Lalee Photography Blog

New Blog!!

2008-06-11T20:05:00.006-04:00

I am very excited to announce that I have a NEW BLOG! You can visit it by clicking here or by going to http://blog.laleephotography.com!

I won't be posting here anymore so be sure to bookmark the new blog site and check there for new posts from now on!

Have a great night everyone! :-)

Lalee Photography, Lehigh Valley Wedding Photographer, Philadelphia Wedding Photographer, Pennsylvania Wedding Photographer, New Jersey Wedding Photographer

Evan

2008-06-04T08:14:00.003-04:00

I just had to post these two pictures of my cousin Evan that I took during the family reunion down the shore. He's just so handsome and it blows my mind how grown up he is and that he's graduating highschool in just a few short weeks! I am old! haha.

I loved his belt buckle. Apparently it's some rapper's symbol? I don't know. Like I said, I'm old. :-)

Ashley: Portrait

2008-05-29T08:45:00.002-04:00

When I met Ashley, I was not just blown away by how gorgeous she is, but by how completely sweet she is too! She was up for anything with the shoot and totally worked it the whole time. :-) Here are just a few of my favorites from our session. :-)

I could NOT resist the Batman wall! :-)

At the very end we found a little bit of nature :-)

Ashley: Portrait (Preview!)

2008-05-28T08:05:00.002-04:00

Here is a little preview of my shoot with the beautiful Ashley. :-)

Ashley is a model who was looking to update her portfolio a bit, so we had a super fun day of shooting down around South Street! I'll have a full post up tomorrow! :-)

Ashley & Cheech :-)

2008-05-27T08:54:00.002-04:00

This past weekend was our annual family reunion down the shore and it was just awesome! But what made it even extra awesome this year is that my cousin Ashley's boyfriend Cheech, proposed! He took Ashley up to the roof deck of my parents house where there is just the most beautiful view, and asked her there. It was so sweet! CONGRATULATIONS Ash & Cheech! I love you guys!

Here are just a couple images I snapped really quickly of the happy couple. :-)

84 days and counting! :-)

2008-05-24T13:12:00.007-04:00

So I think the biggest thing people say to me when they find out I'm a wedding photographer is, "So you must have like a really great photographer for your own wedding, huh?". And I just smile sweetly and say, "I sure do!", when deep down I'm thinking, "Dude, if you only KNEW! I have a freakin' insane photographer to shoot my wedding!!!" (And I'm totally thinking good insane, not crazy person insane).

_____________

Shortly after Mikey and I got engaged last summer, we were out to dinner with my parents "talking wedding" when the question of who the photographer was going to be came up. I played it off all cool, but the truth is I had gone into this dinner with a plan. I knew EXACTLY who I wanted our wedding photographer to be, it was just a matter of convincing my parents of my awesome idea.

I waited until my parents had each had a glass of wine (so sneaky, I know!) and I said in my sweetest, most charming good daughter voice, "Well.....there is this one photographer out in California who is like totally amazing and has been such an inspiration to me both personally and as a photographer....but....(looking off longingly out the window) I'm sure she wouldn't be available anyway and it would probably be too much to fly her out here......". And then I waited. My parents looked at me. My dad looked at my mom. He looked back at me. He took a sip of wine. And then he said, "What's this photographer's name?". And BAM! I had him. And that's the second I knew I was getting Jasmine Star to shoot our wedding, because what they hadn't known is that I had already contacted her and found out that she was indeed available and willing to fly out to Philly. All I needed was mom and dad on board. :-)

Jasmine truly is awesome and Mikey and I are sooo psyched to have her shooting our wedding! She sent us out our engagement album last week and it's sooooo gorgeous! Here are a few photos:

And here are just a few images from Jasmine's blog from our engagement shoot in Las Vegas in case you missed it :-) Click here to go right to the post on Jasmine's blog to see more! She rocks!!!

I'm headed down the shore now for the annual Memorial Day weekend family reunion! Woo! Have a fantastic weekend everyone!!! :-)

The goings on :-)

2008-05-23T08:40:00.005-04:00

I have lots of stuff going on today, including shooting a wedding later on that I'm totally psyched for! Yay! But first I thought I would do a little post about what's been going on lately:

* I thought for sure I should update on my progress from this post since it's been like 2 months. :-) I've actually been doing pretty well! The results aren't coming as fast as I would like them to, but I guess that means I'm going about it the healthy way? That's what I'm telling myself anyway. haha. But I can definitely notice a difference. And while I'm still not into my favorite jeans, the ones I was wearing are too big! Hooray! :-) So today I am going to go for a nice long walk before the wedding and clear my head and get pumped! Woo!

