Nathan & Alexa :: Wedding

So I've only been out west a handful of times, but when I was out there, I absolutely loved it! The new adventure, new and beautiful scenery, it having more hills than Indiana or even Michigan. Indiana and Michigan are just plain flat!

One of those western states that I have never been to is Montana. What a beautiful state that would be to visit... hiking, camping, nature, landscapes... I would LOVE that! I'm not sure Todd would, but I would drag him with me... maybe make him hold my camera equipment. Hehe! I'm JUST KIDDING, I wouldn't do that to him.

Speaking of Montana...

Nathan is a native. How cool would that be! I do know you would have a lot of different stories to tell than those consisting of cornfields. Ha! Alexa, being the sweetheart she is, included his roots into 'their' day. It began at Alexa's home church of Kensington Community Church. There they were wed in their beautiful chapel. Absolutely incredible! After the ceremony, we all headed out to the Huntsmen Hunt Club in Dryden, MI for the rest of the celebration. Alexa wanted to make Nathan feel at home with the atmosphere being "west-y" or "Montana-y", from the log cabin filled venue, to the sunflowers in mason jars, to the old red barns. Both of them are huge book readers, so they also had some of their favorite books on display. Umm... could they be any more creative than that. I think it runs in their family, as her brother made their cute and yummy looking wedding cake and cupcakes. LOVE THAT! But besides their beautiful day that they were totally blessed with, they are two of the sweetest, most sincere people alive.

We had an amazing day and are so glad to have share it with such a wonderful bunch...

Thanks guys... we hope Cali was awesome!!!


Here are some of my favorites and a slideshow from their day...

Dress: Macy's
Flowers: Patricia York (email me for her contact info)
Cake & Cupcakes: Brother of the Bride (" ")
DJ: Mike Staff Productions


Alexa is absolutely gorgeous!!!



Her younger brothers walked her down the aisle, LOVE that!!!



I LOVE this one... (The cross was carved in memory of Alexa's dad - what a beautiful piece!)



Mwahh...



After the ceremony, Todd got this shot of them going to hide out... Umm... can we say "Hired!"



They made this cute sacks full of water and cookies for the drive to the reception... adorable and so thoughtful!



Nathan... how handsome is he?!



Super fun guys...



What a beauty...



And all her girls were so sweet... (don't you recognize one of those bridesmaids???)



One of my favorites... EVER!



What a great location and couple for this...



I love one...



Sooo sweet...



Just beautiful! (This bench was a wedding gift... how come I didn't get one for our wedding... haha!)



This one is another favorite...



Look at those cakes... way to go brother!!!



Here is a slideshow with more of their day...

Happy Birthday Izzy!

Happy "Belated" Birthday to my little Izzy B!

I know she's not really MY child, but I seriously LOVE this kid.

This past weekend, we were in Indiana for less than 48 hours to shoot a wedding and the few hours I was able to hang out with my family was really nice. It was fun to be able to play silly games with Miss Izzy, and to be goofy. She even knows my name... how fun that is! Plus I was able to see a lot of old faces at the wedding.

I was able to get a few shots of the growing girl... since you all have seen her since she was a baby on here... might as well update as she grows up. She's such a showstopper!

Super cute...



And super funny...



Happy Wednesday!

Ethan :: 6 months

Traveling is fun, don't you think?

My only wish is that we all had teleport powers so we could get to our destination a LOT faster! Ha... well until someone invents that, we'll have to stick with driving, flying, biking, swimming, running, walking, and however else we chose to travel.

I do have to say that whenever I have a session, I usually have to travel anywhere from a few miles to quite a few miles... but just recently was probably my closest photo shoot ever, outside of my house that is. I walked 8 houses down to take some photos of our neighbor/good friend's little boy, Ethan. He's probably one of the best and best looking babies out there.... except for the day I came over to take some photos (of course, right?!) His mom thought he was probably teething because he was fussy, hot, and you could tell he just was not feeling like himself. But I did get a few of him being somewhat happy! Poor guy... hopefully, he feels better soon!

Here are just a few of my favorites...

Poor guy not feeling well... I'm sure we can all feel his pain...



He's trying to be happy...



Mom got him laughing by singing "Sskidamarink a dinky dink"... sooo cute!



Not quite sitting up, but sooo close!

John & Jennifer :: Engagements

U of M vs. State...

I guess you could consider me neutral.

