My Meghan (& Matt, of course)...

It's going to be hard to keep this one brief, both in words and pictures. Meghan blew into my life 3 years ago. I had met her in passing before that because we had friends in common but really started getting to know her a few years ago. I discovered she was sort of a mini- version of myself (sorry meg if that's not a good thing :). We got annoyed at the same types of things, laughed at the same ridiculous things and shared a deep affinity for starbucks...hey I think many a relationship has been built on less! We quickly became good friends. I always felt like we were on a peer level but I took on a big sister type role with meghan while she was at UD. There's lots I could say of course but for the sake of that brevity, I will just say that she is a "forever friend." A forever friend is the kind that you can always call a friend no matter where your lives take you. You will always be connected. You will always have a part of you that is joined with them.
Needless to say it was a great honor when she asked me to photograph her wedding and an even greater honor in actually doing so. It's an amazing thing, to be the one capturing the life moments, the little time capsules that people will look back on to remember. I always walk into a wedding day thinking "these are the pictures these people's grandchildren will look at" - it's a great dose of humility and a challenge for me. As with anything, it can feel routine for a photographer at times but reminding myself that for each couple this is THEIR moment...it never gets routine then. And then later I have my own moments as I first look at the images and start editing them. There was this one picture from this wedding that seemed to say it all to me, it literally took my breath away. It might not do that for others, but for me, knowing Matt & Meghan....it was the ONE. I love being able to do that for people, being a part of one of the biggest days of their life. So without more writing I will attempt the pictures that should be worth thousands of words :) Best wishes Mr. & MRs. KING!!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy the epic post... I really struggled on this one to choose...I just about put up a slide show of all of 'em :)

Money I never regret spending...

Every bride has ideas about what she wants for her wedding day. Some girls have dreamed about it since childhood and others just start to dream about it when they fall in love. I fell into the latter category, once I knew I found the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, I started hiding bridal magazines under my bed. No joke! I didn't want to be all out in the open with it, it was my little way of dreaming about being married to Matt without wanting to jinx it. I know...who can jinx what God wants?! Anyhow, I digress. Once we were engaged (I can share that story another time) and the wedding planning got in full swing, tons of decisions were being made.

I remember very clearly researching photographers and feeling a little lost. I started narrowing it down to people who could give a personal reference for their work. My mom reminded me that her friend from work's son, John, graduated a few years ahead of me from UD with a similar degree to myself and that he was shooting commercial work as well as weddings. At the same time, the lady I was interning for had a part time assistant that also shot weddings. I started tracking down both leads. The one guy was just so sweet and was willing to do the day for an UNREAL price (I am ashamed now for even asking someone to do a wedding for that price :) I met with him and saw his body of work, which was solid but it just wasn't ME. I would not have gotten images that were my style or how I wanted to remember my wedding forever.

I just kept going back to John's work...it was ME! It was how I wanted to remember the day and his price was TRIPLE the other guy (but it still was EXTREMELY fairly priced for the going rates and the work entailed). I finally made the decision to move forward with John because I knew I wouldn't regret it. And I don't regret it one bit to this very day almost 4 years later! John was great to be around all day, did a fabulous job and is someone now we call a friend. We happily referred him all over the place and he happily got lots of work. I still happily refer a bride to him if I am unable to do their day.

So brides,what's the lesson here? Find a photographer that you love and as long as their price and products are within reasonable limits for yourself, make the sacrifice. Cut corners in other places, I mean lets be honest flowers are gorgeous but they die. Pictures are forever. What kind of images do you want your grandkids to flip through and say "this was you all young and pretty and skinny grandma?" :) Shoot I say that to myself already!! haha...Happy Thursday!

Sometimes bigger is better....

