My best friend's (brother's) wedding...

Last week I travelled to the tiny town of Live Oak, Florida to photograph a beautiful wedding joining two wonderful friends of mine! Any one that knows me, knows that I love doing weddings, but when you know and love the subjects dearly, it just makes it just that much more amazing!
I was actually there almost two years ago, the night that Amy & Joe met at my best friend Rachel's graduation (with her Masters) party! I am very close to Rachel's family and think of Joe as a brother...so we are all so happy to see him so in love with such a great person like Amy.
I flew in Thursday morning to Tallahasee, where Rachel's mom, Nancy and niece, Emily, picked me up from the airport. Thursday night, Rach and I did some shopping and hanging out, but in true old lady style, called it a night pretty early. The next morning we headed off to Live Oak to meet up with Amy, Andrea, Lora, Jenny, & Mrs. Sheila for a girl's lunch out and pedicures! Let's not forget about my drama with the spray tan distaster and then losing just one of my shoes! Aaahhh! Afterwards we all hung out for a little while before prepping for the rehearsal dinner. The dinner was delicious! (Thanks Tom & Peekie!)
The next morning was of course very hectic. We ended up running behind schedule by about an hour which put a big dent in my fun time with Amy's bridal portraits! Let this be a warning to all you future brides: DON'T RUN BEHIND SCHEDULE! No one wants to take pictures after the wedding. People never believe me when I tell them this. But, just take my word for it. The location of the wedding was SPECTACULAR! It is actually a conference/retreat center for the Episcopal Church of Florida, so all of the facilities (including awesome hotel rooms, not your average church camp) were there. The chapel where they were married boasted amazing architecture and acoustics. I can't even begin to describe how beautiful this place is. Even though the wind was literally blowing 65 miles per hour. We're talking tropical storm winds here, people. Thank God all the girls had up-do's! Everything about the wedding was perfect. And simple. The bouquets were elegant and understated. The service was the perfect length. The music was phenomenal. In fact, Joe, recorded Canon in D on his guitar and that is what Amy walked down the aisle to. The mothers, etc. were seated to other acoustic guitar. For the lighting of the unity candle, Amy's brother, Gabe, her dad, and her brother's girlfriend, Jenny, played/sang an awesome song. I cried, of course!
I just loved Amy's family too. Her brothers and their girls were my kind of people! Roger and Sheila were great hosts and ton of fun!
The reception was great! And the greatest part was that the father of the videographer was back shooting me and taking lots of great reception party pics, so I put my camera and was just a guest for the remainder of the reception!

I love you guys so much! I'm so honored and happy to have been there with you.

Here is a sneak peek at my favorites:

Zaidee Bug!

Today I got to celebrate another first birthday with a little angel! Zaidee was such a cutie! Her birthday party theme is ladybugs--her mom calls her "Zaidee Bug"--I love it! We took some really sweet mom and daughter portraits--I made them into this composite which I am just in love with. Enjoy a few of my favorites:

Josh & Mindy

I took a ride out to the country last Sunday to photograph Josh & Mindy at her parents' home/dairy farm. The milk truck even came while I was there! I've known Mindy since I was a very little girl, and I'm so excited to be shooting thier wedding in April! They weren't into the whole being photographed thing, but we got some great shots!

Eva

I just had to share some of little 16 month old Eva's images. She is such a little doll--what about those eyes!? I enjoyed visiting with Eva's mom, D, who paint murals for homes. If anyone is looking for someone to paint a beautiful scene for thier nursey, etc., let me know and I will put ya'll in contact!

McKenzie turns 3!

Miss McKenzie is turning 3! We had quite a fun little adventure together for her shoot. Because I am friends with her mom, L, and she goes to "school" with my boys, I just went and grabbed her from school and brought her back to the studio. We had a blast and even had her friend, Brynlie, join us for a few minutes to create this adorable invitation for thier joint birthday party! Brynlie and McKenzie were born within hours of each other to moms who had been friends since junior high! What a trip! Oh, and it gets better: the girls' grandmothers also share a birthday! We are looking forward to celebrating with these two cutie pies!

Not Your Ordinary Engagement Session

I don't know if you've ever noticed what I call my "mission statement" on the entrance page of my website: "Escape the ordinary photograph." Last Saturday, Brittany, Kirk, & McKenna escaped the ordinary engagment session. Kirk was especially suprised, and I even hear through the grapevine that he said in the car afterwards, " Hmmm...that was kind of fun." Now, that's huge, coming from a guy and all! We set out for the afternoon with a gameplan in mind, but thanks to the HUGE amount of rain Mother Nature has blessed us with, our "field of dreams" was a big mud hole!!! So we set off, and ended up finding an AWESOME location--abandoned and grafittied train.

There are many reasons I love my job--a TON of them in fact--but one is turning clients into friends. Brittany came to Moments through a mutual friend--she is one of the directors of the daycare where my friend's son goes in Mandeville. But, being that we are the same age and both fabulous and all, we have quickly become friends! I just love Brittany's little family to death and I am soooo looking forward to thier wedding! What a great couple!

Oh, and McKenna--the butt picture is just for you honey!


Your ordinary engagement portrait:



Escaping the ordinary:

Easter, Easter, and more Easter!!!

We are finally wrapping up what ended up being 2 weeks worth of Easter portraits tomorrow! I've had so much fun seeing everyone's adorable outfits and meeting lots of new clients! The Easter eggs are very happy to be retired to the prop closet--they can definitely be labelled "kid-proof"! Anything that can survive 40 kids humming it at the wall needs a round of applause! Here a few favorites as well as the AWESOME Easter cards some clients will be sending out to share thier cutie(s) with friends and family: