Ashley & Heath - Fort Mill Wedding

I'm so happy October is here! Words can't express. It's not because tomorrow's my birthday, although that's very nice. I just love everything about October... the crisp air, leaves changing color, pumpkins everywhere, all the "fall" smelling candles in stores. It's my favorite season finally!

I kicked it off with Ashley and Heath's wedding at the Dairy Barn in Ft. Mill. I've never shot there before, but after yesterday I can't wait to go back! It's the coolest venue. Totally up my alley. As you can imagine from the name, it's a historic barn that's been converted for weddings, receptions, etc. Ashley and Heath got married upstairs in the loft then had their reception downstairs immediately afterwards. The dancefloor was outside next to one of the old silos overlooking a horse pasture. Just magical!

The day started a little behind because my bride and her girls were stuck at the hotel... no one had enough gas in their car to get them from there to the Dairy Barn! Having nothing else to do until they arrived, I helped Ashley's mom set up for the wedding. The girls finally showed up and we got some fun 'getting ready' shots. All of the formal pics were done after the ceremony, and luckily Mother Nature kept the sun out just long enough for us to get what we needed.

Here's the proud Mama with nothing left to do but get ready herself!

The girls had a lot of fun together and will certainly have good stories to look back on from this day.

I love this shot! The sun was so overwhelming at sunset it was almost impossible to even see what I was doing. I'm happy with the results though.

LOVE the big silos around the barn. I gave this one an antiquey, magical feel.

The rest of the night was spent dancing under the stars. You can see the big silo in this dance photo (that's the flood light at the top.) Ashley actually climbed up all 100+ feet to throw her bouquet off. It was crazy and fun!

So on to the rest of my life... I'm five months along now. Baby Girl is doing well. We still don't have a name, but I hope to report on that soon with a decision. October is crazy busy. I'm still finishing up a September wedding and need to post photos from my most recent toddler shoot of 2 year old Landon (what a cutie!)

In the weeks to come... the fam is headed for a long weekend to the mountains of Pennsylvania next weekend. I can't wait! Ask my husband - I've been looking forward to this for months! We meet up with his whole family and all the kiddies get to play together all weekend. There's fall festivals left and right, and the leaves are just unbelievable this time of year up there. I can't wait to post pics for you.

I'll round out the last two weekends of the month with one wedding and FOUR portrait shoots (babies, engagements, bridal... you name it!) Call me crazy, but this is what I love so I do it anyway! See you soon (which means early November with all I have going on this month -ha ha!)

Happy Fall! - Charlotte Wedding & Engagement

Words can't describe how glad I am that fall is finally here. Ok, so we have another month or so until it cools off, but that's OK. Football season is here, beautiful fall colors starting to appear, and Starbucks has their Pumpkin Spice Latte back... what more can I ask for?

Last weekend was my first fall wedding of the year. You may remember Nicki from her tres beau bridal shoot a few weeks ago. Her wedding was just as chic. She did an awesome job with the colors, decor, and tastefulness. It was a hot day at Lake Norman, but we persavered. The hurricanes didn't dump rain on us, so we were happy to simply deal with the hot sun :)

I also got caught up on my most recent engagement, which was for Kim and Ross who are getting married uptown in October. Here are a few of my favorites from our jaunt at Lake Wylie a few weeks ago.















This little flower girl almost stole the show. She entertained all nine bridesmaids the entire prepping time!

Kim and Ross' engagement at Lake Wylie

Nikki - Charlotte Engagement

So today was nice and cloudy with a high of only 81! This is uber-odd for Charlotte in August, which is usually melting around 100 this time of year. Luckily, Mother Nature cooperated as I had two shoots today. The sun peeked out here and there, but we made do with it anyway. (Photogs hate sun... ok, "hate" is a strong word, but we prefer some clouds/overcast much of the time.)

My first shoot was with my next bride, Nicki, who's getting married in just three weeks in Lake Norman. We met up at the Latta Plantation for the shoot. She was really easy to work with and has the cutest dimples I've ever seen! I really like how things have turned out so far.

Love these two shots!

I'm not into antiques, but I love the old barn. What can I say?

Just LOOK at those dimples... I want to pinch them.

My second shoot was with good friends of ours who have been dying to get their family portrait taken now that they're a family of SIX! If anyone can juggle a large family, it's these guys. Our hats are eternally off to them... I'm hoping they write a book that the rest of us can read on tips/tricks for child rearing. Just having #2 on the way is starting to freak us out!

"Mom" is really creative, and although I thought I was also creative, I could never come up with all the fun activities/crafts this woman can! Damn Martha Stewart. Some days I wish she would adopt me and I could could be a kid again for a day.

