My grandfather was born on a military base in Guam in 1920.  He fought  in World War II in Russia and throughout Europe.  He is an incredible artist and was even asked to join Walt Disney, which he apparently refused.   His favorite story about the war was when he was in the trenches and promised God he would become a pastor if he made it out alive.  He then became the pastor of a few churches in Tampa, and one of my proudest stories of him is that he stepped down from the pastorate and left a church because the board voted against against allowing blacks to come to the church.  He has lived a full life, yet you would never know he is ninety.

Family is really important to us. Sometimes I feel like we don’t put a high enough priority on spending time with our family – especially our grandparents. Time is short and we have a limited supply. I was reminded of thhis when my cousin visited us on Monday. She and her family are moving to Michigan for the foreseeable future, but it still hasn’t struck me that they are leaving Florida. My entire family has lived here for so long, it is hard to comprehend a long-distance move.   In honor of her moving, we all took pictures of our grandparents and their great-grandchildren – her daughters and my nieces. I haven’t taken enough time out to really photograph my grandparents, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so.  I wanted to focus on conveying who they are, so I used natural lighting and a telephoto lens.  I feel like these pictures really portray who they are.

Matt and I have a few weddings and trips planned around the country. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to travel together and take pictures in places other than Florida! Our travel plans are not yet solidified, so we would LOVE to fit some portraits in during our travels! Let us know if you are interested in a portrait session (individual, couple, maternity, boudoir – you name it!) and we’d love to schedule you in! Here are the dates we currently have down:

July 11 – Amelia Island, FL – it’s possible to schedule a shoot on July 10 or July 12

August 8 – Greenville, SC – we are free before and after the wedding. No specific plans have been made

September 5 – Iron Mountain, MI – we will be free for part of Thursday and Friday before, as well as Sunday morning

We are also making plans to shoot around the country in 2010! We are looking forward to it!

During my Junior year in college, I had the awesome opportunity to study abroad in Florence, Italy. I spent 4 months in Firenze – touring the Italian countryside and learning all about the history of the architecture there. It was one of the times I can say I grew the most as a person. I learned how to navigate around Europe by myself, and I learned how to survive using a language I hardly knew. Best of all, I really got into photography during that time. I took over 2000 pictures while I was there, and was stupid enough to get them developed AND put them in binders – so now I have tons of binders of Italian photos in storage. I just found a few of these pictures and wanted to share my experience with you all.

Good Friday, tonight, is an important time for us to remember the sacrifice that Christ made for us. This video is a great reminder of the sadness that everyone felt on Good Friday – and the hope they all had when Easter Sunday finally came:

Sunday’s Coming

Joie de Vie, a weddings and events planner in Orlando, posted a wonderful article on the importance of taking a break during your wedding planning to make time for just the two of you:  Wedding Planning Break: A Weekly Date Night With Your Fiance.  I’ve always said I enjoyed dating more than being engaged because it seemed like the wedding was all I would think about or talk with Matt about.  So we tried to make a point of having a date night once a week.  It’s easier said than done, but Kerline lays out a few fantastic ways to start.  It’s important to be very intentional about these dates – otherwise you may suddenly fall back into wedding planning mode.  The wonderful thing about establishing a weekly date night is that it’s a great habit to carry into your marriage.  Life suddenly catches up with you after you get married and it is hard to make time with each other a priority.  Establish the weekly date habit now and you will be setting your marriage up for success!

Kevin Swan and his hot team at KISS shipped my sample album out 2 weeks early! I was floored. I simply cannot say enough good things about KISS Wedding Books. Not only are they a fantastic company to work with (let’s just say they were consistently in touch with me about my album), but they are charitable as well. They are simply a good company all around! And now for the goods:

The front:

The back:

I’ve been a terrible blogger lately, I realize. I have a wonderful new album sitting in my car, waiting to be photographed. I promise I will post it very soon!

I’ve been to quite a few weddings and I’ve been thinking about the most important aspect of the wedding: the marriage. I know you were probably thinking I would say, “the photographer” or “the location” or something else. But the point of having a wedding is to celebrate two people becoming one through marriage.

When Matt and I were planning our wedding, our marriage was our number one priority. Sure, I wanted awesome photography, a great dress, a fab location, wonderful food, fun guests, etc. But ultimately, I was having a wedding to celebrate the fact that Matt and I were becoming one.  So we put a high priority on premarital counseling. We worked through many issues that people forget to think through or discuss before marriage. Not only did we discuss our dreams and goals, we went over finances and how we spend money. We discussed what aspects of our personalities drove the other crazy. We talked about how we would work through future problems. Most importantly, we discussed our Christian faith and how we would apply that to our lives as we went on this journey together.

Times haven’t always been easy for us, but I am so thankful that we set goals, made priorities, and dedicated ourselves to putting our marriage before all other things. It’s going to be tough – I’m sure we will have more good days and more bad days. But we made a commitment to each other – to love and honor each other for the rest of our lives. Maybe we don’t always do such a wonderful job, but our dedication brings us through in the end.

So while you are planning your wedding, plan some extra time in to focus on what really matters: your marriage. Make it your number one priority on your to-do list. That may mean outsourcing your planning to a wedding planner or lengthening your engagement. Ultimately it means simply taking the time to focus on each other.  Go on a date, take time to talk at night, schedule it into your planner. If you focus on each other now, you will have a much easier time down the road. Best of luck with your marriage planning!