* Yesterday we had some pretty crazy weather, and in between storms I hopped outside to take a photo of the peonies in the garden and thought I would share. :-)

* This weekend is Memorial Day Weekend! For my family that means family reunion down the shore! Yay! So once Mikey gets off of work tomorrow afternoon we are heading on down and I'm just soooo looking forward to the gorgeous weather and sitting on the beach, and of course seeing everyone. :-)

* And last but not least, earlier this week my and Mikey's engagement album from the amazing Jasmine Star arrived in the mail and it is GORGEOUS! I'm going to do a blog post about it hopefully tomorrow before I leave. That girl is just beyond talented.

OK, well I guess that's all for now! Have a fanastic Friday everyone!! :-)

Jenny & Nigel - Engagement

2008-05-21T16:00:00.004-04:00

Finally! Jenny & Nigel's engagement post! Hooray!! :-)

Jenny and Nigel have the coolest story for how they met and fell in love. Jenny needed a roommate to fill the spare room in her apartment. She interviewed a few people and after a while, decided on Nigel to be her roommate, thinking nothing of it. Over the next few months, their feelings for each other started to grow beyond just friends, and definitely beyond "that guy who lives in the other bedroom". Jenny's family started to realize there was something more between them that Christmas when she was telling them about all the gifts Nigel got her for Christmas. Marie, Jenny's sister (future sister-in-law! Yay Marie!), kept telling Jenny that Nigel liked her, but Jenny played it off all cool (while secretly really really hoping he did!). It wasn't long before their feelings were out in the open and they decided to give being together a try and before they knew it, they realized they had found the person they were meant to spend the rest of their lives with! Isn't it just like out of a movie??

I've been having a thing lately with framing people with something in the foreground. I like it. :-)

Jenny and Nigel had the fantastic idea to do their engagement session in Hoboken, NJ, right on the campus of Stevens Institute of Technology for that view right up there. Ahh, beautiful New York city skyline. :-)

How gorgeous is Jenny?!

The campus had the sweetest trees!

I bet you'll never guess what Jenny's maiden name is. Never. ;-)

Yay Jenny and Nigel! Both Mikey and I had such a great time hanging out with the two of you. You are both just such sweet and sincere people, and I can't wait until we get to see each other again! All my love!! :-)

Jenny & Nigel: Engagement (preview!)

2008-05-16T15:49:00.003-04:00

I just wanted to post a preview really quickly from my engagement shoot with Jenny & Nigel!

Jenny is my soon to be sister-in-law Marie's sister, and she and Nigel asked me if I would do a quick engagement shoot of the two of them when they were over here visiting from England. :-) I promise to post the rest in a couple of days, but I just wanted to give them a little sneak peak since they've been waiting so patiently!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! :-)

Lucy & Lexie :-)

2008-05-15T11:31:00.003-04:00

Every Thursday morning, my sister Andrea and my cousin Beth come over so their daughters, Lucy & Lexie, can have their weekly playdate. We have such a close family and I feel so lucky that I grew up so close to all of my cousins, so it's just so awesome to see it continuing with Lucy and Lexie. They are just the cutest!!

This morning the playdate took to the outdoors so I grabbed my camera and fired off a few shots of the girls playing. Here are just a few super cute ones! :-)

Happy Thursday everyone! :-)

5 Years already?!

2008-05-14T22:23:00.003-04:00

That's right. I've just been reminded by one of my favorite friends Katie that it is officially 5 YEARS this month since we graduated from our alma mater, Muhlenberg College. I don't even think I can put into words how much I loved college, and I loved it because I made the most amazing friends there. Graduation week was quite possibly one of the hardest weeks of my life (ugh! I'm tearing up just writing about it!) because I knew we were all going to go our separate ways and it would never be the same again. And while we don't get to see each other every day, meet in parents plaza for lunch, skip class (GASP!) to lay out on the front lawn, or buy each other heaps of candy after a terrible breakup and binge into the wee hours of the morning, we still all manage to do a pretty good job of keeping in touch. I love them all sooo much, and I wouldn't be who I am without them.

Here are a few images I stole from Katie's blog from a day when we were having a little too much fun in the photo studio and Katie decided to make it a photoshoot extravaganza! Be sure to hop on over to her blog for some more of the fun!!

Twitter

2008-05-13T17:00:00.002-04:00

So after watching the B school blog today, I've decided to go ahead and add twitter to my blog here. You will notice it over there on the right. Say hi little twitter guy!

I've decided to give it a trial run and see how I like it, and how my blog readers like it. (Let me know if it gets the big thumbs up or thumbs down!) I'm not totally sure I need something new to occupy my time on my computer, haha, but we shall see! :-)

Jess: Portrait

2008-05-12T20:34:00.003-04:00

As promised, here are some of my favorite images from my portrait session with Jess on Saturday.

