Destination weddings seemed to be the big thing for us this year and 2009 was one of our best years yet!!  It has also been one of our toughest due to the amount of travel we did.  From St. Petersburg, Florida to Orlando, Florida and West Palm Beach, Florida; the Giant Sequoias of California and the Great Lake shores of Michigan to a final south of the border destination in Puerto Penasco, Mexico, we saw a good deal of this country and beyond this year and it was spectacular!!!  The constant travel and lack of time behind the computer can be difficult to manage but the rewards are great ... at least for us.  We LOVE traveling and shooting a wedding in a far off place if simply a bonus!  New destinations rejuvenate us and nuture our creativity.  We thank all of our destination clients, most of whom we had never had the opportunity to meet until the day of the wedding, for trusting us not only to show up to a distant venue, but with the awesome responsibility of capturing the memories made on one of the most important days of their lives.  The latter applies equally to all of our wonderful clients ... you are all AMAZING and we are so blessed to share in your wedding celebrations!

With that we have compiled a slideshow of about 250 of our favorite shots of 2009.  There are many beautiful couples as well as some wonderful animal counterparts including gobs of adorable dogs and cats, majestic horses and one very friendly - and curious - praying mantis!  We hope you enjoy viewing the moments as much as we enjoyed creating them :-)!

Please click on the link provided to view the slideshow.  If you entered our blog through our website, turn off the music on the website so it doesn't conflict with music on the slideshow.

Best of 2009 Slideshow

Amanda and Ryan held their wedding at Nardini Manor in Buckeye, Arizona.  It is a beautiful and historic 1912 manor set in a cotton field on the outskirts of west Phoenix and is a stunning setting for a romantic wedding!

Two things will be very obvious in this posting ... the couple's love for one another and their love for the cute resident manor kitten and their ADORABLE dog, Flip ... did I mention how ADORABLE he is??!!!  God, he is sooooo freakin cute!!!!

Thank you both so much for having me as your wedding photographer!  You have both been so wonderful to work with and I hope to work with you on your 1 year anniversary for a trash-the-dress shoot :-).  Enjoy the sneak peak!

WOW!!!  That's almost all I can say.  This was an intense storm - howling winds, electric out most of the night and nearly three feet of snow on the ground by Tuesday morning.  But what a beautiful sight :-)!!

Monday.

The day after the wedding, we met up with Lisa and James for their trash-the-dress shoot.  This shoot was totally off the hook.  We had such a blast!!

We started at Lisa's parent's farm, which is full of everything imaginable to use as a prop or backdrop for this kind of shoot.  We had a lot of fun rummaging through the garage, and with a little help from Lisa's father, we got some crazy shots :-)!  The farm equipment was fun too as was the participation of many adorable dogs, including Quizas.  Lisa's brother, a photography buff himself,  took us to the far reaches of the farm where they grow all sorts of palm trees and we got some beautiful shots in the deep green forests ... not to mention a few mosquito bites :-).  The family definitely participated in this event and had fun doing it!  We hope they love the photos!!

We finished up the shoot at the beach and WOW, no holding back.  When we told them to jump in the water, they jumped.  When the waves battered them, they just got back in them again for another take.  They were amazing!!  I have to say though, I got just as soaked as they did almost ... drenched up to my neck.  The water was warm though, kind of like bath water :-).  Lisa opted not to keep the crinoline and tossed it in the trash as we left the beach ... made for a cute departing shot!!  Thanks so much you two, this was soooooo much fun!!