“Get Excited!!!”

This is a phrase I heard about 100,000 times in college from my one of my favorite people and I miss it so very much. Meet my friend and college roomie Liz.. and her super great hubby Keith. When I think about this girl.. I’m flooded with so many memories and laughs I can’t help but smile. Like the time we decided randomly one night to hop on a plane with a backpack to NYC for the night, stay in a hostel and fly back the next day [we accidentally booked it for a month later instead of a day later.. but that's another story]. The bus dropped us off in the Bronx and here we are.. two bouncy, smiley girls in a very scary place. Oh.. I could go on. and on. and on.

OR the time we were led into an abandoned campus library at 4am and ended up running from a black bear from inside the building.. yeah. That happened.

I’m telling you.. this girl has filled my life with some of my favorite stories and I know she will do the same for their little one expected in a few months. I’m so thrilled she’s going to be a mama and I’m so thrilled to meet him.

One little detail I MUST add to this.. there is a image here with a mini Abe Lincoln finger puppet… my Liz LOVES Abe Lincoln [or did] so when I saw the finger puppet in a Knoxville kids boutique I HAD to get it! When she tells stories of the greatness of Abe.. she now has a prop.

Oh how I love this wedding and love this couple. It feels like only a few months ago that I met these two for the first time [when it was really last spring].. Justin is in the air force and was headed overseas for a long while so they had lots of time to plan. These two are super laid back, lots of fun and are so so very in love with one another. Love like that is inspiring, especially for a photographer. I’m thankful to have been asked to shoot their wedding and at the BEAUTIFUL Bleak House here in Knoxville. Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Everything was gorgeous! Congrats Amanda + Justin!! Yay.

I’m going to try to type this out without crying into a big puddle here in my office.. I simply ADORE this man in every way. This man taught me how to love.. with his love.. how to work hard.. with his hard working hands.. how to be cool.. with his swagger [Yes, my dad has swagger. It's all in the walk] and how to make the best PB&J you’ve ever experienced. When I look back on the fun and laughs we’ve shared I can’t help but want to live those childhood memories all over again.. and again.. and again. And today I find myself more and more like him every day. My adventurous spirit, love of all things fun, desire to live life to the ABSOLUTE max, my laid back nature [and complete intolerance for all things dramatic]… all come from my dad and OH how I’m thankful. I even laugh a bit when I’m 10 minutes late to EVERYTHING.. because I inherited that as well. I think it’s a gift to be exactly 10 minutes late to ABSOLUTELY everything! This man has the biggest heart I know and I could NOT love him more than I do. Now.. I can’t wait for my little kiddos to meet him someday and soak up all that love as well.. I hope he passes along every one of the qualities to them that he taught me [except maybe the late one. ]

Dad, thanks for all the hugs, all the love, all the lessons, all the snowmen, all the bandaids and the kisses to make it all better, for wiping my tears, for the long talks of wisdom when I was young, the constant protection… you are my hero and I adore you more than life.

So I’m coming to an interesting conclusion lately [after lots of LightRoom-ing over the last few months].. that NOTHING.. absolutely NOTHING tops great light. Great light has trumped a great background any day of the week. Take these two images for example.. very different lighting.. in the first shot the sun is behind a barn. I turned the couple with their backs to the barn to get the awesome aesthetic there with the old run-down building + beautiful bride contrast.. which I just love love and will walk 1/2 a mile to get it. The area was pretty dark [photographically speaking] with the shade of the trees and the barn blocking most of the sun… so I shot wide open and a little under exposed to avoid higher ISO than I wanted.. in LR later I bumped up the exposure and played with the contrast a bit until I liked it.

The second shot.. blows me away and its all because of the lighting. I faced the couple towards the sun [shaded by brush] and the light was amazing.. there were probably 100 cars behind them + my second shooter [which I had to edit out using the ol' trusty dust-spot remover in LR].

Allll that to say.. I am just in love with the lighting and color of the second shot.. even though it took a bit more work getting the cars out of there.. the color was perfect and my hunch was set in stone… LIGHTING wins over GREAT BACKGROUND any.. day.. of .. the .. week!

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Meet one of the most adorable couples I have ever met. These two are the kind of people you run across and know you’re life is better for having them in it. I so hope this isn’t the last time I run into them.
There is sooo much I loved about this wedding.. to start out with.. the officiant [CH] married my husband and I as well.. so hearing the ceremony brought me back to seriously the best day of my life.. I couldn’t stop smiling. Second, the location was capital A AH-MAZING! I had never heard about this place before and as soon as I drove up for the rehearsal my heart whispered YEEEESSSSSSSS! [napoleon dynamite style]. Glenmore Mansion is in Jefferson City and, if I remember correctly, only allows 2 weddings a year. Oh, how I hope this isn’t true.. I want to tell all of my future brides about it and try to convince them to marry here. Beautiful, historic mansion, beautiful trees, perfect potential for outdoor weddings [which are my very fav]. I love love love it! Along with all that good stuff the wedding party was so much fun, the decor was so perfect, the flowers were so beautiful + unique [plug here for my very talented wedding florist friend SASAFRASS FLOWERS click here for site ---> HERE] and the couple [have I mentioned how great the couple is? Oh yeah, I did].

