We decided to do a session giveaway for a location that we’d been eyeing for quite some time. Charleston is obviously known for downtown and its beaches, but not as much for its open, grassy fields. Ever since we moved to the Charleston area though, we have driven past this big, beautiful field almost everyday and have been trying to convince people to have their session there, but it’s hard to compete with Rainbow Row.

So we went to the Gram and asked our friends and followers to nominate someone in the local community and tell us why they thought this person should win a free session. That’s where Mary Kate and Mike come in to the story.

Our friend Kemia told us how they had just gotten back to the United States from Kenya — on the exact day that travel in and out of the U.S. shutdown for COVID-19. They had met in Kenya while Mary Kate was there with her church doing a mission trip. They fell in love, Mike proposed, and now they had moved back to Summerville to be together. They got married in July #covidwedding and were now going through the fun experience of applying for Mike’s working visa and green card. So yeah, they were definitely deserving of a fun, carefree session to take their minds off of that stress.

Now you would expect after going through struggles with such serious issues or having a wedding in the midst of a global pandemic, that these two would be bitter, or upset. And who could blame them really? But Mary Kate and Mike are honestly two of the most laidback and joyful people to be around.