Not only is Jess actually this gorgeous, but she's soooo nice too! My brother always makes fun of me for saying that people are "troopers" in like every blog post, but Jess really was a trooper, traipsing through prickly foliage and braving the much colder than we thought it was going to be morning air. She was smart and wore sneakers, I was not and wore sandals (as of last night I was still pulling microscopic prickers out of my toes!) Thanks Jess for being such a major TROOPER! You rock my socks!!

:-)

Jess: Portrait (preview!)

2008-05-10T15:42:00.002-04:00

Today I did a portrait session of the beautiful Jess and I just wanted to post a sneak peak really quickly before I head down to the shore to celebrate Mother's Day with the fam! :-)

Isn't she gorgeous?! More to come in a couple of days! In the meantime, if you are a model looking to expand your portfolio, I would love to hear from you!!

Have a Happy Mother's Day everyone! :-)

Holly & Matt: Engagement :-)

2008-05-06T14:07:00.003-04:00

This is Holly and Matt, probably one of the sweetest couples on the planet. I went to high school with Holly and we reconnected through Facebook (isn't that thing so much fun?!). When we were in high school we both were in the color guard in the marching band and also in indoor color guard. Holly was a sabre, I was a rifle, and we totally rocked it out! :-)

Anywho, Holly and Matt are getting married this June and already have a wedding photographer, but we thought it would be really fun to do an engagement shoot! Holly decided she wanted to do the photos at Highland Park which is not only where Matt proposed, but where their wedding is going to be taking place in June! So here are just a few of my favorites of Holly and Matt :-)

Matt liked the randomness of those rocking chairs. :-)

These two are just sooooo in love. I hadn't met Matt before the day of the engagement shoot, but he and Holly are just perfection together.

This next one is my fav. :-)

The ring!

Holly & Matt, I had such a blast with you guys! I wish you both all the happiness and love in the world. Have a fantastic wedding day! :-)

Happy Birthday Mikey!!!

2008-05-03T08:45:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was Mikey's birthday, and since I had been sick all week (thank you all so much for the well wishes!), I had so much work to catch up on and didn't get a chance to do a birthday post before the evening birthday festivities began! Sad. :-(

Every year I make Mikey re-tell me the story of his birth. Back in 1980, Mikey was delivered 3 months early by emergency c-section. He spent the first couple months of his life in an incubator and it was very scary there for a while, as the story goes. But that story isn't enough for Mikey. He feels the need to...embellish a bit with every telling and it cracks me up! This year the story not only contained one emergency airlift by helicopter and Mikey weighing under 1 pound at birth, but also the Pope himself was flown in direct from the Vatican to Baptize him. haha! None of that is true by the way, the actual story goes more like, emergency ambulance ride, 2 pounds at birth, and a priest brought in for the Baptism. Still very scary, but not quite the impact Mikey is looking for. :-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEAN! I love you so much. :-)

Today I am off to shoot a wedding in New Hope that I am sooo stoked for, and then tomorrow morning the birthday weekend celebrations continue!! :-) Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

Booo stomach flu!

2008-04-30T16:14:00.003-04:00

Sooo, I have the stomach flu. And let me just say, this is the worst sickness I have ever had in my entire life. I'm usually a strep throat, sinus infection kind of girl. I think I was six the last time I got the stomach flu, and I don't remember it being this horrible. Sooo needless to say I'm pretty wiped out, and just trying to get better now. I have some soup that I'm going to attempt to eat in a minute, so this should be interesting. ;-)

If you sent me an email in the past couple of days and I haven't responded, I promise to get back to you by the end of the week! Thanks for your patience!!! :-)

Sabrina :-)

2008-04-25T10:52:00.004-04:00

Here are a few photos I took of my brand new niece Sabrina the other week when I was up visiting my soon to be sister in law Marie! Isn't she adorable? I love her!

Mikey and I are going to be in North Jersey this weekend for Sabrina's Christening (Mikey is soooo excited he's the Godfather), and while we're up there I'm going to be shooting a totally awesome engagement session that I'm really excited about! Yay!

Have an awesome weekend everyone!! :-)

:-)

Get out and VOTE!

2008-04-22T14:04:00.009-04:00

Today is PA Primary Day!! So just as a reminder for all you PA residents....

(Check out that AWESOME sign!)

I just got back from the polls myself and there was barely a line which was great! I'm so anxious to hear the outcome of the Democratic race here in PA. Any predictions?

What goes on?!

2008-04-21T13:13:00.004-04:00

Something has happened. I used to pride myself on my pretty decent taste in music - favorites included Pink Floyd, Radiohead, pretty much any classic rock. Good music. But sometime in the past year or so something happened. I don't know when or how exactly, but my taste in music has become...questionable. And now my inner 14 year old seems to be in charge and I have to admit that my current favorite song is...

I looooove this song and I can't help it! What has happened to me?! Please tell me I'm not alone.

