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Sunday, May 31, 2009
Reporting from Seaside, FL
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
An Afternoon in Auburn, AL: Maggie and Chris are Engaged!
During a three-week marathon of rainy, stormy, overcast days... mother nature smiled upon us unexpectedly and gave us blue skies and sun in Auburn, AL.
Maggie and Chris were so relaxed and at home for their extended engagement session - probably having something to do with the fact we were revisiting the spots they first met, dated, fell in love, and got engaged. It also happened to be graduation day for Auburn University, so we had to be very strategic about where we went on campus to avoid big crowds of picture-takers. The whole family joined in on the festivities and we even got to go for a little hike at the end. Check it out!
These two had so much pent-up energy from the drive down they had a blast pulling Maggie and Chris along for the first part of the engagement session.
Once their parents showed up, we handed off the pups and walked over to campus once the crowds had dispersed.
It was so incredibly bright out, with no shade to retreat to... but it turned out great with the blue-sky-background
Love this black and white sequence
A few pictures in various gardens around campus.
At the very end of the session we headed to this hidden waterfall - they'd finally built in some make-shift steps in the path so it was a bit scary on the hike down, but we all made it in one piece.
The rocks around the waterfall were an awesome backdrop in their own right!
At the very end, Maggie had a special request. She'd seen the pictures I took of my own engagement ring and wanted something similar to send to friends who couldn't be there in person. How gorgeous is this!?
Thanks Maggie and Chris for an awesome day! Thanks for showing me the waterfall - I'll certainly go back and bring my hubby. We can't wait for your wedding!
Post a CommentMonday, May 18, 2009
Wedding Vendor Reviews: Cake and Dress Shop
In continuation of my last post, here are my reviews/experiences regarding my cake and dress shop vendors. I actually worked with THREE different bridal shops, but this is the one I purchased my dress from.
The Dress: Victoria's Bridal Couture
Fort Lauderdale, FL
www.victoriasbridalcouture.com
4.5 out of 5.0
After going to over TEN different bridal stores in Atlanta, I found the dress I wanted, at a price tag out of my budget. My mother clued me into the online sales some stores were doing in other states, so I started calling around and emailing to see if I could get my dress at price within my budget.
Sure enough, Victoria's Bridal came through for me at the BEST price of any other store. You can order online but the service is minimum - I guess that's how they can give you the best deal possible. It took a while to get the order through because I had a special request to extend the train longer, but it finally went through and then it was time to wait.
I heard little to nothing in the 6 months of waiting, and when it came time for my dress to arrive, I called the store, and they told me it would be another month longer. This was highly disappointing but they surprised me and it came a few weeks later. Good thing I still had time for alterations and finding accessories!
The dress came via UPS and was perfect. I'd highly recommend any bride on a budget to go through this process, but put in a bit of extra time in case it takes longer.
Dress by Demetrios
The Cake: Cake Studio
Los Angles, CA
Sonia's Listing on Wedding Wire
5.0 out of 5.0
Sonia was wonderful to work with, our wedding cake she made - just as wonderful! Everyone raved about how good it was and how gorgeous the design (it was just my style!)
My mom found her on wedding wire and made the initial contact. We were planning our wedding from out of town and met with a handful of cake designers in one day. Sonia's cakes are fluffy and dreamy and unique compared to the over-sugared-weighed-down ones most everyone else had. The fondant she makes is actually made of marshmallow so it doesn't taste nasty like most fondants. She took a lot of time during our initial consultation then again just days before the wedding to go over exactly what we wanted, and helped us come up with the design in the first place. I think we spent hours in her office during the first consultation. We ended up with a gorgeous Tiffany's-blue fondant-covered four-layer cake with ganache and Bavarian cream with hazelnut crunch between layers of white cake.
We had a VERY small wedding (40 people) but I'm a wedding photographer and I didn't want my cake to look itty-bitty. She was able to find cost-cutting solutions to be able to give us a bigger cake that was beautiful but that cost less. We simplified the design and added a fake (foam) layer to the bottom to help do this. She also helped us know what jewels and ribbon to get to her and the measurements we would need. We rented the cake stand from her as well and she delivered the cake the day of the wedding herself.
