Happy Valentine's Day

Ahhhh... Valentine's Day. The day created to give us all the chance to tell our significant others how much they mean to us with boxes of chocolates, cards, teddy bears, or quite possibly an engagement.

Valentine's Day is all about the reds, the pinks, the gifts, the kisses, the hand-holding...

the love.

My significant other and I decided to celebrate Valentine's Day all week this week. It sounds incredibly cute, I know, but in reality, we just did not want the hassle of going out on actual Valentine's Day.

On Monday we went out to dinner at Joe's Crab Shack. It's where we went on our first big date. It's where we went to celebrate a year later. It's where we went when I got my new job. It's our place.

On Wednesday we went out to Olive Garden with Jeremy's family to celebrate the day of love. Jeremy's family rarely goes out to eat, so it's always a special occasion when we all go together.

Tonight I will get home, Jeremy and I will exchange cards (we agreed to not get each other gifts, but rather save up our money to buy a house hopefully this year), and we will sit down to watch a movie. I'm voting for When Harry Met Sally, as I have never seen it, but have been wanting to for quite a while. He hasn't cast a vote yet, so we will see what happens when I get home :)

Romantic comedy (or just romance) is one of my favorite genres of movies. I love love. I love the cheesy stories, I love realizing that I have my own cheesy love story, and I just love the happy, stupid feeling you get from watching those movies.

So... to celebrate Valentine's Day, here are some photos of couples I have shot throughout my years as a photographer, accompanied by some of my favorite romantic movie quotes (some are from novels)!

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return." 

Film: Moulin Rouge

​Author: Eden Ahbez

"When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible." 

Film: When Harry Met Sally

Author: Nora Ephron

"You had me at hello."

Film: Jerry Maguire

Author: Cameron Crowe

"You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how."

Film: Gone With the Wind

Author: Margaret Mitchell

"It was a million tiny little things that, when you added them all up, they meant we were supposed to be together... and I knew it. I knew it the very first time I touched her. It was like coming home... only to no home I'd ever known... I was just taking her hand to help her out of a car and I knew. It was like... magic."

Film: Sleepless in Seattle

Author: Nora Ephron

"So it's not going to be easy. It's gonna be really hard. We're gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, you and me, every day."

Film: The Notebook

Author: Nicholas Sparks

"If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."

Film: Love Actually

Author: Richard Curtis