:-)

Katie & Jason: Portrait

2008-04-15T16:08:00.005-04:00

Katie has been doing like theee most amazing job ever on the engagement sessions of Mikey and I for our "year of engagement" guest sign in book for our wedding, so I thought the least I could do is repay her with a photoshoot of her and Jason! :-) It's so much fun having one of my closest friends be such an amazing photographer because we get to talk photography all the time, which Jason and Mikey just LOVE (and by love, I mean not love). hehe. But they hang in there and that's why they're the best. :-)

So the other weekend Katie and Jason met me at the Wawa at the corner of 202 and 73, and we proceeded to drive around to some super cool spots for their super fun photoshoot. YAY! Here are a few from their shoot (with a slideshow of some more at end!)

I spied this super cool broken down van in a school parking lot. All the windows were shattered and there was a bit of a mold issue, but Katie and Jason were major troopers. :-)

OK, so the photo below has a fun little story. I had this vision in my mind of wanting to get a photo of Katie and Jason cuddling in a field with a plane flying above. So I found this park by Wings Field, a small local airport. So right when I was completely unprepared with the wrong lens on my camera and like way far away from Katie and Jason, the PERFECT low flying plane swooped over and I was soooo bummed! Well since it was kind of overcast, planes weren't really flying overhead too often, so I told Katie and Jason to be prepared to jump up and cuddle as soon as we heard a motor. Well the below photo is the result of me screaming "GET UP! GET UP, HURRY!!!!" at them (they were currently preparing to pose for the above photo - I completely scared them half to death!) and trying to capture my vision. Well....it didn't quite turn out as my vision and it was the only other plane to fly over us for the rest of the day. :-( I think it looks more like a large bird of prey circling above. haha :-)

Well I was bound and determined to get a shot with a plane in it so we went to Wings Field and befriended some helicopter pilots who let us take some shots really quickly. :-)

And I thought the perfect end to the shoot would be by a horse farm down the road since Katie loves horses. The horses were so beautiful and they came right up to the fence!

And here is a Slideshow of some more from our super fun day!!

Yay Katie and Jason! :-)

Ashley :-)

2008-04-14T12:14:00.003-04:00

My cousin Ashley and I were driving around yesterday when we drove under a highway overpass and I suddenly turned to her and said, "so how do you feel about posing for a couple of shots??". Ashley is a photographer too, so she totally gets the whole sudden spying of a funky looking location and needing to do a photoshoot. :-) Neither of us was looking particularly "photo ready", but luckily Ashley is one of those people who barely needs a stitch of makeup to look great. So here are just a few shots from our impromptu photoshoot. :-)

:-)

Summertime :-)

2008-04-12T14:50:00.003-04:00

I love summer sooo very much. And the weather today has just put me in the best mood ever! It's just beyond gorgeous outside! Even though there are a few building storm clouds, what is better than a storm when it's warm out? Love it.

I took the photo below as the ice was melting after an ice storm this past winter, and I liked it but just never got the chance to post it. So I thought it would be good to post today in my happy summertime mood to say, "See ya winter!".

Have a fantastic day everyone!! :-)

Jen & Tore: Portrait

2008-04-08T22:33:00.004-04:00

Holy hot couple Batman! Jen and Tore totally worked it for our photoshoot the other weekend and I was loving every minute! They were AMAZING! We decided to do the portrait session down around Penn's Landing and had such a blast walking all around and exploring all the little side streets that connect to it.

Jen is my cousin, so that automatically makes her way cool (yay Jen!). But what's super cool about Tore is not just that he brought many outfit options to the session, but that he is also from Australia! I LOOOVED his accent. You don't know how hard it was to resist the temptation to ask him to say "vegemite" and "Foster's, Australian for beer". But thank God I didn't because how embarrassing! But really, what is vegemite anyway??

Here are a few images from my portrait session with Jen and Tore. :-)

I was totally digging this escalator.

Jen has always been so gorgeous. Growing up I always wanted to have her beautiful blue eyes and blonde hair. What the heck? Darn genetics.

I think this one below has to be my favorite. How hot are they?!

To view more from our session, check out the Slideshow! :-)

Jen and Tore, it was an absolute pleasure!!! You two completely rock. Muaaah!

***And just a note to all other couples and prospective clients, I am taking bookings now for engagement sessions and portrait sessions over the summer months! So be sure contact me to set up your personal photoshoot! :-)

Bill & Emily: Wedding

2008-04-08T09:09:00.004-04:00

Bill and Emily are two of the most genuine and sweet people I've ever met. They met as students at Temple University, and have been inseparable ever since. You can tell how much in love they are just by how they look at each other. They were made for each other.

I had the opportunity to shoot their wedding this past December right before Christmas with Katie and just never got a chance to blog their wedding! So here are just a few of my favorites from their wedding day. :-)

Doesn't Emily just look like a princess?