I get to try wedding cakes a LOT since I photograph weddings and ours was I think the best I've ever had. It was fresh and unique - yet beautiful too! Plus, Sonia was a doll to work with and gave us just what we asked for.
Toasting Flutes from Tiffany's and Cake Knife and Server by Vera Wang
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Wedding Vendor Reviews
As a professional photographer, I know how important it is to get feedback from clients so that we can continually improve. I know I'm never perfect, and we all make mistakes, but over all my goal as a photographer is to capture my client's day as THEY wish, and that the Bride, Groom and their families are treated like Queens and Kings!
When it came time for the tables to be turned, reading reviews and having referrals really helped in the planning process. Since our wedding was in LA, I didn't know the area as well and had to hire mostly people I'd never met until we were engaged. I looked for vendors that most of all would be a pleasure to work with that ALSO provided great products and services.
I'm happy to say that a majority of our vendors did (for our own destination wedding last month). I just spent some time reviewing our wedding vendors (with the exception of photo and video since those experiences aren't complete yet) and I'd like to share my reviews here too.
We used Wedding Wire for our database and seating charts and overall organization, and also wrote our reviews here.
I'm also going to hunt for some pictures to go along with this, so it's not so much text!
HAIR AND MAKEUP by Nicole DeAnne
www.nicoledeanne.com
5.0 out of 5.0
Nicole DeAnne was AMAZING! She did my hair and makeup for the big day and I wouldn't have had anyone else!
We had a destination wedding and only had one week in LA to plan the wedding and meet with vendors. The last day I was in town, I was speaking at a convention, and figured what better time to do my test? She came to my hotel bright and early and tried different styles until we landed on what was perfect. The makeup stayed on ALL day plus a red-eye flight home to Atlanta! My hair was all in place too so I knew it would last a whole wedding day.
The day of the wedding she was a calming force in the room of all chaos and I was finally at ease as I sat in the chair and let her do her magic. At the last minute I changed my mind about the hair style and asked if it was too late to change. She loved the idea and we tried it out - and it was even better than I imagined!
I'm a wedding photographer and I've worked with TONS of vendors and I can honestly say Nicole was top-notch and one of the best I've worked with! She's completely professional, sweet, and accommodating.
Edit: I can see now that this post would be ridiculously long if I tried to do them all at once, so I'm going to post them up individually, or a few at a time over the next few days...
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Behind the Scenes from Our Wedding: Getting Ready
I've got SOOO much to post about our own wedding. Pictures, reviews, stories, videos... but since I'm waiting to gather everything to do a more complete review... I figured I'd share some snippets in the meantime.
I love this behind-the-scenes pic because
a) it's hilarious how much photo/video coverage we had for our VERY small wedding and shows some of our awesome vendors in action
b) I'm caught wearing my Uggs... classic... so ugly, but so me! Haha
Sara was a guest at our wedding but couldn't help herself and shot as many pictures as she would shooting a wedding with me! Haha. We've had some fun going through her images this past week.
She took this picture of me getting ready - with our photographer Jessica Claire (love how it looks like she's hiding in the bushes - haha!), and videographer Joshua Smith of Cinematic Bride, and hair/makeup artist Nicole DeAnne fixing me up right. 
Eddie and his amazing wife were with Mikey at the Maison 140 while the guys were getting ready then everyone came together for our first look. Jessica and Josh both also brought another shooter with them so there were 5 photographers and 2 videographers total in action! Stay tuned for more pics...
Friday, May 8, 2009
James' Family - Quick Lifestyle Portrait Session
We're doing a year-in-the-life for this amazing family and here are a few of my favorites from their 6-month session. We only have the 9- and 12- month sessions left... the time has gone by so fast thus far. I can't wait to put together the album that shows the whole year!
We had a bit of convincing for him to get "ready" for pictures.
