I was super excited to shoot this wedding at West Point Military Academy.  Steve graduated from here in May and his Father is also a West Point alumni.  Steve and Shelly got married in Cadet Chapel which is an amazing example of Gothic Revival architecture.  It is huge, almost castle like.  Military weddings have a flavor all their own and the details are simply put,  just too cool.  I mean how often do you get to see all these handsome guys in military uniform celebrating?  I watched as they practiced their Saber Arch before the ceremony and it really got to me.  Of course, I’m the type who gets choked up at parades for Memorial Day and Veterans day, but for these guys this is real life.  The next step for Steve is deployment and I was so honored to capture this event.  The favors at this wedding were cards telling guests that a donation had been made to Disabled American Veterans and they even did a hat dance where people paid to dance with the bride and groom with the money also going to benefit our fallen hero’s.  Congratulations Shelly and Steve!

The Saber swat on the behind, “Welcome to the Army”,

And Shelly’s priceless reaction.

Nothing like cutting a cake with a Saber!

The inspiration for Susan & Dustin’s July 4th wedding was red and white for Indiana University and of course they loved how the holidays color matched.  This was the earliest morning wedding that I’ve ever shot yet Susan was absolutely all smiles, so excited that her wedding day was finally here.  I arrived in time to catch some prep shots with Christine McKeown doing hair and makeup for the gang.   Jennifer from Fleur De Lys created some gorgeous bouquets, table and floral arrangements and Music in Motion provided a String Trio for their ceremony, a Jazz Trio for their cocktail hour and live DJ Mike Ferrino for their reception. It was a gorgeous blue sky day that I was thrilled to be a part of.  Special thanks to Aurora Photography for second shooting with me and our friend Geoff Boka and his wife Kate from The Light Mill on video duty.  So fun to be working with my friends and you’ve got to know by now that I have a special relationship with the color red!

Susan had this smile on all day!

I just love the glance between Father and daughter here!

And Dustin waiting patiently for his bride.

Don’t ask me what happened between this picture and the next, you just had to be there!

I had to get some patriotic details.  Red, flags and rings make a nice combo in my opinion!

My son has been wanting a dog forever,  while I think that my husband and I have never gotten over the loss of our Borzoi, “Cyrano” fifteen whole years ago.   Now that my son is old enough to start learning some responsibility we decided to take the plunge.  We’ve been looking at several different breeds for months and fell in love with a chocolate Labradoodle.  We found our amazing breeder “Riverbend Labradoodles” in Ohio.  They have been breeding champion English Style Labrador Retrievers for over 20 years,  winning awards and even have attended the Westminster Kennel Club Show 2 years in a row.  They started breeding Labradoodles in 2003 as the combination of these two great breeds produce a dog with high intelligence, a sweet disposition, willingness to please and make perfect family companions.  I had a Standard Poodle as a child and can attest to their incredible intelligence.  So we bought a second generation (75% Poodle-25% Labrador) chocolate Labradoodle and named him “Ellis”.  It was love at first sight when we picked him up at the airport.  We just had our vet check up yesterday and he’s doubled in size since he came home.  I’m working on the potty training and frankly can’t wait to get through that stage.  It seems that puppies have no real control over their bladders until 12-14 weeks old.  Needless to say, every rug has been pulled up and I am either running outside or mopping constantly.  As challenging as a new puppy is,  I feel like we have a new baby in the house and we are all smitten!  Welcome home “Ellis”!

We’ve been swimming in the River several times and it’s true that even small puppies know how to do the dog paddle!

Natalie and I have been friends for just over six months and she is returning home to Germany unexpectedly as her Father is ill.  We’ve been wanting to shoot together for some time now but since she’s leaving in a week or so, we just made it happen.  I can’t wait to share a full post on this shoot later as things did get heated up.  We even shot in my cottage which I’ve been dying to do forever.  Natalie is gorgeous-end of story!  I’m really going to miss her but at least I can look forward to shooting her wedding in couple of years in Germany!

I’m shooting Marissa and Vishesh’s wedding in Vegas this October.  They flew in from Nashville for an all too quick engagement session with me.  Marissa and “V” wanted to shoot in New York as they lived in the financial district for some time and totally heart NY.  Vishesh proposed to Marissa on the balcony at The Ritz in Battery Park.  We were hoping to shoot a reenactment,  but when we arrived the entire floor had been rented out for another event and the sky was such pea soup that even lady liberty was invisible.  So we headed to some of New York’s most iconic locations, The Brooklyn Bridge and Times Square.  Trying to get a shot without masses of people and bikes on the bridge is nearly impossible so we just went for the crowd.  In some cases we got really up close and personal with crowds and even managed a pose with The Naked Cowboy who had quite a large group of excited tourists lined up to get a shot with him.  It was so great to finally meet my long distance couple for a super fun but quick day and I can’t wait to shoot this East meets West Wedding in the Fall.  It’s going to be amazing!