Posts Tagged 'wedding'

Any photographer that has the honor of photographing one of their closest friend’s wedding knows the emotional side of the coin. While your working hard and doing what you do as an artist, you’re also emotionally driven to not burst out in tears every five minutes. I think I lost it like three times during their ceremony. Seeing your friend be loved so deeply, so intensely, so fully is extremely impacting and glorious. I was in awe, watching the beauty and the faithfulness of the Lord to take two people from different continents and bring them together.
Ashley and I have been friends probably since Ashley was four. I grew up with her, her family and some of her friends. We did crazy things as kids, and we still do crazy things as adults. And Scott I’ve known only for a year. (I wrote more about their story here, on their engagement session post) I love, love, love the way Scott loves Ashley. His gentleness reminds me of the way my husband loves me.
When Scott saw Ashley coming down the aisle, it was freaking amazing watching the little boy come out of him. Exuberance and heart-felt joy painted his face and took over his body. Both of them were so giddy. Ashley looked completely stunning in a champagne Justin Alexander. Her Hawaiian sun-kissed skin and black hair caused her deep brown eyes to sparkle.
Scott and Ashley got married on a friend’s beautiful property on June 1st. They offered hay rides down through the woods to an open field where the ceremony took place. The reception took place in a large garage which they decorated with a travel/international theme.
As I was editing the portrait photos this week, I announced to my husband that I wish I could document their lives and photograph them every day because they are so gorgeous to photograph and are so in love. They are eye candy.
They ended the evening with heart-shaped Chinese lanterns, sparklers and a send off in a gorgeous mint green car. These two are some of my favorite people, and I’m honored to have stood alongside them on their day.
Special thanks to my second shooter, Kori Hoffman, and my third shooter, my husband. (Yes, I had so many images to go through…it was rough to pick the best.)
Congrats Scott and Ashley! I love you guys so, so, so much! Thank you for everything!

Laura is stunning…. all I know is I felt like I was in the movie “Brave.” This was my little bit of Ireland for that day.
Laura and Andrew’s wedding happen today! <3 Enjoy Lady Laura.

I feel extremely excited to share this blog with you. (Warning: If you hate beautiful rocks then you will dislike this blog. And this may be long.) If you would like to hear a little bit about how my husband and I landed in Arizona, click over to part one of the wedding I shot near Phoenix to read about it. (And here is part two in case you got hooked.)
I’m going to somewhat backtrack to the day we flew into Phoenix. It was a sad day leaving our sweet eight-month-old boy at home with my parents. I think we Facetimed him like three times before we even touched down in Arizona. My heart was sad, but an adventure is what Brandon and I have needed for quite sometime. We still dream of adventure and traveling. We love wheeling our suitcases through long airports and people watching. I love people watching…and hearing all the different languages flying around. It’s beautiful chaos. It’s the butterfly feeling of going to somewhere unseen–breathing new air, photographing different terrain and meeting new people.
We flew into Salt Lake City, Utah. I love Utah! I remember traveling through there as a kid, and it was so unearthly and so unique in its beauty. I was excited for Brandon to see a little of it. (Even though I claimed the window seat.) We flew into a snow storm. Yep, a snow storm. It was blowing like crazy as I stared out the windows of the airport eating my gyro as fast as I could, so not to miss our next flight. As soon as we were about to take off, the storm passed, and it was a blue sky. Crazy. read more