So I remember in the college days when I used to spend HOURS in the darkroom...yes friends, darkroom. I mastered using scissors, a can opener and film reel all in pitch dark..that was a big day when I could crack that film canister open, get it wound on the wheel and perfectly stash it in the black canister hoping to expose some hidden treasure on the role. Then I would spend hours with my film cut into little strips, slipping them into the enlarger and doing even more experiments printing my own film. So many great memories in that basement in Taylor Hall at UD.
I share all this because I got a little reminiscent working on this week's wedding. I blogged the small collages and I realized some things are just definitely better big! I remember the first time I went from printing 8 x 10 sheets in the darkroom to 11 x 14 .... oohhh things got prettier and made more of a visual impact. My instructor said "once you go bigger, you don't want to go back" but if you ever have purchased photographic paper - you know why us college kids went small! I used to have to work for the price of paper..I digress. Yesterday's blog collages were like "oh those are nice little snapshots" but when I look at them I don't feel the weight of the emotion and beauty that I see in the larger images. I wish every bride could come to my house after the images are done and watch them go by on my big purdy computer screen. Bigger is definitely better!!

So thanks for going through the growing pains with me as I work it out in life, photography and business! Here are some bigger versions of the beauty of Lauren & Adam's day!

(I just realized that I used the word "so" to start at least 3 sentences, bear with me while I work it out with my writing. I tend to write like I talk, so I guess I say "so" a a lot :)

Congrats Lauren & Adam!

Lauren has been a very lifetime friend of my husband, their families have literally been friends forever :) It's a real blessing in life to have those friends that you pretty much just count among the family. It was a great honor to shoot Lauren & Adam's wedding a couple weekends ago. It was a beautiful & toasty summer day in Bucks County, Pa.

Here are a handful of shots from the day! Let me know how you all like the collage viewing. I am trying it out as a way to get more imagery on the blog with a different visual twist. Happy viewing!

Don't take yourself too seriously :)

Just in case you ever wonder what a photographer does at a wedding besides photos...I have done it all from helping to get spots out of a brides dress, to helping to fix messed up bouquets or haridos that have come undone, to anything else a spare hand is needed in if I am not busy capturing a moment. When you are frequently around weddings, you get good at these little things and I especially don't mind helping in the small things that help ease a bride's mind.
My husband stole my camera at a wedding a couple weeks ago of a good friend to get a shot of me jumping on the dance floor to do the cha-cha slide. And yes, I look like the only one out there because I was starting the trend :)

Hey..if you know me, I definitely don't take myself too seriously! My advice to all the other photogs out there, yes you are a professional but please enjoy life...don't take yourself too seriously either or you just might miss out on the cha-cha slide ;) Happy monday everyone and I hope to post more later on this beautiful wedding!

Wedding in a Blizzard!

Here's to Brittany and James, a couple who has anticipated their wedding day for some time! They have dated since high school and their date was set for December 19th, 2009 - who was to know that it would be the date for the largest recorded December snow storm ever for the Northeast? In the 17 whatever inches of snow, the wedding must go on :) So those who made it, made the best of it! Everything from a delayed start to a stand-in groomsmen, the day was an adventure. Here's to Brittany and James, just a few of my favorite photo moments of their day. And no, I didn't only do b & w but I happen to be in love with a lot of them from this wedding day.

In love..with this couple, this winter day and the moments that follow!

On a cold Sunday afternoon, Alan, Nicole and I ventured to Old New Castle (for those of you not from around here, it's a historical part of the original 13 colonies on the Delaware River). The sun was a yummy yellow and the Christmas spirit was in the air with all the fabulous decorations. I have to say couples like Alan & Nicole make it easy -they're in love, they're nice to look at, and were up for anything I wanted them to try! I found myself smiling at my computer today while I worked on these because of the sweet moments we captured and the fun we had! It was actually pretty hard for me to choose what to post... enjoy!

Ashley's Engagement session

So as many of you know my little sister (sister in-law technically but she's just a sister in my book) is engaged! It will be a bit of a longer engagement until she is done with college but exciting all the same. I had the chance to shoot her and her fiance Sean about a month ago on his fall break from college. We headed to his hometown, Chesapeake City, MD to get some great shots! Enjoy!

Just Some More Wedding Favorites from the archives..

Here are some more of my fav wedding photos. Thanks for allowing me to capture your day!

Jenny & Tyler - they've been married over a year!

I can't believe it was already over a year ago these two said "I Do!" Now they are off in Nashville continuing to share their music with the world. It was such a gorgeous summer afternoon on the beach in Avalon, NJ.