Bill and Emily knew their priest personally which makes for the most fun ceremonies. :-)

Emily was really excited to get to the reception. :-)

Bill and Emily, it was so wonderful to share in your amazing day! I wish you both all the love and happiness in the world. :-)

Public Speaking 101

2008-04-04T15:26:00.003-04:00

Yesterday afternoon I had the honor of speaking at my alma mater, Muhlenberg College! This year the college is celebrating 50 years of co-education. How cool is that?

I received a phone call about a month ago asking if I would be a panelist for their "Women Entrepreneur's" Panel, and I of course immediately said yes! I was beyond flattered. What I hadn't considered was my complete and total fear of public speaking. Like, I'm not even kidding. This one time I froze during a presentation in college and just stood there in front of a class of 30 other students and didn't say anything for 5 whole minutes. It was HORRIBLE! But I had agreed and so I was determined!

So on my drive yesterday I practiced over and over and over again what I was going to say. I had it memorized word for word. And when I was introduced (the first one to go! I always pick the worst seat!) I all of a sudden forgot EVERYTHING I had prepared. Panic spread throughout my entire body, and I could feel the heat rising in my face. But then I just started talking. And talking and talking and talking. And I probably should have stopped talking sooner than I did, but I really started to have fun! It was great having so many students interested in what I am doing and how I got here. So while I probably came off pretty nervous at the beginning, I like to think that I ended strong, and that's what matters, isn't it? ;-)

Thanks to everyone who came to the panel! It was so awesome getting to speak with some of you one on one afterwards! :-)

And yes, the m&ms are already gone. Bad Lauri. ;-)

Nicky

2008-04-03T21:37:00.007-04:00

This is Nicky, Sandra and Carlos. They are the most amazing family I have ever met. In 2001, Nicky was diagnosed with Metachromatic Leukodystrophy (MLD). This past weekend I had the honor of photographing Nicky and his parents through The American Child Photographers Charity Guild with Katie (of Katie McMenamin Photography. Be sure to check out her blog for even more photos.). Words cannot express how deeply touched I was by Nicky and his family, and I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to meet them and hear their story.

Nicky's parents are beyond inspiring. They have such a deeply rooted faith in God and His plan for them. Carlos explained that they don't like to ask God, "Why?" but instead ask, "What is the purpose? What can they do to turn Nicky's illness into a positive to help other children?". And that is Nicky's Mission.

You can check out Nicky's website, caringbridge.org/visit/nicky to find out more about him and ways you can help.

Nicky was such a trooper through all the photos, but definitely started to get sleepy towards the end. :-)

Nicky, Sandra and Carlos, it was such an honor to be invited into your home. You are truly angels. I keep you all in my thoughts and prayers every single day and hope that anyone who reads this will take the time to stop by Nicky's site.

Click Here for a slideshow of a few more of Nicky and his family :-)

The Artshow!

2008-04-03T00:40:00.004-04:00

Tonight I got to experience the scrutiny of about fifteen 5th grade girls. Fun! ;-)

On top of being an amazing artist himself, Mikey also teaches elementary school art (sigh) and tonight was their annual artshow. He is, of course, the cute, young teacher who all the girls have major crushes on. So when I walked into the cafeteria tonight, I could feel them sizing me up, watching my every move and seeing if I was indeed good enough to be "The" future Mrs. T.... I think I just may have won them over. ;-) fingers crossed!

Anywho, this year's artshow just completely blew me away. The work the kid's produced was sooo awesome. Mikey worked so hard to put the show together (we were up until 1am Sunday night labeling over 700 pieces of artwork!) and it definitely paid off. It was so cute to watch all the kids anxiously pulling their parents by the hand over to show off their artwork. It definitely makes staying up until 1am labeling completely worth it. :-) So here are just a couple of images from the show. :-)

Here is "Mr. T." after overhearing a couple of the girls whispering about us. ;-)

Giacometti sculptures:

And this last one here, yeah, a first grader made this. A FIRST GRADER! When I was in first grade I'm pretty sure I was attaching the legs directly to the head of the people I was drawing and gave them about 15 fingers on each hand. For real. Isn't this just amazing??

:-)

In other news, my veils came in yesterday and it's taking every ounce of restraint I have not to just be wearing them all day long. You know, like around the house, out to pick up dry cleaning. Is this normal?

Doug Keith - Portrait

2008-03-29T23:31:00.006-04:00

Back during one of my summer breaks during college I was talking to Doug about how much I love photography. Doug, being totally awesome, suggested that I just go for it and even set me up with a photoshoot of his good friend's band and offered to get me in touch with with his other good friend who owns her own photography studio in Delaware. I did the photoshoot and loved it, but at the time didn't have the confidence to just go for it like Doug suggested. As the years went by, I slowly gained that confidence and realized if I don't just go for it, I'm going to be 80 years old and looking back saying, "What the heck??". Sooo here I am doing what I love and I attribute being here to so many people, and Doug is definitely one of them. :-) You rock Doug!

