat are the ones where you can tell two people are performing the idea of being in love rather than just being in love. The ones that work are the ones where the setting means something and the photographer knows when to get out of the way.

Amanda and Jordan had the setting handled. A hangar is not a typical choice and that is exactly what made it right. The planes, the light, the specific smell of aviation fuel and metal, all of it was theirs. The space already held their story before anyone lifted a camera.

Keila's job was to show up with as little agenda as possible. No stiff posing. No overplanned shot list. Just the two of them back in the place where they first figured out they were meant to be together, moving through it naturally while she watched for the moments worth keeping.

The 35mm moment

The session ended with something that became everyone's favorite part. Keila handed Jordan a 35mm film camera and asked him to take a few photos of Amanda.

It sounds like a small thing. It was not. There is a specific quality to the way someone looks when they are being seen by the person who loves them most. It is different from being seen by a photographer, however skilled. Keila knew that and created the conditions for it to happen.

The images that came from that moment are the ones Amanda and Jordan will look at in thirty years and still feel something. Not because they are the most technically impressive frames from the session but because they are the most honest. That is what a film camera in the hands of someone in love does. It removes every layer of performance and leaves only the thing itself.

On engagement sessions generally

We get asked a lot whether engagement sessions are worth doing. The honest answer is that it depends entirely on what you want from them. If you want save the date photos that look like save the date photos, maybe not. If you want an hour or two to get comfortable with your photographer before the wedding, to figure out how to move together, to take the pressure off the day itself, absolutely yes.

What makes an engagement session worth doing is having a location that actually means something to you. A random park is fine. A place that holds your story is something else entirely. Amanda and Jordan had that and it showed in every frame.