Krohn Conservatory Cincinnati Engagement

IT’S BEEN AWHILE  since I’ve been to the Krohn Conservatory in Cincinnati until this past December when I ventured there to photograph an engagement session. What a delight to a photographer’s eye and sensibilities. The diffused sunshine through the glass panels make for the perfect soft light. And the variety of plant life gives a sense of energy and definition to the environment. What a fit for Brad and Christine, who both love being in the outdoors. In fact, if they could get married on a mountainside with their friends an family, they would. Even though Cincinnati is pretty hilly, mountains there are not. The greenhouse in December offered the next best thing. Brad works in the Controlled Environmental Agriculture business (i.e. greenhouses on large scales) and Kristine loves to grow flowers. They have lots of plants growing at their home. Kristine grows the flowers and Brad grows the trees and other plants. Krohn Conservatory was the perfect place for them. 

Perfect Beginnings

CHRISTINE, A FIRST GRADE TEACHER in an urban school in Cincinnati, met Brad online. He contacted her shortly before he was leaving to climb Mt. Rainier in Washington state and they planned a date for when (and if!) he returned. Luckily Brad made it back from his adventures, and they decided to met at a local wine bar. Great conservation and good wine took them to Over-the-Rhine. The rest is history. He asked Christine to marry him one day on a walk in Ault Park in Cincinnati. They walked through the woods toward the stone pavilion that overlooks the gardens. And as they observed remnants from a previous wedding in the park, Brad told Christine he was happy he met her and how his life was better for it. (Romantic, right?) They had been walking around for 45 minutes when Christine mentioned to him she was getting hungry. But Brad kept changing the subject. He casually said, “Let’s just wait until the sun goes down.” She sighed. And as the sun was setting behind the trees, he asked her to marry him.

Ironically, the conservatory displayed a model of the Taft Museum of Art where Brad and Christine will be married in the fall.   

Indoor Agriculture and Irrigation Systems

Brad is an engineer that helps others apply technology for a more sustainable/energy efficient agriculture tomorrow. While growing up, he was exposed to indoor agriculture with garden plants being propagated indoors and later transplanted into prepared beds. His love of all things plants followed him into his academic course work where his capstone project was an off grid irrigation system powered by solar panels. As we walked through the conservatory together, his passion for a variety of plant life and appreciation of the conservatory architecture was not only apparent but also provided me with a new outlook and understanding of what we were seeing.

Brad and Christine, thank you for asking me to be a part of such a special story. I can’t wait until the fall! xoxo