Matthew,
I write this blog post in honor of you.
Five short days after our anniversary always comes one thing...
The glorious day of your birth.
Today we celebrate as you turn 28. A mile marker on the highway of the long life I intend to spend with you.
It's hard to believe it's already been three years. Realistically four years.
Three years since I sat nervously in my hotel room, having my hair done, putting on a white dress.
Three years since I walked down that long grass aisle to meet up with your embrace I had been waiting for all day.
Three years since I married you, my best friend.
Photo By: Mike Taylor Photography
As many of you know I am the owner of one:
Very adorable
Very furry
Spoiled Brat
Man-Diva
Yorkie named Buddy. He tends to be a snuggle-butt. And frequently can be found in the arms of my mother snuggling like a professional.
So maybe my birthday is still 2.5 months away.
So maybe my mom has an Amazon.com addiction.
So maybe she also has a problem with keeping secrets + waiting until holidays + events to give people gifts.
I do not care! Today something came in the mail and it was supposed to be my birthday present. And for those of you who don't know, my birthday is June 16th. So we still have a ways to go.
At first when she pulled it out of the box I thought it was a real lens. I just thought to myself, "How the heck did she afford that?!" For those of you who don't know, this lens costs around $2,500! So I was wondering who she killed to get that kind of money just handy!
Today something came in the mail, and for me, it's like a Mini-Christmas.
Printed Products.
For some reason, I love it when printed products come in the mail. It's like something I dreamed up in my head + designed on the computer is a reality.
Today my baby shower invites came in the mail. I used my baby gender announcement photos for my baby shower invites; and I was pretty proud of them if I do say so myself.
Okay, for those of you "non-Hoosiers" out there. We have a common phrase here in Indiana.
"If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes, it will change."
And as everyone knows, it's supposed to be spring. (Or at least according to the calendars, that's what it says.)
Last year, we had record highs of 80 degrees on St. Patrick's Day. And now today we have this...
Sunday mornings. That lazy day of the week that even as a busy family of wedding photographers and hard workers we still have time to enjoy.
Usually, our family isn't one for too much tradition. But as of lately we have developed at least one.
CINNAMON ROLLS!
Alright guys, FINALLY, the last installment of our 2012 favorites! This is our top 20 favorite moments of 2012. These are definitely some of our more fun + touching moments.
Without further adieu, let's take it away with number 20!
20.
Okay, so we're still late to the game. But I did promise to finish posting our 2012 favorites!
I've been trying to do this for the past 2 years and, dang it, I am DETERMINED to get them finished this year!
So, no more delaying here is part 2 of 3 of our 2012 Favorites :: DETAILS! Our top 20 favorite detail photos from 2012!
20.
Okay, so I'm a little late to the party but I am now officially, for the first time, posting my top favorite photos from 2012. This will happen in three installments:
First up, the top 30 best photos for weddings and engagements for the year of 2012! Let's take it away with number 30. (To be honest, the order isn't really exact. I couldn't decide on an order, I loved them all so much!)
30.
Most people celebrate New Years Eve with confetti, hats, and libations of the bubbly variety. But instead of that this year Matt + I rang in the New Year with this lovely couple. Jane + Matt live in Massachusetts but most of Matt's family lives here in Indianapolis. Because of this they decided to have a very intimate wedding with 30 of their closest family and friends on New Year Eve at The Conrad Indianapolis Hotel. It was a beautifully simple cermony in The Conrad's art museum.
This is one of my favorite photos of them. So happy to finally be married after all of the planning + craziness of this day!
Check out the rest of their New Years Eve celebration!
When Danielle contacted me to photograph her rock concert themed wedding at The Murat in Downtown Indianapolis, it was like the photography Gods were shining down on the both of us. With a last name like Santana you can imagine my husband + I share a love for all things rock n' roll!
I loved all of the rockin' details at this wedding. From a first look at The Hard Rock Café to a guitar for a guest book this wedding had all of the details for their untraditional rock concert wedding!
This is one of my favorite photos of them, just after their first look, sitting on the stage at The Hard Rock holding the guitar they later used as their guest book. Just perfect!
Check out the rest of their ROCKIN' wedding!
They say it's a small world. I'm not sure who "they" is but I think they're probably with Disney. I mean Disney did write that song after all. (Now I'll bet you're hearing, "it's a small world after all!")