I don’t really know how I’m going to not write a novel about how incredible our week in Arizona was. This wedding and the time we spent there meant so much to me and my husband. So let me start from the beginning.
In October of last year, I received an email from the bride’s sister, Leslea. In the letter, she wrote that in 2009 she had seen Brandon’s and my proposal video in Ireland on YouTube and (in her words) had been stalking us ever since. She loved our music, my photography, our story, and she had been waiting for a reason to contact us. It was a beautiful email about how our lives had deeply impacted her. Brandon and my marriage and story had resonated with what was going on in her life a few years back. She told us later that she pretty much had seen every blog I’ve posted and kept up with us for over four years. Ok, so I would be creeped out normally, but this kind of stuff seems to happen throughout my life. And it always seems right.
So Leslea tells me that her amazing, beautiful sister is getting married in March 2013, and she wants to know if we are available to come shoot. She tells me about the location, where they live, etc. I freaked out. And if you knew me back in October, I’m sure you saw every tweet and every Facebook update about how crazy excited I was to get to shoot in Arizona. Photographing a bride in front of the Superstition Mountains in FREAKIN’ ARIZONA! I mean…. I almost had a heart attack!
Oh, man! So I just received the new albums that I will be making available to my clients (included with select wedding packages and sold separately). I am extremely excited to share this with you all.
These fine art albums come in a variety of leathers. You get to pick from over 20 amazing leathers and fabrics to make your album your own. The albums have thick pages (as thick as a quarter) and the album lays completely flat with a light seam. Heavy materials make it durable so it can last for decades. I album shown in this blog post has the “Krumble” leather as the main leather cover and an upgraded “Cabana” leather as the spine (which I’m in love with).
Also, you will see a smaller album (for parents or whomever you want to share them with) which I will be offering in one of my packages. These smaller add-on albums come in lots of three (size 6×6, this cover is “Sandbox”). It is an exact replica of the fine are album. (It’s perfect to carry in your purse, keep at the office, etc…)
I am making these albums available in a range of sizes: 5×7, 8×8, 10×10, 9×12, 12×12, and 12×16. The sample below is a 12×12 square album.
Enjoy!
Please contact me with questions or to arrange to see this in person.


Ashley is one of the greatest joys in my life. (I’ve known her since we were both super, super young) Whenever I see this girl (which is like once every two months-ish) I am immediately safe in my own skin, and free to be myself around her. A year ago yesterday, she met a strapping young man at a Krispy Kreme race (run 5 miles, eat a dozen donuts, and then run 5 more- or something like that.) He was a kind, English man who stole her heart, and transformed her current situations. He won her over time and time again. I loved being kept in the loop of their first dates (with the “What should I wear?” texts, and pictures of different outfits.) He took her on “glow in the dark” golfing at night, in the pouring rain as their first date. He planned out special trips to the zoo, and the finale of taking her on a crazy, amazing trip around NYC a week before Christmas. He gave her 6 or 7 clues which took them to the top of the Empire State building, ice skating in Central Park, an amazing restaurant overlooking all of NYC, worlds best cup of coffee (From the movie “Elf”) and then he proposed to her with a bright green emerald ring in front of the Rockefeller Christmas tree. Scott is an absolute joy to be around. They are madly in love, and I cry thinking about it. The Lord has proven his faithfulness to Ashley by bringing Scott into her life. Photographing them is like eating my favorite candy. I’m not kidding. Its easy, its gorgeous, its perfect, and I could seriously photograph them for hours and hours and it wouldn’t be work.
I am shooting their magnificent June wedding. And I am going to cry like a baby the whole day. <3
So about this shoot… Saturday, I took them to a friends/family piece of property, which is like a photographer play ground. Old beautiful house, open fields, bird houses, porch swings, large boulders, wheat fields, woods, ivy, Lake Norman. I mean…. sigh. I was in heaven. It was super, super cold. (Thank God I wore my leggings under my jeans) and Scott and Ashley took it like heros. The sky was cloudy, then sunny, then golden, then blue, then dark. It was fun.
Thank you to my amazing husband who stood in 10-20 minute increments out in the cold to hold my lights and all my stuff. <3 (You are the best!)
I am in love with these photos of them. And I had a really really rough time picking what to share. I did a workshop recently with my friend Shelley Paulson, and Ashley and Scott were our models. So if you’ve seen them before, thats why.
Congrats Ashley and Scott! I love you both so, so much! Happy Engagement!
Brisk, lovely fall evening at Freedom Park about a month ago. Kim and Ryan are getting married next summer! He is in the army and plays in the armies band and she is a band teacher in a school. Kim and I used to go to church together about 10 years ago. Its crazy how time flies. I’m excited for these two!
Enjoy! ;D