Doug is a film maker and he needed some new shots of himself to send out to film festivals he is entering as well as for his website. He has his own production company ffuture productions, so be sure to check it out!

Here are a few shots from my session with Doug. :-)

I think this shot below is one of my favorites. :-)

Doug decided he wanted to do the photoshoot in downtown Doylestown, and I was totally on board! Doylestown is such a great town, and even though it was FREEZING COLD the day of the shoot, we still had a ton of fun exploring all the little nooks and side streets.

I love me some flare. :-)

Yay! Thanks so much for being a trooper in the freezing cold Doug! :-)

I'm on my way out to enjoy this beautiful day. Have a fantastic Sunday everyone! :-)

Kelly & Chris: Wedding

2008-03-28T10:19:00.007-04:00

February 29th. Leap day. That's the day Kelly and Chris pledged to spend the rest of their lives together in front of all of their family and friends. It didn't bother them that they would only get to celebrate their official anniversary once every 4 years, it makes it that much more special. Besides, as all of their friends kept saying throughout the day, and the toasts reflected later that night, Kelly and Chris consider themselves simple people and wouldn't be overly worried about a small detail like their official anniversary date.

Kelly and Chris had their wedding at the Loews Hotel in downtown Philadelphia, and everything was beautifully planned down to the very last detail. Here are a few of my favorite images from their day. :-)

Kelly's gown completely reflected her style of simple elegance. It was just gorgeous.

I really like the movement in this one:

I've heard a lot of wedding toasts, some good, a few not so good. ;-) But the toasts given to Kelly and Chris were truly some of the best I've ever heard. And I love their reaction below. :-)

There was LOTS of crazy dancing which always makes for fun photos!

One of the best parts of the night was when Chris started serenading Kelly. I just love this shot! The beer bottle was soon replaced with an actual microphone and he was ready to rock it out!

Kelly and Chris, I wish you both all the happiness in the world. It was such a pleasure being a part of your wedding day. I had a blast and I thank you so much for being beyond gracious and kind.

Click Here for a slideshow of a few more of my favorites from their wedding day! :-)

Random Tuesday Afternoon :-)

2008-03-25T16:42:00.005-04:00

I think one of my favorite things right now is being able to relate on a personal level to what all of my brides are going through with the whole wedding planning process because my own wedding is exactly 144 days away!!! Yaaaay! I love talking to them about table settings, centerpieces and of course, the gown. :-)

But as excited as I am, there is one thing that has been plaguing me since the day Mikey and I got engaged. I vowed to myself many, many months ago that I was going to start getting in shape for my wedding, then it was my New Year's resolution, and now, well, it's March 25th and I still can't fit into my favorite jeans. Not a good sign for the vision I have of myself as a bridal goddess! haha. So here we are, on a random Tuesday afternoon in March, and I am making the vow in writing to start to exercise everyday, to eat healthier and to fit into my favorite jeans by my wedding day. I don't want to get into the whole numbers game with the scale, so I'm just going to go by how my clothes fit (and I'm a good size or two away from my favorite jeans - so that should be a good indicator).

Wow, it's kinda scary to put it in writing. Now I have to do it. Go me!!! Any words of encouragement are greatly appreciated! And I'll be sure to update on my progress. :-)

And because posts are no fun without some photos, here are a few more I took at the shoot-shop in Las Vegas. I have a few more to post at a later date, but here are a couple of fun ones.

Have a fantastic Tuesday everyone! I'm heading out for a walk. :-)

I'm baaack! :-)

2008-03-22T12:01:00.006-04:00

So I'm officially back in PA now, nice and jet-lagged. :-) We caught the red eye coming home and since it got in soooo early, we didn't want anyone to have to come pick us up at the airport and instead took a series of trains to get to the station near my house. I am beat!!!

On my last day in Vegas I went out into the desert with a group of amazing photographers for the "Leaving Las Vegas" shoot-shop! It was such a blast, even with the stern warnings about rattlesnakes. Eek!

There were so many incredible photographers there that I got to meet and talk shop with, and shooting along side of them was just crazy awesome. I'll have a full post of images from the shoot-shop really soon, but I'm about to run out the door to meet my new niece Sabrina who was born right before we left for Vegas! Ahh! I'm so excited!! :-)

ps. I made a new little watermark thingie - do we likey??

Viva Las Vegas :-)

2008-03-18T01:01:00.002-04:00

So I'm here at WPPI in Vegas and so far it has been totally incredible. I've been learning so much in all of the seminars and classes, and it has just been such a blast! We are here with our little mini entourage that consists of me, Mikey, Katie, Amy, and one of Mikey's best friends who lives in Arizona, Chris.

