Sun-Soaked Spokane Love Story

I’m a sucker for a good love story. In fact… I’m a sucker for love in general.

LGBTQ Couples session - Cute lesbian couple dancing in a field - Spokane Couple's Photographer

I’ve been “home” (where I grew up, in Florida) editing this sun-soaked Spokane love story. I tend to edit at the desk in my studio with old episodes of Friends, The Office, HIMYM, or SVU playing in the background. (Dane calls me Olivia whenever I solve a mystery around the house- which is often.) It has to be something dialogue-heavy that I’ve seen enough not to ever have to look up. This week, though, I’m in my old house, my parents have a comfy couch, and I’m feeling nostalgic. So I’ve decided to re-watch Grey’s Anatomy in the background as I edit.

Sun-soaked Spokane Love Sesh | Mindy Arnholt PhotographySpokane Couples Photographer - Same sex couple's posing - LGBTQ photographer

The other night, I was finishing the final edits to Anna & Bailey’s couple’s session and a song stopped me in my tracks. It took me back in time to when I first fell in love with this show in college, in large part because of the soundtrack.

Same sex session posing | Spokane Photographer - Mindy Arnholt Photography

Instead of continuing to edit, I just went back and let myself scroll through this sun-soaked, love-fest of a couple’s session, listening to the unbelievably simple yet uncomparably moving lyrics of Rosie Thomas’ “I Let Myself Fall”. When I asked them to send me the details of the “moment” they “knew”, I went back and played the song for myself again. How simple. How perfect. How life-changing. That moment when you let yourself fall and everything else just falls into place.

Spokane Fall Couple's Session | Mindy Arnholt Cute Couple wrapped up in a scarf- Spokane Fall Couple's Session | Mindy Arnholt

Here’s how they describe falling in love.

Anna: “I was fresh out of a relationship and not looking to get into anything serious when Bailey and I first started talking (via instagram). She asked me to hang out quite a few times and I kept telling her it was just bad timing. At one point I woke up and remember thinking it was silly of me not to just hang out with her at the very least. So I came to my senses and asked her if we could meet up in downtown Spokane during her lunch break. I honestly think from the moment that I saw her in person I knew she was different. She has a presence unlike anyone I have ever known and I knew at that moment I didn’t want to miss out on this opportunity. We’ve been pretty much inseparable since that day.”

Couple's photography spokane | Mindy Arnholt Photographer

Bailey: “A couple months after Anna and I started dating, I took a weekend trip to Mexico with one of my best friends. We had one wild night filled with dancing, tacos and lots of tequila. I remember calling Anna to tell her I loved her. I wanted her to know because life is short and on the very rare chance something would happen to me, I wanted her to know how much she meant to me. I’m sure the liquid courage played a small part, BUT I had been wanting to say it for quite some time. I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders because I had felt that way since the very beginning. I knew from the moment I met her that I was going to fall in love with her. And I allowed myself to.”

Spokane Fall Couple's Session | Mindy Arnholt

Cute lesbian couple - sun soaked couple's session | Mindy Arnholt Photo

When I met them Bailey told me, “It’s still new-ish. But I’m going to marry her.”

Spokane Same Sex Couple's Session | Mindy Arnholt Photography

Spokane Same Sex Couple's Session | Mindy Arnholt Photography

My favorite line of the song, (and the one the I will think of every time I look at these pictures) is:

“Now I picture things
Wedding gowns and wedding rings
Since I let myself fall in love with you.”

 

PNW couples photography | Spokane Photographer

If you don’t know the song– you should. I Let Myself Fall

 

Spokane Love Story | Mindy Arnholt Photography | LGBTQ Photography

Mindy Arnholt is a Spokane-based photographer specializing in maternity, birth, newborn and family photography. 

WELCOME

Hi! I’m Mindy- and I’m overly excited that you’re here. The truth is, I still wake up and write “I’m grateful to have turned photography into a ‘real’ job” in my gratitude journal at least 2-3 times a week. After seven years, it’s still hard for me to believe it’s real. It just makes me all swirly inside to believe that I get to make a living doing the thing that I love.  And it’s ONLY because people like you pop over to this site and decide to trust me with capturing your family that I get to do it. So seriously… thank you.