Remember Lindsay and Joe’s wedding, that I posted just a few short days ago?  Yeah, that wedding was selected as a Featured Real Wedding on the ISPWP website!

What an incredible honor, really - the ISPWP is an organization of Professional Wedding Photographers that I am so proud to be part of, as the selection criteria is very stringent, and each member is reviewed by a panel of industry professionals.  I sit on one of the judging panels, and I can tell you that more applicants are denied membership than accepted - so that fact that I was invited in the first place makes me really proud.

This has been a wonderful week!!!

I’m so excited!  This weekend I head to the beautiful state of Washington to photograph Mary Lee and Dave’s wedding in Yakima (about two hours inland from Seattle).  This image is from my last trip to the area, New Year’s 2007.  Two Seattle icons in one frame.

I’ll either do the Hendrix/Cobain/Pike’s Market thing this time, or I’ll do a full-on scenic roadtrip the day after the wedding - depends on whether an old school friend from Maui (who now lives in northern Washington) can make it down on Monday to hang out with me or not.  Either way, expect plenty of photos - wedding *and* sightseeing - sometime next week!

I’ll have access to email the entire time I’m gone, but I may not be very speedy with replies!  I’m officially back in town Tuesday afternoon.

So not only is she writing little love notes to me, she’s also losing her teeth.  Already.  And do you see that spray of freckles across her nose?  And the beauty mark above her lip?

SIGH.

Although I’ll admit that watching her grow up so quickly is a little gut-wrenching, and for purely selfish reasons.  Ellie handed this note to me a few minutes ago.

ceremony and reception: kure beach, north carolina
catering: bon appetit, wilmington nc
flowers: island florals by roxanne
officiate: reverend jean rowe
cake: sweet t’s cakes
brilliant second shooting provided by: betsy cole photography

Gorgeous day, gorgeous couple, gorgeous location, and families that made you feel right at home, right away. Bon Appetit did a magnificent job with the food, as usual, and Taylor of Sweet T’s created another textbook perfect Sweet T’s cake. Everything was ideal, and completely casual and laid back - my kind of event. Thank you guys so much for having me and Betsy there for your day! We really enjoyed every minute of working with you, and loved being part of your families for a few hours!

Fort Fisher, North Carolina - April 2009

location: downtown wilmington, north carolina

This was just a quick session to grab images for their Save the Date cards. The “real” engagement session is coming up in the next few days!

my currently commissioned wedding and travel schedule for 2009:

March 20-22 : Milwaukee WI
April 4 : Richmond VA
April 28-May 3 : Wilmington NC
May 23-25 : Yakima WA
June 13 : Outer Banks
June 26-28 : Richmond VA
July 11 : Greenville VA
July 18 : Charlottesville VA
August 15 : Wilmington NC
September 26 : Hot Springs NC
October 10 : Edenton NC
October 11 : Richmond VA
October 17 : Wilmington NC
October 25 : Charleston SC

Bear with me as I get the kinks worked out of the new blog!

Coming soon: New logo! New splash page! New website colors! New posts, with my Bride’s Choice Favorite Images from 2008! Lots of good stuff now that winter’s ending and a new wedding season is starting! So… stay tuned!

It snowed a whole INCH in Wilmington on Tuesday! Absolutely treacherous conditions, causing schools to close and leaving us stranded in our homes to watch the snowfall and hope for the best.

Ellie was THRILLED - she’s never seen snow, and I had been planning on a trip to the mountains for skiing this winter (a surprise broken big toe might screw up those plans…). Sometime Tuesday afternoon, Ellie asked me to grab the camera and take pictures of her in the snow. We didn’t have enough snow to make snowballs, snowmen, or snow angels… but she caught a few flakes on her tongue and danced in it like Winona Ryder in Edward Scissorhands. Cool kid.

Here are a few shots from Ellie in the blizzard…

Do you know Tom Rhodes? If not, you should. His music is *awesome*, you totally need to buy his CDs, add his dates to your calendar, and be a groupie.

Morgan is a *fabulous* graphic artist - she’s currently working on my new logo for me, and I really could NOT be happier about it - she’s so talented, and intuitive, and everything you want in an artist.

I could not imagine a more perfect couple. I’m not just saying that for free tickets to his shows, either.

We met up tonight at the Cape Fear Fair & Expo here in Wilmington, and just goofed off for a couple hours. Can I just tell you - it is NOT EASY to hold on to a camera, focus, expose AND shoot while going practically vertical on a carnival ride!

Anyway… I had tons of fun with you guys! I’ll see you next week!

(putting on lipstick to take the “what kind of kisser are you?” test at the Mary Kay booth. Tom is a Divine Diva, and Morgan is an Expressionista. I didn’t take the test.)

In 14 years she’ll be old enough to vote.

Today, she’s just enjoying a day off of school.

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays, right behind Cinco de Mayo. So I was pretty pumped about carving a deliciously spooky jack o’ lantern with the bean this year. She had never carved a pumpkin before… so she had no idea that it was so MESSY. She opted out of the cleaning part, but we decided she was the best person to design the spooky face. I carefully carved it exactly as she drew it, pig nose and all.

Happy Halloween!

after a VERY long day of updating all my image galleries on my website, it was time for a break.

ICE CREAM!!!!!

Ellie flirted her way into a pineapple-coconut-something-something sherbet, and she picked out a scoop of pistachio for me. After all these weeks of nonstop travel, shooting, and editing… it was pretty cool to hang out at Baskin Robbins with the bean, talking about how tall grandpa is and how he’s probably at least twenty-one years old. Good times.