Bogota, Colombia

So my husband and I returned from our mini-vacation to Bogota, Colombia last week. I know what you're thinking... you vacationed where? Yes, we went to the land of coffee and coke (the other kind.) No, in all honesty Colombia gets a bad rap. It's not nearly as dangerous as it used to be, as the good ole US has pumped a lot of money into fighting drug trafficking which as helped turn around the economy and weaken the FARC tremendously! Colombia is actually the world's grower of flowers and is also where most of the world's emeralds are mined from, so try to think of those exports the next time you read about Colombia :)
Anyway, my hubby is 1/2 Colombian. This was actually our second trip in 3 years to Bogota. We really had a blast! His father is from Bogota, and that side of the family is still in Colombia (my father in law is one of 8 children, so our family is very large down there.) Jim has literally dozens of cousins, second cousins, etc down there that he didn't really meet until just a few years ago.

Bogota is a city of 6 million people (NYC is 10 million). It's just enormous. It's 1.5 miles high in elevation, and is surrounded by mountains. It very much so reminds me of LA (esp the smog.)

We went on this trip because Jim's aunt was celebrating her 50th anniversary as a nun in the Catholic church. It was a really big celebration and about 80 relatives from all over the country joined us in Bogota for the celebration. Very few of them speak English, so the communication was hard, but luckily I brought along a LOT of pictures for them to look at and keep. They loved that! Sister Maria was so happy to have us there. Above is a picture of her hugging my sister in law (her niece), whom she's never met until now!

This is at the luncheon celebration for our family after mass Sunday. She was so happy to have everyone present. It melted my heart.

After lunch we went to the rear of the convent to take family pictures (yes, we actually tried to get all 85 of us at one time.) Anyway, here's a picture of Jim and his dad. Other than their outfits, the resemblance is tough, huh? Everyone in Colombia is very short, but Jim's Mom is 5'10" so clearly he got her height. When she saw all the nuns for the first time, she muttered "does everyone take short pills here?"

One day we went sightseeing around Bogota. It is the capitol of Colombia, and this picture is one of the capitol buildings. When we came in 2005 I was yelled at by armored guards for trying to take pictures of government buildings. This time they were present, but didn't yell at me :) I was happy about this, as I really loved the historical architecture and wanted to capture it.

August is the "month of wind" in Colombia. There are celebrations throughout the month. On every street corner people are selling kites and Colombian flags. This was outside a McDonald's right off their interstate.

I was returning to the salon by our apartment when I rounded the corner and saw these two little boys in front of me. Thankfully, I almost always have my little Canon PowerShot on hand, so I whipped it out and got a quick pic while I had the chance. True friendship...

Nuns, nuns, everywhere! Very intimidating, as I'm not Catholic. I think I was the only one in our mass to not partake in communion, but that's how the rules go. I don't make 'em...

Baby Drew - Charlotte Kids & Wedding

Whoa... I haven't posted in a while! Last weekend I did two engagements; one uptown and one at Jetton Park on Lake Norman. I'll try to post some of my faves, but life has been so busy lately, and we're about to go on vacation to South America, so time is not on my side. I love to blog, but obviously getting the photography done is Job #1.

This past weekend I returned to Firethorn Country Club for Heather and Jason's wedding reception. You may remember them from engagement pics back in May. They got married in June in Banff, Alberta (Canada.) They had some awesome pictures on display from the wedding at the reception Saturday night. Jason's a pretty good photographer in his own right, so I was totally mesmerized by the slideshow DVD they put together. I've never been to Alberta, but seeing all of the beauty in Banff sure makes me want to go! They got married at a resort that's an old castle. Just beautiful!







I also did a newborn shoot this weekend with baby Drew who is just over two weeks old. I got some great ideas from an awesome photographer friend in Michigan, so I can't take full creative credit for the ideas. If you want to see more of her work, visit www.unscriptedmomentsphotography.com.

Drew's session turned out really well though; we were all amazed at the ease that he provided for us throughout the shoot. In and out within two hours! Woo hoo!

Baby Lucy - Charlotte Baby

I'm so happy - I'm all caught up on my proofs! There always seems to be a work-in-progress in my life, but until this Saturday's two engagement sessions, I'm all caught up! Of course, I have two albums to design, but as far as editing images go, I've finally got a green light :)

Here are some images from my latest baby session. This is little Lucy who turned one today! Enjoy!

We're in her back yard for all of these. She's a big fan of the flowers, but prefers to taste them instead of smelling them! Lucy's a happy little girl who makes the most hilarious squeal I've ever heard from a baby. She had me laughing the whole time!

Sweet Baby Helena - Charlotte Baby

So I finished the proofs of Baby Helena. I gave her poor parents way too many proofs to look through; about double my usual number. I just couldn't cut any of them! Once you see this gorgeous cutie you'll know why. Here are some of my faves.