Ocala | Florida

We got to meet Sarah and Roger this last weekend at their home in gorgeous Ocala (which takes much longer to drive to than google maps led us to believe, sorry guys) for their big red barn engagement session. Both Nate and I were excited because Sarah had made our lives easy by deciding on a theme for her portraits and even finding the perfect barn to shoot at! (Thanks Sarah's friend's neighbor!) Can I please, for a second, tell you all how much I LOVE having some sort of theme for these sessions? It doesn't have to be anything super detailed, even something as simple as a big red barn can give us such inspiration and can keep all the images cohesive. I am so in love with these frames from their session. It doesn't help that I'm listening to my "I love country" playlist while I edit these. Now I'm all nostalgic for horses, homemade cornbread, big open fields, and rugged old barns... le sigh....

Yeah, we know... "GQ called and they want Roger back" ;)


The good stuff...


I can't lie, I'm really excited about this one...


Sexy legs...


Oh FAVORITE! FAVORITE! FAVORITE!



I can't get Nate to listen to country music but I still sneak it while he's gone and I'm at home working.
And in case anyone is curious, here is my "I Love Country" Playlist, for your listening pleasure:

.Bad Things / Jace Everett (True Blood theme song, hello yum!)
.Nothin' Better to Do / LeAnn Rimes (Because I like the sassiness)
.Flat On the Floor / Carrie Underwood
.Last Name / Carrie Underwood (This one cracks me up)
.Down in Mississippi / Sugarland (A favorite since freshman year of college)
.Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy / Big & Rich (How can you not love this?)
.Honky Tonk Badonkadonk / Trace Adkins
.Boondocks / Little Big Town
.Kerosene / Miranda Lambert
.Rough & Ready / Trace Adkins
.Jacked Up / Gretchen Wilson
.Tim McGraw / Taylor Swift (I'll admit it, she tells good stories)
.Before He Cheats / Carrie Underwood
.Moments / Emerson Drive
.She's Everything / Brad Paisley (Swoonsauce)
.Want To / Sugarland
.Stay / Sugarland (Sugarland may be my favorite country band)
.Would You Go with Me / Josh Turner (His voice is like butter!)

JW Marriott Grand Lakes | Orlando | Florida

I would love to write something eloquent and amazing to describe these two and their elegant sage and champagne colored wedding but the words just aren't coming. I can't do it justice. Laura and Chris are so genuine, sweet, fun, go with the flow, and trusting that I can't even sufficiently explain to you how wonderful it was to be there to document their day and be blessed by their friendship. They completely trusted us with their photography and that freedom allowed us to really get creative and have fun with their images and we are so excited about how everything came out! We had such a wonderful time celebrating with them and with Laura Pennington, The JW's senior event manager, at the wheel, the day went off without one delay or hitch. Seriously people, she was a whirlwind of smiling efficiency! The entire staff at the JW were perfection. They even whipped me up my own fried green tomato sandwich since the regular vendor meal had turkey in it. How's that for being amazing?! Thanks JW! It was delicious! Our favorite wedding DJ's, White Rose Entertainment, spun beats all night long keeping everyone shaking their tail feathers and the ever impressive Lee James provided all the gorgeous floral arrangements.

I love this...


Little details..






Studio222 Photography officially supports bromances










Mmmm...drama...




Hello fiery sunset, it's nice to have you joining us tonight...




:)






I love every one of these...


Hm, decisions, decisions...


Steamy...


Hello handsome.




Goodnight!

Winter Springs | Florida

Christie and Ked are headed off on a cruise to Grand Cayman and Cozumel (you're going to looooove it!) but I wanted to get at least these few pictures up for them to see before they leave....

Yup, you guessed it. They got married on July 11th. You know that that means: free slurpees! When we pulled into the 7-11 there was a big sign that read "Out of free slurpee cups". We decided to try anyway. ("Sign? What sign? We're all so delirious with wedded bliss that we didn't even see a sign!") To our delight, the 7-11 attendant gifted us all slurpees but that wasn't my favorite part. My favorite part was that not one person in the 7-11 even looked up at the sight of a woman in her white wedding dress gliding through the store. Check out the man behind them- totally focussed on the slurpee! Apparently this particular 7-11 has a pretty regular influx of brides, so, you know, it's no big thing... ;)

My favorite from the day...



Have a fantastic cruise guys! And thank you so much for inviting us along on your most special of days. You are both such absolutely beautiful people, it can't help but shine through in every photograph! We felt completely loved and trusted and had such a fun time celebrating with you both. I can't wait to show you guys the dancing pictures, you all tore it up on that dance floor. Have lots of frosty, fruity, delicious tropical drinks, soak up tons of sun, and take lots of pictures (if you leave your room) ;) But above all, enjoy being the new Mr. & Mrs. P!

I had another post scheduled for today but some unexpected moments toward the end of the week left me feeling inspired to write this one instead. (Don't worry, you'll see what was supposed to go here soon enough.)

There is something that we all share. An experience so organic that every human being can understand it because they have all felt it. It is that moment when you put yourself out there and wait...

As someone chasing her dreams down on a daily basis, I'm smacked in the face with this experience every few minutes, like sets of waves crashing in on me and never ceasing. I know I am not alone. As photographers, we wear our hearts on our sleeves (or blogs, or websites....) because we wear it through our art. And that is a good thing, because everyone needs an artist that is as emotionally invested in the process as they are. And that is something that, for someone as emotionally invested as I am, can be continually terrifying.

I wanted to share a song with you all that has become extremely dear to my soul. It's by an amazing artist named Amy Seeley. I think that Amy's lyrics speak beautifully to anyone that is pursuing a dream or a goal or is putting themselves out there for the world. Artists, dream-chasers, and everyone in between... know that everything that you dream is beloved. Have a wonderful weekend.

*lyrics by Amy Seeley

Wekiva Springs | Florida

Nate and I used to have adventure days on Mondays. We would pack up a camera, some extra clothes, and some snacks and head out to one of the many state parks in Central Florida for the day to explore and play and take pictures of butterflies, dragonflies, exotic wildflowers, and on lucky days... gators and wild boar. Those days were especially special to us since we just got to run away together for the morning and spend quality time together. When Dana contacted us to ask if we'd be interested in shooting her elopement in Wekiva Springs we were all, "Does Stevie Wonder wear sunglasses?" Oh yeah!

We have been so excited for Dana and Jame's elopement for months now! We had been dying (read: DYING) to get to shoot an elopement so when Dana emailed me to ask if it would be possible to tack a trash the dress session after the ceremony I was hearing heavenly choruses. (Hallelujah!) This was like a dream come true. I don't know why more people don't do this. Looking through the images put huge, goofy grins on our faces because the entire morning was just so much fun. It was ridiculously hard to choose just a few images to share as a sneak peak. I hope Dana and James (and their family- hi MOM!) enjoy these 10 teaser images...

Locationgasm






You do? Me too!


Looovvveee this...


Oh Hello, Favorite


Ring shots (Behind the scenes)


And bam- guest star!




Bring on the rain...