I haven't really gotten a chance to do much shooting and have pretty much been relying on Katie's point and shoot camera so far, but tonight I took my camera out for a few minutes just for fun. The strip is so pretty at night!

These are two photos from Katie's point and shoot camera that I took off of her blog with her permission. ;-) This one cracks me up.

Here is Mikey and I just hanging out in the hotel room.

And then these last two are just me playing with shutter speeds when I went out tonight. I love light streaks. :-)

So tomorrow morning bright and early Mikey and I have our engagement session with Jasmine Star! I have to admit I'm totally nervous, but I met Jasmine the other night and she was sooo sweet and genuine, so I think it's going to be great. Ahh, I can't wait! Wish us luck!!! :-)

Las Vegas! :-)

2008-03-13T15:43:00.008-04:00

Tomorrow morning bright and early I leave to catch my flight out to Las Vegas for the WPPI convention and trade show! This is my very first year attending WPPI and also my very first time ever visiting Las Vegas. I'm soooo excited!

I have lots of fun things lined up, like classes and making people be my friend (aka: networking). And I just want to point out that right now in Las Vegas, it is 81 degrees. 81 degrees!!! Oooh, I so can't wait.

I'm going to try to post some pictures and updates from the convention throughout the week. Yay! Have a fantastic week everyone!!! :-)

Julia & Darren

2008-03-11T00:01:00.003-04:00

About a week and a half ago I went over Julia & Darren's house for a super fun photo session! Their mom, Lisa, was afraid that they were going to be really shy with me and not be so into having their picture taken. But they LOVED the camera! And were so great at hamming it up! I had such a tough time narrowing it down to just these photos in the post because there are just so many cute ones of the two of them. :-) They are absolutely adorable and just such sweet kids.

So here are a few from my session with Julia and Darren. :-)

Both Julia and Darren were very excited to show me all of their toys. Here is Darren showing me his favorite stuffed animal, Bear.

Darren was very proud of this bag he made and was insistent I take his photo with it.

These two had a major case of the giggles!

Julia wanted to take my picture too! How cool are these digital cameras for kids?? I never had anything like that when I was little!

I have in-focus images of Julia bouncing all over the room, but I just love the movement with her hair in this blurry one. :-)

And last but not least, I just had to take a few photos of their mom Lisa! Isn't she gorgeous??

Thank you so much Julia and Darren for being so much fun! I had a blast! :-)

Happy Birthday to Meeeee!

2008-03-10T11:01:00.005-04:00

Today is my birthday. Yaaaay! I'm 27. I remember when I was little and I thought 18 was ancient, and now I'm 27. Wow, I'm an old head. But I actually kind of like getting older. I feel like all the fun stuff is just beginning. :-)

I was taking little videos of my niece Lucy this morning, trying to get her to say Happy Birthday to me, but it wasn't really working out. hehe. So here is the 12th and best video I took, where she is much more interested in plastic tomato slices and making elephant sounds, than the camera. Woohoo!

I think she is just too cute for words :-)

Anyway, now I'm getting ready to go get some birthday pedis with Katie :-) Stayed tuned for a post of two very adorable little kids! Have a great day everyone :-)

Johnny & Krystle - Portrait

2008-03-02T19:52:00.003-05:00

On Saturday, Mikey and I drove down to Maryland to visit Johnny and Krystle and friends to celebrate Johnny's birthday! Happy birthday Johnny!!! Yay!

Before the birthday festivities got underway, we went to the park right near their house and I did a wee photo session with Johnny and Krystle. I love Johnny and Krystle. I wish they lived closer. We always have the best time when we hang out with them, and Krystle makes a mean chocolate martini. :-)

So here are a couple of shots from Saturday :-)

The gorgeous Krystle.

And the birthday boy!

I don't think I mentioned that it was totally chilly and windy as heck, but Johnny and Krystle were such troopers. :-) Yay! I hope you had an awesome birthday Johnny! :-)

In other news, I have a terrible cold. My eyes are like throbbing out of my head and my throat feels like sandpaper. Fun! haha. Growing up my dad would always bring me home a small present whenever I was sick and I've decided I would like that to start up again. ;-) I'm off to drink more tea and take more Sudafed so have a great night and a happy Monday morning everyone :-)

Marie - Portait

2008-02-26T23:49:00.004-05:00

Marie is my future sister-in-law. She's awesome. She is from England so she has this totally sweet British accent. Everything sounds better when she says it, especially anything having to do with cake. I'm not a huge cake person, but when I'm around Marie and she starts talking about it, I just have to have some! She makes it sound so good!

Marie and her husband Ken (Mikey's brother) are expecting their first child in March. Right around my birthday! Yay! I'm sooo excited to be an aunt again and I think it's so cool that they're waiting to find out if it's a boy or a girl.

