A lesson in lemonade making

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Yesterday was Saturday, September 22...typically a sunny day every year. However, this 9/22 decided to be a little different. It rained nearly all day! I had really been looking forward to the event I was to photograph because of all the fun that was planned. There was to be swimming, volleyball and anything else that sun worshipers would love-but it wasn't to be. Oh well, when life gives you lemons-well, you know the old addage... So everyone (including me) had a great time just enjoying the celebration and being together. Neil and Dorothy celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with most of their family gathered around. The festivities took place at their daughter and son-in-law's home. Sally and Gary have one of the most extraordinary homes I have ever seen. Sally was telling me that Gary designed the home and the landscaping. As she showed me around the property there were koi ponds, lush and gorgeous lawns and a tropical paradise! It was truly a photographer's dream.


I told her if I lived there I would never need to go on vacation. There were five generations in attendance and just about every person who was there was related to Neil and Dorothy (or married to someone who was). Take a look at the size of this family!! And, from what I hear, there were actually come relatives missing...my GOODNESS! Neil and Dorothy have truly left a legacy. Just imagine all these people who are making a difference in the world and it all began because of this couple being married 50 years ago-truly an amazing thought to contemplate.


I was so honored to share in the special time with the family and this wonderful couple. I had never met Neil and Dorothy until yesterday and they were so warm and wonderful I couldn't help but fall in love with them! Thank you for letting me share this momentous occasion with you and your family!

Uniqueness abounds!

Friday weddings are becoming more common and last night I had the pleasure of witnessing the union of Michelle and Christopher. The wedding took place at the Foresthouse in Foresthill, Ca. All week we have all been very nervous because of the weather. It's been raining off and on for days, but fortunately mother nature decided to smile upon us. There were so many things I loved about this wedding. Michelle and Chris really paid attention to the details--and I haven't had a groom in a long time who was so involved with all those touches! Although we're on the last days of summer, the theme of the wedding was definitely autumn. From the pumpkins, to the sprigs of wheat, the maple leaves; even the cake and the cake top-all these things had us looking forward to cool, crisp days and eveything fall has in store for us.
Speaking of the cake top-this was by far the most original and probably the most beautiful one I had ever seen. Wade, one of the groomsmen, hand blew this glass masterpiece. The tree was fashioned after the beautiful oak tree Michelle and Chris have in their backyard. This magical work of art even had the bride and groom's initials on the trunk and a swing hung from one of the branches.
Since Chris is a firefighter it was only fitting that Michelle and the girls were brought in on a vingtage fire truck. It was a wonderful wedding and one that I will not soon forget!! Come back soon and check out their wedding album.

A happy Ohio State fan

Sorry for the delay in posting a collage from Lacy and Bob's wedding on Saturday. I've been under the weather and am just now getting to it...
As you may remember from their engagement post a couple months back, Bob is a HUGE Ohio State fan. I'm not sure if he planned this, but Ohio State just happened to be playing on Saturday and the day was made even better for him because of the fact that State beat Washington!
I had really been looking forward to this wedding because I knew what a great couple Lacy and Bob was. The wedding took place at the Zinfandel Grill and it was a beautiful location. As I've mentioned before, red seems to be the color of the year and their wedding was no different. Do you think it has anything to do with the fact that Ohio State's color is red? :)
It was great to do a wedding of fellow Lincolnites--Lacy and Bob live within walking distance of my house! I know this couple will have a long and happy life together and I look forward to photographing the two of them and their family for years to come! Click on the link to see their wedding album! .

Lacy and Bob

Susan and Colin

As I posted a few days ago today was Susan and Colin's wedding. It was a very intimate gathering of their family and closest friends...I think there were less than 40 people who celebrated with the happy couple! Susan and Colin decided they wanted to do as many of their photos ahead of time as possible, so this meant seeing each other before the ceremony. It was so touching to see this couple share this special moment together. I can imagine how important this day was for the families; knowing that not too long ago Susan and Colin were in Iraq and Afghanistan. To see the two of them standing in front of all the people they missed so much, and sharing such a joyous occasion made me really appreciate how much each of our servicmen and women sacrifice for us. The happy couple are honeymooning in Tahoe and then will be moving to Alabama to begin their new life together!! Check out their wedding album.

Susan and Colin

All in one week

Over a year ago Susan and Colin contacted me about photographing their wedding. I had never really quite had a couple contract me in such a manner before. They had been referred by a friend of a friend, they hired me without ever meeting me and we only "spoke" by email...all this because Susan was serving with the Air Force in Iraq and Colin was with the USAF in Afghanistan!! For a year we've been sending emails back and forth and yesterday we FINALLY got to meet!!! Although they're getting married Saturday (yes, THIS Saturday!) we did their engagement session just three days before the big date! WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!!!! Although Colin wanted to pretend he was uncomfortable in front of the camera, I couldn't believe how relaxed the two of them were. We all laughed and I really enjoyed learning about this wonderful couple. Check back on Sunday for a new post and hear about their wedding.