There is so much rivalry for these two teams, it's a bit scary! I mean being as I'm from Indiana, I never really understood the difference, until I married a U of M fan. Michigan is so prideful of their sports and sports teams. I think it's great that you don't meet a lot of people up here that would consider themselves a fan of anything other than a team in Michigan, even football or maybe that's just Todd. He will never lose hope in them. Poor soul! Ha!

But John & Jennifer are Michigan fans, but as for the schools they root for... they are rival schools. I'm sure that makes life interesting. But believe it or not, they are engaged and soooo stinkin' happy! I met up with them a few weeks back and I have to say that it was one of the funnest sessions ever. They are so comfortable with each other and they definitely did not shy in front of the camera. John knows exactly what to do to make Jennifer laugh, and he even had me chuckling with all his facial expressions. Hilarious! I am so excited for their wedding... I'm sure it's going to be a blast!

Congratulations you two...

Here are some of my absolute favorites... even though I wanted to post them all!!!

John & Jennifer are the cutest couple... seriously, they have so much fun!





Adorable!



John is the Michigan fan and wanted his shirt to show more than Jennifer's... too funny!





John is so funny...



Sooo sweet...





I love all of them, but the next two are my favorites...





Haha... (John's Idea)

Absent for a Reason...

You know when you are just having a rough week, nothing seems to be going well at all...

Plain and simple, that was me last week.

I actually think it was contagious too because Todd was having a rough week as well, partially related to my stress, but he had some other stress of his own he was dealing with.

But it's a NEW week and we started off the new week great. We thought it was fair that we both just got out of town for a night, just to get away from our house, our work, and our kitchen project that seems to be the main focus right now. But getting away from it was just what we needed. We just hung out over there and enjoyed being away. I have to say I LOVE Grand Rapids due to their vegan friendly restaurants, super fun shops, college town atmosphere, and semi-mountainous hills to drive on. It was beautiful there. We basically just drove around and when we wanted to stop somewhere we did.... including our spontaneous, yet delicious stop picking the BEST blueberries ever! We now have 14 lbs. to last us all winter long. Let's hope they make it that long, I kind of doubt it will but oh well!



I am recharged and ready to go now....

Happy Tuesday!!!

Josh & Carrie :: Wedding

I'm excited to say that I finally feel like we are getting somewhere. I still feel just a tad bit overwhelmed, but I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel... just a glimmer at least.

Check out our progress...



Along with that, I'm excited for this post.

If you remember Todd's cousin Carrie getting engaged, well the big day finally arrived and I'm excited to share their day with you all. Their wedding was beautiful! I met Carrie and her girls over at one of her bridesmaid's house, and oh wow... such a beautiful place! It was raining a bit in the morning, but seriously, I think the heater was on the rest of the day because the humidity came on along with all that heat. I think we can all agree that "At least it didn't rain!" right? I sure am, although if you saw me that day, you might think I ran through a sprinkler about 10 times... I was a HOT mess. Haha! B

Their wedding was held over at Bloomfield Hills Baptist Church... what a gorgeous church. Carrie was another one of those brides who is super creative and talented and made so much of their stuff from the flowers, to the bows, to adding lace to her dress to make it look soooo unique and stunning. I couldn't believe it, but it's true! A-Mazing is all I have to say!

After the ceremony we stopped over in the Franklin, the cutest town ever with all their little historical shops, buildings, and cozy atmosphere. I loved it! We ended the night at their home church of Oak Pointe Church. It was the first time they had a reception in it... how cool to be the very first couple to have it there. We had a great time and it was fun to know so many people at their wedding... even though I was probably unrecognizable with the serious humidity look I was styling. Haha!

Congratulations you two... we love you both and couldn't be happier for you!!! Mwaaahhh.... xoxoxox!


Here are some of my favorites along with a slideshow from more of their day...

Dress: Maria's Bridal
Cakes: Fun Cakes
Flowers: Bride


Can you believe Carrie made all their flowers... Umm... can we say talented!!!



Carrie, you are gorgeous!!!



LOVED the girls... super bridesmaids!



Josh was handsome as ever...



Awesome guys as well... what a great bridal party!



So cute watching the guests arrive...





So excited...



And soooo happy...



Ha...



Beautiful...





My 2 FAV's from the day... something about these are just breathtaking...



Dancing as husband and wife... always such a special moment...




Here is a slideshow with more of their day...