In November, my husband and I invited a photographer into our home to take “family” pictures of us.

Just us and our dogs.

In the weeks leading up to our photo session, though, I kept questioning my decision to hire a professional photographer. It’s not like these are our engagement photos (been there, done that) and we don’t have children, so why would we pay someone to take photos of just us? What’s the point?

Family pictures are for people with kids, right?

That is what I told myself, at least, until I realized that with or without children, my husband and I are a family.

And family photos aren’t reserved for those with children.

Photos by Alisha Rudd Photography.
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I believe it is important for couples to have beautifully made photos of themselves at every stage of life together.

You should be best friends, partners and teammates, and that incredibly special bond should be captured and celebrated as you (hopefully) grow old together. Because that’s the most raw, real and ultimate gift life can give you, right? To have the opportunity to grow old with the person you love most.

And what a joy it would be to have 40, 50 or 60 years worth of images of the two of you — just the two of you. Photos that will be a testament of your love and remain long after you are gone.

Photos tell a story and are some of the most precious things we own and pass down to new generations.

I have boxes full of photos that date back to my great grandparents and knowing I have those old images fills my heart with so much joy. They truly are cherished pieces of my family history.

Justin and I are not the same people we were when we met nine years ago. We are not the same people we were when we moved in together five years ago and we are not the same people that we were this time last year.

We have grown together through the years (I was 19 when we met and he was 21), and I love looking back at pictures of where we started and seeing how far we have come.

So, when we bought our home — our first home as husband and wife — last year, it was important to me that we capture this milestone.

We have a lot of ideas for ways to improve our house and it likely will not look this way for long. In fact, since we took these photos, we’ve already transformed our kitchen, and we have plans to remove the wall between our living room and kitchen later this year.

With taking these photos, I wanted to capture the way our home looks before we start changing it. I know there will be a day when I want to remember what our first home looked like when it was still new to us — before we made it our own.

We will never get these days to do over again, so having photos to remember this time in our life is precious and valuable.

This is us.

In our first home.

Decorating our Christmas tree.

Making memories.

Maybe one day we will have couches that the puppy hasn’t peed on. Maybe one day we will have bedside tables that match or dressers with drawers that actually close. Maybe one day we will have a garage full of tools (or even a garage at all).

Right now, though, this is us, in our perfectly imperfect life, and I love more than anything coming home to this man and our little brick ranch each day.

We may never have children, which I hope is not the case, but I don’t want to miss out on capturing moments like these between the two of us simply because I thought family photos are for those with little humans. As I said in the beginning, we are a family and that is something worth celebrating.

I will never regret investing in these images.