The day after Alicia and Michael's wedding, I photographed the beautiful Aubrey for her Trash the Dress Session.  Aubrey is one of my dearest friends ... not to mention my favorite model :-).  As a matter of fact, that is how we met a decade ago.  She was in the hallway of my college (she went through the photography program as well) and I stopped and asked her if I could photograph her.  She said yes and the rest is history.  I have had the pleasure to photograph Aubrey many, many times over the years and last year I had the ultimate privilege of documenting her wedding.  Well, we have talked about a Trash the Dress Session ever since and decided this was a great opportunity to do it.

Aubrey does not particularly consider herself an outdoorsy type of gal like myself, but as usual she followed me deep into the recesses of the Florida wilderness to create these amazing images.  We traveled to Wekiwa Springs State Park in Orlando.  This is one of hundreds of fresh water springs that dot Florida ... the waters are crystal clear with beautiful shades of blue and emerald.  As idealistic as that may sound, it is still the Florida wilderness.  Aubrey braved alligators, no-see-ums (nasty little bugs that leave nasty little bites), very large wolf spiders that love to hide in the tulle of a wedding dress, and those sounds that emanate around you, unseen, praying on the imagination, and still she continued on for the sake of her photos ... amazing!!  I am so proud of you Aubs :-).

No doubt though, the photos are well worth it!  She even did the "wet hair flip" for me ... over and over and over again - just like she did in one of our very first shoots together.  Aubrey I adore these images ... thank you soooooo much for trusting me to not let you be attacked by spiders :-).  You hold a very special place in my heart and I will never tire of using you as one of my models.  Hope you and Phillip love them!!  Love you!!

Side note:  For anyone interested in these types of shoots, we highly suggest them.  They are great fun and you don't necessarily have to "Trash" your dress.  After everything Aubrey did (including riding in a canoe to get to some of the locations), she only ended up with a small grass stain at the bottom of her dress ... something easily fixed by a good dry clean.  Plus you get to feel like a model for a day ... what fun!!
  

We love destination weddings - it is so much fun to travel somewhere new and get to do wedding photography at the same time!  It is also so nice to have a couple that you meet for the very first time on the day of the wedding, yet feel like you have been longtime friends.  This is how it was when we met Alicia and Michael on March 7th.

Their wedding was held at the Mirror Lake Lyceum in Saint Petersburg, Florida and was such a ball.  The historic building (built in the 1920's) was very charming and the architecture was beautiful.  The ceremony was very close to sunset, but we still had a chance to sneak outside during the cocktail hour for a fun little photo shoot :-).

The reception was ... how shall I say ... insane!!  Everyone had a very, very, very good time - no matter the age, it was a good ol' time for all.  We love receptions like this one - never a dull moment :-).  At the end of the night, Alicia and Michael were picked up by a horse drawn carriage and taken on a beautiful midnight ride.  The horse's name was Duke and we loved his hooves - painted with green glitter for St. Patty's Day ... so cute!

Alicia and Michael, thank you so much for choosing us as your wedding photographers!  It was such a pleasure meeting you both and being a part of your wonderful day ... enjoy!!
 

This posting is a little long in coming.  I went out of town right after this wedding and have been gone ever since - more postings to come on that.

Erin and Erich got married at the end of February in Phoenix and we are so glad to have been chosen as their wedding photographers.  Their ceremony was held at the All Saints Catholic Newman Center at ASU.  I loved the architecture of the church.  The reception was held at one of our favorite venues - the Desert Botanical Gardens.  This place is so beautiful at any time but it is exceptionally lovely right now.  They are featuring a spectacular display that covers the entire gardens called, Chihuly: The Nature of Glass.  The Glass Sculptures that adorn the gardens are nothing short of inspirational - plus they made for wonderful photographic backdrops :-).

Erin and Erich, you looked AMAZING and the wedding was wonderful ... love the pink and green umbrellas you supplied to your guests by the way - what fun props :-).  We have really enjoyed working with you both and hope you enjoy the sneak peak!

Side note:  We had one of our digital cameras converted over to infrared ... we have always loved the unique look of infrared ... and got to use it for the first time at this wedding.  We LOVED it!!  You can recognize the unique look of infrared by the white foliage and black skies.  We can either shoot these photos in color or black & white.  Also, a special thank you to Joyce for assisting at this wedding - as usual she did a fantastic job!!

Jodie and Ben have fast become two of our favorite clients ... and friends :-).  To say they have treated us well is a gross understatement.  They are beyond thoughtful and a pure joy to know!!  You may remember them from their amazing wedding back in November at the Wyndham in downtown Phoenix.  Well, we finally got around to their day-after shoot and it was such a blast!

 

They decided they wanted to have it in Sedona as this was initially where Ben wanted to have their wedding ... this way they get the best of both worlds :-).  Their great friend, Sam came along too.  She did Jodie's make-up (as she did on the wedding day) and did an amazing job ... a real talent - she also made a pretty darn good photography assistant too :-).  We started at Red Rock Crossing and ended at Merry-Go-Round Rock.  Jodie and Ben love the theater and we really love these photos because they seem to do a good job of reflecting their personalities.  We hope you both agree!

 

It was so wonderful seeing the two of you again!  Thank you for dinner and Jodie, if you really want to have some Trash-the-Dress photos in the creek we would be happy to do those for you when it gets warmer (you would have frozen to death this time round) - no more checks though, this one would be on us :-).  Enjoy!!

 

Let me provide you with some background on this one.  Shannon contacted us this past year inquiring about photography for her upcoming wedding.  She and her husband, Adam are already leagally married, but they finally wanted to have a formal event.  She was planning their wedding in Payson for this past December in hopes that she would have a "winter wonderland" setting - something she has always wanted.  Then life took over and long story short ... their wedding is on hold.  So for now, since Shannon already has her beautiful dress, we decided to offer them a "Day-After" shoot sometime when we knew a good snow storm was coming.  This past Sunday that storm arrived and we headed to Payson to meet up with them.

 

We have always wanted to do a shoot like this ... in a winter storm while the snow is still falling.  We have also always wanted to use colorful umbrellas to off-set an otherwise monochomatic landscape.  It was such a joy working with a couple who actually shared the same visions.  We also had fun making snowmen for various props :-).

 

All-in-all it was a really fun day.  Shannon, you did an amazing job!!  Truth-be-told, Shannon and Adam live in Phoenix and were both extremely cold, but they really wanted these wedding photos and definitely went the extra mile to get them.  You were both a joy to work with and we can't wait to one day photograph the formal event!  Enjoy ... and by the way, thanks for going along with some of our quirkier ideas :-)!!