Little sis, pretty in pink
Sis with Mom
Sis with Dad
Sis with Big Brother
Another of Mom and Daughter
Love these candid black and whites of big brother
All ready to go
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Kelly's Bridal Portraits
Right before we left for our own wedding, I had the pleasure of hanging out in midtown to photograph Kelly's bridal portraits.
I'm looking forward to posting a lot of the images from March and our trip in April as well as some fun news... for now enjoy more of Kelly's images!
Love the flowers in her hair!
A few dramatic black and whites are a must-have.
The wind was a great assistant.
A few close-up portraits
These last few are my favorites.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Counting Sheep
What's wrong with me!? Does the jet-lag really have me this out-of-whack? I'm usually fighting for every last second of sleep in the morning, a bear to get out of bed. But since we arrived home from Australia and New Zealand I can't sleep more than 4-5 hours at a time.
This morning I was wide awake by 4AM. Finished work by the time Mikey woke, and I had pancakes and eggs ready for him. He's going to be spoiled I tell you!
Well, here's a picture of some odd sheep-shaped building we passed in New Zealand on the north island. I have no idea what's inside.
New Zealand was the LAND of sheep - everywhere! Mikey is probably going to kill me for posting this here but I can't help it - he's just too cute in this little lamb hat! 
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Home, Sweet Home
This weekend, Mike and I returned from a MONTH of being away from home for our wedding, honeymoon, and work abroad. We left Atlanta March 31st and didn't return home until May! Today is actually our 1-month anniversary!
Our trip was amazing, but being away that long certainly makes you appreciate not living out of a suitcase. I don't think I've ever been so happy to be home - especially after a long 30-hours of non-stop travel! The great part is that we got to ride in one of the largest passenger airplanes in the world on my new favorite Airline, Qantas. The A380 Airbus was SOOO spacious, high-tech, and QUIET. And by a stroke of luck, the lady's seatbelt next to me broke and she had to move, so we had the whole aisle to ourselves on the 14 hour flight.
They had a HUGE array of entertainment options, and since we left at 1PM from Sydney I really wasn't tired and ended up watching FIVE movies and a bunch of House episodes! LOL. So much for sleep and reading my Australian book!
We had a grueling layover in Los Angles. Between running to the restroom 100 times to wash hands so we didn't contract the Swine Flu, we dozed sitting up amid the screaming loud speaker. Ick. The ride to Atlanta was turbulent the entire way. Double ick.
But alas we arrived home late, but safe.. and were greeted with all kinds of nice surprises. The first think I noticed was our front landscaping. It had MOM written all over it... she'd come from NC while we were gone and completely redone our front beds! It looks SOOO much better than what we left which must have been an embarrassment to the neighbors. haha. Thanks Mom!
Then I walked into the kitchen to a gorgeous spread complete with an advice book they'd put together from our shower and instructions on what to do our first night home.
I found out later my awesome bridesmaids Kimberly and Susan came while we were away cleaned, got groceries, and left us all kinds of nice surprises around the house. I wish I liked strawberries - they look so yummy! My mom had even left some home cooking in the freezer for us. Sara even stayed here 4 hours waiting for the cleaners to come so our house got cleaned twice and is super-clean now... awesome! 
Got to love all the Tiffany's. That is one of the wedding gifts Mikey got me. So sweet!
This one on the left cracked us up the most. They'd found our left-over table signs from the wedding and found creative use for it. Haha. And that's my tattered, Santa-Monica-Pier-Dirtied wedding dress on the right. 
My kittens ran away at first but then resumed their normal behavior. Such as Grace here pretending to be laundry!
So cute!! She turned a little more brown while we were away.
Being the good wife that I am, I made - errr, went and obtained - breakfast in bed for us the next morning. We'd been craving good ol American food such as Chic fil A for a while. Mmmmm. 
The past few days have been filled with the house being torn apart, us unpacking Mikey's stuff, running errands, and the 101 things to do after being gone for a month. I somehow have not managed to sleep longer than 4-5 consecutive hours since we've returned, so I'm a bit of a zombie still with jet-lag. Maybe by next week I'll be cooking real meals and back to sleeping in past 5AM.
Gosh it's good to be Home, Sweet Home!
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