Family, friends and a politician

What did YOU do Labor Day Weekend? Whatever you did, I hope everyone had a happy and safe end of the summer, and enjoyed time off of work. I think this was the first year in a long time that I didn't bbq with my family...I spent the weekend "working". Well, working is probably not a really appropriate word for what I did this weekend. I met family, made friends and met a politician. As you know from my previous post I've been in S. Dakota to photograph a wedding on Saturday. I extended the working vacation by photographing some senior portraits yesterday before I left.
One of the highlights of my trip was what I did on Sunday! My mom's side of the family is quite extensive and I literally have hundreds of relatives I've never met. When I think about the fact that my mom's dad came from 12 kids and my mom's maternal grandmother was one of 15...well, you can imagine the amount of cousins she has. Although I've never met most of my cousins, I have met just about every aunt and uncle that she has. On Sunday I had an amazing opportunity to meet my cousin Diane and her husband Ray. As she and I said, we've both known about each other for years, but had never met (even though at one point she worked in SJ where I was living--hmmm, go figure). Anyway, I drove about an hour and a half from Sioux Falls to the little town of Letcher where she and Ray own the farm that belonged to his grandfather. I loved looking at all the family history that was in this house and hearing about the legacy of this wonderful country home. We had an extraordinary lunch of french duck (yes, duck that they brought home from their last trip in France) and pecan pie for dessert--delicious. We actually had dessert in the loft of the barn where Diane and Ray were married four years ago.
After we had lunch I had an incredible opportunity...Diane is the assistant to George McGovern (yes, THE George McGovern who was the democratic presidential candidate in '72). What a kind, softspoken, gentle man! He regaled us with some stories of when he was a young serviceman during WWII and stories from his political days decades ago. He also gave me something that I will always treasure. He wrote a book about ten years ago about his daughter Terry. Terry was an alcoholic who lost her life because of the disease. George was kind enough to write a message in a copy of the book and give it to me because he knew I have a family member afflicted with this disease. If you ever have the opportunity to read this book I would highly recommend it. It is truly a touching and very personal story! I couldn't leave that night without taking a photo of my new friends in S. Dakota!
As I was telling you on the last post, I saw a lot of odd little statues in the downtown area. Well, not so much odd (although some of them were), but there didn't seem to be any theme related to all of them. I found out that each year the downtown area hosts a year long "contest" where sculptors offer up their works of art to be displayed. During the year tourists and citizens can vote on their favorites.





Once the contest is over some companies purchase some of the statues and display them either at their property or donate them back to the city. I thought it was a great thing to do to keep some beauty and originality to the town.
It was a wonderful trip, but I missed my husband and daughters and was glad to get home. A nice little way to end my trip was that I was standing in baggage claim at Sac airport when I saw one of my brides from earlier this year. I began talking to Cara (Jim and Cara's wedding blog was posted back in March) and she was telling me she and Jim were coming home from the Grand Canyon AND that we were on the same plane from Salt Lake!!! I guess they saw me on the plane, but didn't have the opportunity to talk to me until we landed. I LOVE it when I see my couples after their weddings in situations like this!!!
Well, it's good to be home and am looking forward to all the other weddings I have in the next few months!

Half way across the country

Well, one of the weddings that I've anxiously been awaiting has finally happened! I was so excited about the photos I got at the wedding today I'm sitting in the hotel room editing them and creating some so you all can take a peek at things to come.

I flew into Sioux Falls, S. Dakota on Thursday for the wedding of Shandi and Tony. I met Shandi earlier in the year and was quite flattered when she asked me if I would fly to the midwest to photograph her wedding. I COULDN'T WAIT-THIS COUPLE IS SO AWESOME!! Shandi and Tony are both from S. Dakota, so it just made sense that they would get married where all their family and friends live.
I got to meet a lot of the family last night at the rehearsal and the dinner that followed. Shandi and Tony are very fortunate to have as many grandparents as they do-they have so many I lost count today :) The rehearsal dinner was at Tony's parent's house and the dinner was really good. In fact, I tasted some barbeque sauce that was out of this world!!!! It's made in S. Dakota and can only be purchased in a couple select stores, so needless to say I immediately asked Tony's mom where I could get some. I went to the store and bought six bottles--enough to take home for some friends and create a little stash for our kitchen. My daughter Cassie seems to eat just about ANYTHING covered in bbq sauce, so I'm sure she'll be very happy!!



The location of the ceremony was nothing short of spectacular-the Terrace Japanese Gardens. The hidden gem of the area is down below where the ceremony was. We did about 90% of the photos down in this fabulous location.


Although they got married in S. Dakota, Shandi and Tony live in Sac. Even with it being really warm here today, I was telling them how lucky we were not to be back in Ca. because it had been 105 degrees the day before I left!!! Before I leave Monday evening I'm going to get to see even more of this cool city in the morning when I do Tony's sister's high school senior portraits. I'll be venturing around town with Tony's mom and sister and I'm really looking forward to that! Something that I've seen around the downtown area that had me chuckling, and wondering, about were A LOT of little statues--some of them quite bizarre. I'll write what these are all about with some photos in a day or so (I plan on taking some photos of these).
I think one of the things that I have loved so much about this weekend was that every step I have taken has been on new land (well, at least for me). It's so much fun to be in a totally new place and everything I see is so different than I see in California (well, except for the McDonald's, Staples, Dollar Store, and other various chain stores that pop up every now and then-it was nice, however, to see some familiar sites.)
I have never been to this part of the country, so it's been a little bit of an adventure for me. I haven't had much of an opportunity to see as much as I would like, but I'll be driving about an hour and half west tomorrow to visit a cousin. I plan on loading up the cameras and just taking photos along the way--who knows when I'll get back here next. I am so honored that Shandi and Tony invited me into this part of their lives. One of the things that I've had a couple laughs about is that the grandparents just couldn't believe I'd come (in their words) "all the way from California JUST to take pictures". Well of course-who wouldn't want to work with this couple!! They both have incredible families and I hope we all have a chance to work together again...I hear there are a couple family weddings coming up :)
Check back soon for more of their photos and/or an album layout!