Mark and Erika

I had the privilege of photographing one of my oldest and dearest friends last week. Erika and I have been friends since some time in elementary school when she got off the boat from Italy - I mean New York - and headed to FL. She and I lived just blocks away from each other and went through braces phases, big ugly hair phases, dumb guy phases, sneaking out the window phases (she made me do it) and everything in between. She always made me late for school. I would wait for her as she blow dried her hair yelling "NO MAH, I AM NOT CHANGING OUT OF THIS SKIRT!" or something like that, I really just remember the "mah" part. She reminds me that I was the one getting her into trouble while she protested and wanted to follow the rules. Which brings to mind that I think she stayed in while we snuck out. Goody two shoes. She swears I drove her (in reverse the whole time) the 6 blocks from her house to mine on several occasions. (I remember nothing of the sort.) We were cheerleaders together until we decided that wasn't cool anymore. Finally came graduation from high school -go scorps (insert feigned school spirit here and did you know I love parenthesis?)
Now she gives me her daughter's hand-me-downs and my daughter goes nuts over the Hannah Montana shirts. I am also a much better girl and have stopped sneaking out. Times have changed but I am blessed to still have Erika's friendship and to see her engaged to a great guy (who also went to HS with us but was too busy with lame stuff like sports.) She has been super weirded out about being on the blog as if "everyone" is going to see it. She doesn't get that only my mom and I look at this and I even have to call and say "Mom, have you looked at the blog?" She always says "No I'll look tonight honey." I'm not sure she ever does but part of that is because she keeps forgetting how to use a computer. She does love me, I swear.
Anyway, I think Erika's just being modest.

This one above was our favorite. We ended up ordering it in the color-ish version (up top) on metallic paper, mounted to a standout. Nice. I still like this BW one too.

Mark and Erika have tatoos. The serious ones, not like us lame-o's who got one little thing while backpacking through Europe and totally hate it now. Lame-o is my favorite word lately and I don't know why or how that happened. So, I brought in some haze here so you could see Mark's arm.

Erika's going to say she looks pale here and she's going to hate that I included one that shows her off so much. But the light is in the post processing and I like it because everything else here is DARK and also because she looks beautiful and Mark looks adoring.

I noticed I forgot this one above last night and duh when I love it so much.

Dark and moody but that's my girl anyway. I like this one.

This just in, my convo with mom this morning:
"Mom, I wrote about you in the last two blog entries."
"Really honey? How do I get to the blog?"
sigh.

Jenna and Dave

I met Jenna and Dave at Gleason Park in Indian Harbour Beach last weekend for their engagement shoot. Their wedding is coming up in March at Juan Ponce De Leon Landing in Melbourne Beach with a reception following right next to Gleason at the Indian Harbour Beach Community Center. I knew they were friends with my friends Levys, but by the end of our session I had discovered we have all kinds of common friends like Noel and Matthew, and Allison and Josh (shot their engagement but they aren't on the blog, only the web site.) It's fun to notice what a small world (or town?) we have! These guys are super cute together and although you can't tell, it was probably less than 50 degrees, and windy, during our session!

Eric and Melissa

I shot Eric and Melissa's engagement session around downtown Melbourne last week. It was chilly and I can't believe it is still cold! I have never seen such a long streak of cold weather here and I am a Florida native! Anywho... We wandered around, got kicked off the railroad tracks by (of all things) a train and these guys were just so cooperative as we climbed, sat, got dirty and probably even a little embarrassed. I'll shoot their wedding this October at the Hilton in Indialantic. In the meantime, Eric lives in NY and Melissa will be relocating there soon. So we had to get this session done in the small window they were both in FL! Enjoy the highlights!

Leigh and Geoff - Engagement

I had the pleasure of photographing Leigh and Geoff's engagement earlier this week. They were here all the way from Lexington, Kentucky and even though they have already booked their wedding with me as well, we had yet to meet in person. So, it was great to finally meet them and get to know each other some. They even brought their cute dog (Daisy?) with them for a few "family" pics. Looking back through a session is like watching a movie for the second time. If it was a good one, you notice things you didn't notice the first time and enjoy it all over again. That's how this blog entry was for me, the photos just make me smile, what a cute and fun couple! Little did they know that the very next day all their wedding plans would fall apart (location wise.) I won't mention any names there but I will mention the new locations which I am super excited about. They will marry in April at the Windemere Inn with their reception following at Dijon's in Melbourne Beach. Enjoy your highlights and Happy New Year!!!!

Chris and Jennifer

I got together with Chris and Jennifer for their engagement photography session at the FIT gardens last weekend. I will be shooting their wedding in St. Augustine coming up and I always like to get to know my bride and groom ahead of time - it is sooo much better to shoot a wedding from a relational foundation than to just show up having never met each other before! That's why my engagement sessions are free with my wedding coverage. Speaking of wedding coverage, there are some changes going on there. I'm switching album manufacturers (again) and determined with this search for it to be the last. I am going to find you the best possible products with the best possible options for every budget and these books will knock your socks off. Once I make my decision and order some samples, I'll post photos here.
Well, I had a great time with this cute couple and I'm really excited about their wedding in my favorite place EVER - St. Augustine! (Lightner Museum ceremony and Columbia reception - yippee!)

Kelly and Chez

I shot Kelly and Chez's engagement session on Melbourne Beach last week. They just moved to Melbourne from Tallahassee and will be here until they are married in November and then relocate up North. I'd met Kelly during our initial consult regarding their wedding photography but hadn't met Chez yet and so discovered during our session that we are both Flagler College grads and enjoyed some of the same professors there as well as Young Life in St. Augustine. So fun! Kelly and Chez are a sweet young couple and I'm really excited to shoot their upcoming wedding!

The beach has been doing interesting things lately with all these little tide pools...