Engaged couple Poppy and Sarah ventured into the idyllic fields of Alabama to capture their love before their wedding.
Poppy and Sarah met in 2006 at their local Target. They quickly became close and maintained a good friendship for a number of years. While they each led separate lives for a period of time, there was a fateful day in 2011 that proved to be the first day of the rest of their lives. Poppy invited Sarah to Birmingham to celebrate her birthday, and while at dinner, they both came to the realization that they were in love with one another. The rest is history.
From Jennifer, their photographer:
Poppy and Sarah are two amazing women and have one of the sweetest and strongest relationships that I have ever seen. Just from the short amount of time we have spent together and seeing their posts on Facebook about each other, it is very obvious that these two are crazy about each other! They also know how to have a great time and are constantly laughing. Their love is joyous and infectious.
From Poppy:
We met in Daphne, AL in 2006 at the local Target. I was 17 and Sarah was 21. The first sentence I ever said to her was “Hello, my name is Poppy. We should start a relationship”. Her response? “You are wayyyyyyyy too young and I have a girlfriend.” In my innocence, I had meant “let’s start a friendship” but obviously the phrase can be (and was) taken multiple ways. After Sarah realized that I was normal and not a crazy, we started a strong friendship. During this time I always had a crush on her (It was that whole “crush on the older boy that always gave you butterflies but was way too cool and old to be with you” type of crush). Shortly after our friendship started, I left for college and came back to work during the holidays. Every time I drove home to visit my family, I would stop in to Target first to say hello to Sarah. By this time, she was engaged to her girlfriend and my thoughts of us being together one day had flown away. It was bittersweet but her happiness always came first.
We never lost our friendship throughout the years. It didn’t matter if we talked every day or stopped talking for months. The best way I can describe it is the feeling you get when you come home after a long trip. Every time we talked, I felt that same feeling you feel when you sit on your couch on a Sunday morning watching cartoons in your pajamas while eating your favorite cereal (curled up in a blanket of course!). Life took its course and we both led our lives separately. She went on to marry a girl that she dated for a few years and I went on to have my crazy college party days. Every once in a while, we would check in on each other and resume our normal conversations. In July of 2011 we both found ourselves at a very interesting point in our lives. We both found ourselves single and looking for anything but a relationship. Since Sarah was newly single, I invited her to Birmingham to celebrate her birthday weekend. When she arrived, we had plans to ‘hit the town’ and have a crazy night. Instead of going out on the town, we went to dinner by ourselves. The entire time we were at dinner, we could not wipe the grins off of our faces. It was truly a moment out of a fairy tale. This woman that was sitting in front of me was my soul mate. It was one of those moments where I had to pinch myself because I realized that I was in love with my best friend. Two years later, that feeling has never faded. I firmly believe that in her eyes, I am the sexiest, smartest, sweetest woman alive. She drives me to be the person that I am and I am incredibly lucky that she allows me to call her mine.
Photos: j.woodbery photography