CUTEST PART OF THE DAY! The groom, Jordan, LOVES Hope’s hair short and has been asking her to cut it for so long [she replied she was growing it out for the wedding]… the night before the wedding.. you guessed it.. she copped it all off AND IT … WAS.. PERFECT. It was kept a secret from him until the moment she walked down the isle. His face was priceless. I added a picture of this [before and after] at the end of this blog so you can see how absolutely cute it is. This is my favorite moment of the wedding season.

SECOND CUTEST PART OF THE DAY! As the couple was leaving the grandfather kept blowing bubbles in the car.. right up until the got into it.. even a little after.. this lasted about 10 minutes.. precious! I captured this as well.. so look for it.

THIRD CUTEST PART OF THE DAY! As I started to take formal shots of the bride and her brother.. the started making hilarious faces.. so brother + sister.. loved it… AND featured that one too.

I think you’ll [all 5 of you] will love this as much as I do!! Check it out!! Hope + Jordan..

I LOVE this wedding! Everytime I turned the corner I found a new, adorable detail that was perfect and added so much to the feel of the day. This wedding is definitely among the all time top-5 for me. Nothing could be more perfect than an outdoor ceremony AND an outdoor reception. I felt like I was shooting one of those weddings I see on the national wedding blogs. Gorgeous bride, gorgeous setting.. amazing people + family. This day was a GREAT day. Thanks Katie + Mike for giving me the chance to be a part of your MOST special day!!

i sure do love tennessee. one of my very favorite parts of living here is how close it is to the Great Smokey Mountains.. i was born an outdoor lover.. growing up with my dad taking me to the Smokeys almost every other weekend is probably the reason why.. but i just couldn’t love it anymore than i do. pair that love with the inability to sit still for too long and you’ve got a great sense of adventure. i’m lucky to have met and married a man who can’t sit still for very long either! so, we’re sitting on the couch on saturday afternoon just twiddling out thumbs racking our brains for something to do that night other than stay at the house. these were some of our unfruitful ideas.. 1] go kayaking.. take too long to get the yaks-racks on the car 2] go wakeboarding.. or even boating.. no boat [sold it last year.. bummer] .. we even considered renting a sail boat.. hmph. 4] buy a boat.. kind of disrupts the who “downsizing” thing we’ve got going on now 3] walk around downtown.. did that the night before…. then we remembered that the fireflies [lightning bugs for those of us in the south] were doing their little mating dance @ Elkmont in the Smokies! Bingo!! I wish I had a camera by my side to capture the look on our faces! And we were off!

Every year for 2 weeks in the summer there is a certain breed of firefly that mates around the Elkmont campground in the Smokies. Right when it gets completely dark they begin to blink in unison. Think, Christmas lights. Hundreds and thousands of fireflys blinking all at once. It was one of the COOLEST things we’ve ever seen. We are just nerdy enough to adore them. I tried to get a pictures of them on my bulb setting.. without any luck.. just a black frame. This is FOR SURE something you need to see for yourself! If you can get past the long long lines for the trolleys to take you up there.. and the completely obnoxious people around you saying “it’s-just-a-bunch-a-bugs” or the folks ACTUALLY trying to take flash pictures of the bugs and scaring them away [big WOW to this one]… then you will LOVE LOVE LOVE them! They will be taking shuttles from the Sugarlands Visitor Center to Elkmont until the 19th I believe [check to make sure]. And get there around 5:30 – 6:00… [shuttles start at 7] or you may not even be able to get on the trolley.

Happy Bug Watching!!

this was a great adventure! i love that my career takes me to so many fun places and in the company of such interesting people. for the last two years I’ve been shooting weddings in the e. tennessee area.. occasionally i’d journey over to nashville for a saturday wedding.. but this has been the longest and most exciting journey i’ve had the chance to make thus for.. OHIO! not only was the drive beautiful and curiously flat [for this e. tn. native].. my travel partner might have been the best part! my dear sweet friend, anna hedges [click here for website] rode along the road to urbana, oh with me.. singing, dancing, story-telling all the way. great travel partner! a few of her images are featured on this post.

i do adore this couple so much. last fall i had the pleasure of meeting christine + jim in asheville, nc where we shot their engagements at the beautiful biltmore mansion. ugh.. stunning. these two have such sweet hearts and a sweet love for one another! they probably thought i was capital C crazy when i drove them to a random field for pictures.. but they turned out to be some of my favorites to date. i kinda fell in love with ohio during this excursion and kinda can’t wait to go back. until then..