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March 2011

Several years ago, we donated our photography services to a couple who was most deserving. People wrote letters and emails explaining why they felt they should be chosen, but one of them really stood out. An amazing woman named Kelly had lived most of her life with cystic fibrosis, she was in and out of hospitals a lot, she had a fiance that was so incredibly supportive and I could tell they were just amazing people. They drove down from northern Indiana to meet with me and we’ve been friends ever since. Fast forward to today – Kelly & Scott are married & now proud parents of adorable twins. They continue to fight her disease but after they bought their first home together, Kelly began to get really sick. They discovered that their dream house was actually filled with mold. Obviously, a CF patient can not live and survive in a toxic environment like that and they were forced to leave everything behind. (And I mean everything!) Kelly now uses a walker, as she has had a lot of balance issues over the years and yet she still manages to have a positive outlook on life and even though she needs help herself, she is always looking for other people to help. In fact, she liked my 30 Random Acts of Kindness Day so much that she has implemented it for her 33rd birthday this year! 33 of her friends on facebook are doing a random act of kindness in her honor this month. (She even called it “The Erin Effect”…how cool is that?!) 🙂

To top it all off, she is doing a 5K walk (with her WALKER) next month and asking for pledges. ($1 per mile) If you would like to help her cause, please email me at [email protected] and I’ll get you in contact with her. The money that she is raising will go to help other hospitalized cystic fibrosis patients, she has decided to create care packages for them. Many of them are there for long periods of time and could use a nice distraction and some nicer amenities while they’re on the mend. She is collecting old shoe boxes and filling them with items such as: Kleenex, toothpaste, tooth brushes, gummy bears, waterless shampoo, crossword puzzles, hair scrunchies, gum, tootsie rolls, etc. We are not only giving a monetary donation to Kelly’s cause but I would LOVE to be able to send her a huge box of items that she can use to fill the shoe boxes with! If any of you would like to drop off items for her care package project, email me at [email protected] so that we can get together ASAP. I’ll need all items and donations by 3/26 so that we can ship them to her before her race on 4/2! 🙂

Last Friday, we photographed Bekky & David’s wedding & reception at Church at the Crossing. Bekky had some fab details that I just LOVED – including these gorgeous pink & blinged out shoes and a “mrs” hanger for her wedding dress! 🙂

Her something blue… 🙂

Bekky & David are super cute together, her smile lights up a whole room!

My friend Chuck Eaglin from Meridian Floral Design & Events did an awesome job on their flowers! They were going for a peacock themed look…

Gorgeous details!

I had to put this one in here for Bekky… 🙂 Maybe it was a “you had to be there” moment but I told them to go cheek to cheek for a quick shot outside and David took it literally! LOL I seriously LOVE your smile Bekky!

And here was the “real” shot I was originally looking for….although I like them both 😉

John caught this shot of the flower girl peeking through the door before the ceremony began 🙂

The back of the altar was COVERED in candles, it looked amazing!!

They had this custom made cross that they put together in lieu of a unity candle, I thought that was a neat idea!

Bekky looks so happy here, doesn’t she? 🙂

Awesome peacock feather centerpieces!

Classic Cakes did an awesome job on their cake!

Check out this awesome groom’s cake too! WOW!

Melissa Mudd and her crew at Sweet & Savory had chocolate covered strawberries and all kinds of goodies on display that night…

As soon as I heard they were doing a peacock feather theme, I wanted to do this ring shot with one of the feathers! FUN!

Thanks for a fun time last week! 🙂 More pics coming soon!!

We spent 8 wonderful days in Vegas in February for the annual Wedding & Portrait Photographers International Convention at MGM Grand! We flew Southwest (HIGHLY recommended!) and spent the first 2 days of the convention in Kay Eskridge’s “Business of Boudoir” class. (Kay Eskridge is shown above) 🙂 It was a lot of fun! Half of each day we discussed business, marketing, tips & tricks in the world of boudoir, then the other half of the day, we spent photographing models with Hollywood lights, strobe lighting, available light, etc.

WPPI always does a great job at bringing in the best of the best and providing a huge variety of classes and topics for photographers. We had the chance to hear Becker speak, as well as Jasmine Star, JP Elario and Susan Stripling! Speaking of the best of the best…I was also able to get into a Master Class taught by Kit Rogers, the famous make-up artist who has done work for Oprah, Julia Childs, Joan Rivers and the Today Show. He was AMAZING! He talked about how make-up relates to photography and how to effectively touch up a bride/client when on a shoot. His class was worth the cost of the trip alone. I think it’s really important to stay up on things and to continually learn how to perfect your craft, even if that means learning some things that aren’t directly “camera related” like make-up artistry. We’re not always lucky enough to have a professional make-up artist like Karen Hall at every wedding so it’s good to be prepared. 🙂

Kit gave us all kinds of tips and tricks that we plan on using at weddings and shoots now! For example, did you know that blue based red lip pencils can make your teeth appear whiter in photos?! He said to look for a smoky mauve lip pencil, so you can bet we’ll be adding that to our bag of tricks this year! He also suggested telling brides to do facials and hair coloring/conditioning treatments a week before their big day just in case of any problems. 😉 (FYI for all of my brides)

Jasmine Star was great too, she is a photographer & motivational speaker and she talked about running a business more effectively by outsourcing some things and creating the life you want to live. Loved her! In between all of these classes, we had a little bit of down time which was good. It gave us the chance to relax, go shopping, see Vegas and talk about the things we had just learned at all of our classes. One night, we went “out on the town” and went over to the Luxor to see the Titanic exhibit. If you’ve never seen it, I would highly recommend checking it out. Sadly, they wouldn’t allow anyone to take pictures of the exhibit but I can tell you there were all kinds of neat artifacts, including a huge section of the actual ship that they pulled up out of the water. It was incredible to be standing a few feet away from the ship! We also went to the Forum Shops at Caesar’s which was a lot of fun and then over to the Eiffel Tower at the Paris hotel. We took the elevator up to the observation deck that night and it was awesome! Check out the view!

We also spent 2 days on the trade show floor which was AWESOME! We got to see all of the new products, vendors, ideas & websites that recently launched. You should see the huge bag of stuff I came home with! I was afraid my suitcase would be over the 50 pound limit! LOL! We also spent an evening at the Bellagio and watched the fountains, went shopping, had dinner and took pictures of their lobby displays…

They have an Asian themed display at the Bellagio right now, it was pretty cool…

And of course, it wouldn’t be a trip to Vegas without checking out all of the cool wedding cakes and custom chocolate displays at Jean-Philippe!

We had such a great time and can’t wait to go back again next year! 🙂