Happy 2010!

Merry Christmas... and a happy new year! I hope Santa was good to everyone this year. I had a wonderful Christmas. My husband went overboard on gifts for me (per usual) but now that I'm over the guilt of it, I'm actually enjoying them. The best, by far, was a six month membership to Massage Envy. I usually get 1-2 massages a year. Now I get one every month! Woo hoo!

For all of you girlies who may have gotten a big ole diamond for Christmas... thanks for visiting! I hope you like my work. 2010 is booking up quickly, and I just wiped August off the calendar last week. This means January, May, July, and August are already filled. Outside of that I'm game :)

I have a wedding this Saturday for a couple whose groom may or may not be deployed for his third tour in Iraq at the end of January. I'm really excited for their wedding. We did a quickie engagemnet session in uptown earlier this week. Here are a few faves... and thanks for serving our amazing country, Dan!

2010 is Booking Quickly!

First and foremost, say a quick prayer of thankfulness for all of the men and women who proudly serve the greatest country in the world. We are forever indebted to them...

Hi guys and gals, brides and grooms... I hope you're having a great Fall and are deep in the swing of planning your weddings! I'm getting lots of requests right now, so I guess this is the last big push before the Christmas engagement wave hits in January. I just booked July earlier today. Another month bites the dust!

I've just finished up a few collections from two weddings and an engagement. This weekend I've got a baby shoot, then next weekend I'm shooting my final session of the year - a bridal portrait at Latta Plantation. I'm so excited to be nearing the end of my workload. It's been a wonderful year, and I'm thankful for all the business, but I'm ready to relax and enjoy the holidays :)

Here are some faves for your viewing pleasure:

Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden

Chillin' at T-Bones before the reception

Mr. & Mrs!

Love this pic... that boy wants to DIVE in. Mom's finger says it all.

My Wake Forest couple: shot at Jetton Park

Love me some leaves! This is why I love fall.

Dog Days of Autumn

I'm in power mode. I've edited four collections in the last week, and have only two weddings to edit before I can say I'm done for the year (minus two upcoming shoots, but I won't count that in my current workload just yet.) Woo hoo!

Amongst the babies and grown-ups, I had the opportunity to have my first canine shoot :) A sweet couple, Chris and Hannah, recently got a puppy named Henry. He was about 10 weeks old when we took this shoot and already around 70 pounds. He's on his way to at least twice that, so they wanted some images while he's still nice and "small." It was super fun though. I love dogs with all my heart, so this was especially fun!

Boats & Brides

There isn't much I haven't done when it comes to weddings and engagements, but last week was a first for me... an engagement session on a boat! Brooke and John live in Mooresville and are getting married in their native Maryland later this year. One of their favorite pasttimes is cruising the waves of Lake Norman during the week, so we thought it would make for a fitting background for their engagement shoot.

John works for my favorite NASCAR driver, Ryan Newman (a fellow Boilermaker), and is gone most weekends as a result. The lake was so nice and calm on a Tuesday night. Basically I got paid to take a two hour cruise on a beautiful lake doing what I love. I have a pretty cool job, I must say!

Sunset on Lake Norman

Island Living

I love the unscripted moments...

~

In other news, this past weekend my sister Michelle got married just outside Knoxville, TN. I took a few photos here and there, but was very busy as the MOH so I'm glad my good buddy Rolf could officially document the day. The backdrop of green rolling hills in East Tennessee was simply gorgeous. I can't wait to see all of the pictures! Here are a few I took of Michelle and my daughter Ava, who was the flower girl.

My beautiful Ava. Everyone compliments her big blues. (Got those from Daddy.)

Michelle getting dressed just minutes before the wedding started.

Colors were chocolate, pink, and green. She went monogram happy!

Happy bride :)

Portrait Bonanza

Well, I'm just falling behind here... life is just too busy! I thoroughly enjoyed my Mother's Day today though. In fact, the whole weekend's been great. In-laws are in town, the neighborhood pool opened, we finally found a kick ass double stroller we like... (once you young people have kids you'll understand.)

I have the best hubby. While I enjoy a few high end luxuries in my life, I'm a frugal person at heart. I get shoppers guilt very easily. He is the opposite. Jim never buys anything, but when he does, he's goes big. I can spend $100 on "nothing" at Target, but cannot bring myself to spend more than about $40 on a single item for myself. So what did I get for Mother's Day??? ...a nice big gift card to Coach! Gaffney, here I come! (see, I can't even shop at the SouthPark store, I must go to the outlet.)

Ok, so back to photography. A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to photograph Emily and Brian's engagement uptown. They are a fun, very laid-back couple who are getting married in May at the Whitewater Center (can't wait for that!) We had a good time and they were perfect at following my instruction of ignoring me unless told otherwise.

This past Friday I got to head over to one of my June bride's (Amanda's) house for her bridal portrait. Her house had amazingly huge windows that let in some great light which I quickly took advantage of before the sun set. We then took it outside for a few breezy shots. Her fiance Lyndon is just going to fall over next month when he sees her for the first time as "bride." What a beauty! I think she looks so grown up, but she just graduated college last week!

Last but not least, tomorrow night I'm heading up to Lake Norman. I have a couple who is not getting married in NC, but want engagement photos none the less. Their neighborhood is having a dock slip party tomorrow night, so we're going to head out on their boat. How fun! This will be a first for me, but I'm not scared... I can swim. and the cameras are insured :)

Europe anyone?

Ok, so this may be my last post for a while. Life is just insane! We sold our house on Sunday and have until December to pack and move (right down the street to our new house.) In the meantime I'm shooting one wedding, two engagements, a baby, a family, and a bridal portrait in a 10 day span... while working full time. Oh, and the big kicker? We planned an 8 day trip to Italy back in May before we were expecting and before our house ever went on the market!

I can't complain because I bring everything upon myself, but it's a lot to pack, move, work, work some more, and take a trip to Europe in the middle of it all. I mean, I can't wait to get there and look forward to sharing pictures with you of all the beautiful things we'll see (especially Nicky's wedding at a castle in Florence) but I can only do so much! So here are some last "new pics" until I return from Italy. These are from the engagement I did last weekend for Lauren and Brock. They're natives, but call NYC home these days. They were home for a Clemson football weekend and really wanted to get their engagement pics done in time for the holidays so I said, "why not?" Hope you like them!

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

Amanda & Lyndon - Charlotte Engagement

Another Monday, and another weekend that's flown by. Mine was especially busy with two engagements and one baby shoot. I ventured to new grounds (Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden), old grounds (Freedom Park), and a very cute nursery at my friends' home. Here are a few of my favorites so far. I don't have the baby's pics up, but they're coming.

Sorry for not writing much more, but I'm pooped! I get a little break before my next wedding, which isn't until the end of July, but I have several more engagement shoots and kid/baby shoots in between to keep me busy. Be on the lookout...