There are moments in a couple’s life that change everything. The kind you don’t fully understand until you’re standing inside of them. This was one of those.

Marisa and Joey invited me into their home to document a small, quiet gender reveal for their first baby. No crowd. No confetti cannons. Just the two of them, a cake on the table, and a future about to shift.

I’ve photographed their wedding. I’ve watched them promise forever. But this? This was different. This was the beginning of something entirely new. It was EXCITING!

Joey comes from a long line of boys. So when they shoved that glass into the cake and discovered they were having a girl, his reaction was pure, unfiltered wonder. The kind that stops you in your tracks. He was stunned. Emotional. Overwhelmed in the best way. You can see it in the photos. That moment will live with him forever. And for a wife to have a girl, that is something uniquely special.

This is why I believe so deeply in personal, in-home gender reveals.

They are intimate in a way nothing else can be. There’s no performance. No pressure. Just you and the person you love, experiencing something life-altering together for the very first time. It feels a lot like a first look on a wedding day. That sacred pause before the world rushes in. Just the two of you. Breathing. Realizing. Becoming parents.

I certainly shed some tears while photographing it. Truly. Watching a man realize he’s about to raise a daughter is something I will never take lightly. It’s something I am dealing with now, with my 9-month-old daughter, Fiona. These are the moments that remind me why I do this work. Why it matters. Why documenting life beyond weddings is just as powerful.

Motherhood begins long before the baby arrives. It begins in these quiet, sacred moments. In living rooms. In soft light. In hands shaking as a box is opened.

And they deserve to be remembered.