Heather + Jim | Beach Elopement Session in Southern California

Meet the Burho's. They are adorable in every way possible. Their chemistry is incredible and all you have to do is spend 5 minutes with them to see how deeply they love each other. I have known Heather since the old days of working at Wells Fargo. She is one of those people that make you want to hang around them all of the time. She is kind, compassionate, full of love for everyone around her. It had been years since I last saw Heather, and the glow that she had around Jim was unmistakeable....she had found the love of her life.

I love to hear people's love stories, and theirs is one of my favorites. I asked Heather to tell me a bit of their story and she happily obliged. Heather and Jim, I am so happy that you two found each other.....again! Here is their love story as told by Heather.

"Jim and I met in Earth Science in 1998. He was a senior and I was a sophomore...he was definitely the way cooler older guy. We dated for only a few short months before he was off to college. 16 years later, through the magic of social media, he found me on Facebook. We had a quick catch up but I didn't think much of it, I was living in San Diego and he was in Seattle. We agreed to let each other know if we were ever in each other's city; a year later I was headed to Seattle to visit a friend so we agreed to meet for lunch. Jim met my friends and I just outsidethe Space Needle...17 years since the last time we'd seen each other. He looked amazing. Lunch turned into the entire day and part of the next day as well, there was an immediate connection and we had a ton of fun sight seeing and spending time with my girlfriends. When the short weekend was over, he asked if he could come visit me a few weeks later in San Diego and then I gave him a brief kiss goodbye. It was a whirlwind after that. He came to visit twice in the following months and we video chatted everyday we were apart. He moved down to San Diego very shortly thereafter and we just knew this was something special. It felt like he was the missing piece of my life, we just fit together so naturally. At the start of the year, as we finished up a two week trip through Northern AZ, we headed back to San Diego with a stop in Las Vegas..."for lunch". We joked about getting married while we were there and the joking turned more serious. By the end of the evening, we were in a cab headed to the courthouse (after a lot of back and forth and then ring shopping). In the cab, he gave me a letter to read. He had written it the weekend we reconnected in Seattle, it read... "My dearest Heather, today is August 30th, 2015. Two days ago you walked back into my life after having not seen you in more than 15 years. Yesterday, I knew you were the one. Unfortunately, today you live in San Diego a smidge under 1300 miles south of my home in Seattle. This switch won’t flip overnight, naturally, but gears are in motion and I know you are the one I want to share forever with. My slightly hopelessly romantic self thought it would be interesting to keep a journal as we go from here, day 2, until the day I give you this gift, our wedding day. Without further adieu, the journal entries proceed below, in chronological order as they happened. No entries will be modified and the entire rollercoaster ride we’re about to embark on will be recorded here, raw, pure, and unedited so we may look back upon “our story” for years to come. Anyone would think I’m crazy for saying so, but I know I love you and I can’t wait to tell you..." We were married right at midnight on January 2nd in a small chapel in Las Vegas wearing the jeans and flannel shirts we had been wearing all day. It was perfect."

They did not get many photos on their wedding day so we decided to do a fun little beach shoot to celebrate their new life together. They are enjoying every moment together and are about to embark on a BIG adventure around the country. We had a blast doing this session and it was an honor to capture a little bit of their love story on camera.