Anyways, off of my small world/Disney tangent. It's a small world because when Heather contacted me I swore her name sounded familiar to me. And I swore I went to school with her. And like any good photographer I'm a professional Facebook creeper. Err, *cough*, I mean "investigator." Yeah, that sounds much better than creeper. So I looked her up. Saw she was engaged to John. Saw her profile picutre and said, "I KNOW HER!" Next thing my husband knew I was rapidly flipping through high school yearbooks until I found her senior picture! And there it was, we went to the same high school! And to think, when she contacted me she didn't even know who I was!
Like I said, small world!
So when we decided to do their engagement session she said she wanted something natural and earthy. So we went with the Indianapolis Art Center in Broad Ripple and then Fort Benjamin Harrison State Park.
Check out more of their earthy engagement session. It's pretty adorbs.
(And yes, I just said adorbs.)
Loretta + Blake where do I start with this super cute couple?! Blake is such a sweetheart even if he barely says a single word! And Loretta has such attention to detail but is so much fun + possibly the nicest person I've ever met! They make such a perfect couple together. It's very obvious that they had been waiting awhile for this day and I felt so honored to have been there with them on their special day!
Loretta + Blake had a beautifully planned entirely outdoor wedding with several antique details hand-picked by Loretta from several trips to several antique shops.
They had their wedding at a location in Kokomo called The O-ACE-IS, at first glimpse it may not seem like much. But it's blank canvas of outdoor greenery equipped with a small pond, large bridge, and outdoor reception space creates for a beautiful wedding location that can be decorated to any decor taste!
Poor Loretta almost cried several times on her wedding day because unfortunately all day, up until the ceremony, Hurricane Issac gave a rain, rain, and a little more rain. Who says Indiana doesn't get the effects of hurricanes?
I think although it rained and the day didn't turn out exactly how Loretta had envision, it was a beautiful wedding and at the end of the day they were married and were able to begin their lives together.
This is one of my favorite moments of the day, check out the rest of their beautiful "country chic" wedding!
Although I've only met Bri + Kyle briefly I can already tell their love for each other stretches miles.
Literally.
Bri lives here in Indianapolis while Kyle works as a Graduate Assistant Basketball Coach at Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas.
So yeah, miles.
We actually scheduled their engagement session within a couple of days and were able to pull off an amazing urban engagement session in Downtown Indianapolis before he had to leave to go back to Texas!
Check out the rest of their awesome engagement session!
First, I must say three things:
I LOVE all of the photos we took at this wedding. We were short on time because the ceremony took longer than it was slated to end. Which happens. It's cool. We made it work. What was awesome about this wedding was the couple. Because even though we had little time to do bride + groom photos, they made every single photo work!
First, I would like to say, I have wanted to do an Indiana State Fair session ever since I started my photography business. So I would like to THANK Kelsey + Ryan for stepping up to the plate, trusting my judgement + letting me do something completely creative + awesome! So let's start off with two of my favorite things, ferris wheels + lens flares! ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS PHOTO!
When I photographed Joan + Jim's proposal I knew that this wedding was going to be wonderful! Joan + Jim have been long time friends of ours, of course, we were more than thrilled when they asked us to photograph their engagement photos + wedding!
They had an outdoor gazebo wedding in the small town of Vermillion, OH, just outside of Cleveland. Then the reception moved to a lodge-styled reception venue on Lake Erie, complete with a beautiful view of the water. Choosing just 11 photos of this wedding was definitely not easy.
This is one of my favorite photos of the two of them. I loved the cute little fire deptartment right next to the adorable park with the gazebo they shared their vows.
Check out the rest of their amazingly fun wedding!
Cowboy boots. Wide open spaces. Old barns. Covered bridges. Old Railroad Brides.
These are things Loretta asked to be in her and her fiancée, Blake's country chic Kokomo engagement session. Perfectly curated to match their wedding they had been planning for almost a year.
We met for an afternoon in early April to photograph their loveliness together. Starting at this old broken down railroad bridge. I do love old and broken down things.
Check out our first 2012 wedding! We're pretty pumped!
Carrie + Nick are super fun and Nick had the same sense of humor as me (Jackie) which is either a good thing or a bad thing. We have decided yet. Hehe.
Check out the amazingness of their beautiful day!
This is one of my favorite photos of them. I love their candid smiles. (I think Nick was telling her something... dirty.