Here are a few photos I took of Marie during our mini photoshoot when Mikey and I were visiting them in New Jersey :-)

Here is one of both Marie and Ken.

Even though it was pretty chilly, we snuck outside for a couple of shots.

This last photo is my favorite. I love how Ken is wearing shorts and it was like 20 degrees outside. He apparently only ever wears shorts - can't stand actual pants. And I just love the way their dog Josie (who wins the prize for cutest and best dog ever in New Jersey, btw) is staring at them. So cute!

:-)

Ashley & Francesco

2008-02-25T09:31:00.003-05:00

Yesterday my mom hosted a shower for my cousin Robbie's soon to be new bride Samantha, so all the women in the family got together and it was just a blast! After the shower, my cousin Ashley and I grabbed our cameras and did little photoshoots of each other for fun. Yay! Here are two I took of Ash and her boyfriend Cheech, errr, Francesco (but we all call him Cheech).

Happy Monday everyone! :-)

Jean & Tim (& Tadpole Leonard) - Portrait

2008-02-19T23:38:00.006-05:00

Jean is my oldest and dearest friend ever. Growing up we always said we were friends since 4th grade, and best friends since 5th grade. Those details are totally important! Well now we're all big and grown up and Jean is having her first baby with her amazing husband Tim!

I take all the credit for Jean and Tim getting together in high school by the way. We were all a part of the same group of friends and one day Jean confided in me that she thought she had a crush on Tim but made me swear not to tell anyone. So of course that afternoon while driving Tim home I told him everything! Haha! Man, writing it out it sounds so bad, but I just knew they were meant to be! Tim played it off all cool, but he was totally giddy (that's right Tim, I know you were giddy!). And after that they were all flirting and in no time were "boyfriend/girlfriend". Haha. So I like to think I gave them the little nudge they needed to start things off, and now they are expecting their first child together! Hooray!

Jean and Tim live in Pasadena, but they came home over the holidays and I got to do a little photo session with Jean before her bridesmaid dress fitting (Jean is one of my bridesmaids! Yay bridesmaid team!). Afterwards we met up with Tim for a few photos including him!

You may be wondering who the heck Tadpole Leonard is. :-) That is what Jean and Tim have taken to calling their unborn child. haha! I hear they have a much better name in store once the little guy (it's a boy!) makes his debut, but until then, he's known as Tadpole Leonard. :-)

Jean's due date has already passed and I know she is getting mighty anxious for little Tadpole Leonard to come on out. Let's go T.L.!!!

Isn't Jean beautiful?

Yay Jean!

So after our dress fitting we met up with Tim. Tim is an incredible artist and is currently in school for illustration and design out in CA. He's going to be big and famous some day, so you better go check out his blog now so you can say you knew him when. :-)

Here are a few shots of Tim and Jean :-)

I love that last one. :-)

Jean & Tim, I love you guys and I'm just soooo excited for you! Yay Tadpole Leonard! :-)

Valentine's Day :-)

2008-02-14T00:07:00.005-05:00

I just wanted to take a second and wish everyone a wonderful Valentine's Day! I personally plan on eating as much candy as possible. Yum! :-)

Actually, I'm planning on making a very yummy dinner for Mikey and me, so keep your fingers crossed that I don't burn anything or catch the oven on fire, which has been known to happen. For real. But this time my mom has personally written out all the instructions so hopefully our Valentine's Day will be filled with a delicious filet roast, mixed veggies and some sort of potato thing my mom promises me I can make. Woo! Fingers crossed.

Here is a photo I dug up of Mikey and me from last summer at a BBQ. For some reason I have an extremely large head. Also, I really need to stop making this face.

Have a Happy Valentine's Day everyone! (And think happy thoughts for my cooking!) :-)

****Update: While the potatoes turned out mushy, the broccoli somehow fell apart into lots of little mushy broccoli bits and the meat was very well done, Mikey still managed to gulp down every bite and follow it up with a big "MMmmm! This is delicious!" every time. :-) Now that's love. :-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE!!!

2008-02-11T10:17:00.000-05:00

As you may have been able to figure out, today is Katie's birthday! Yaaay!

We celebrated Katie's birthday on Saturday night with a Tour of Italy party which included lots of Italian food, Italian music and of course Italian wine. Yum! My job was to bring the lasagna, which I ordered from a caterer. haha! My Nonna would be so disappointed. But alas, the lasagna was delicious - much more delicious than I could have made for sure, and we all had a blast!

So in honor of Katie's 27th birthday, here are a few shots I took of her last friday when we were hanging out. :-)

I love this one.

Isn't she a pretty model?? HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE!!! :-)

Jillian - Portrait Session

2008-02-05T22:05:00.000-05:00

I used to babysit for Jill when she was just a wee babe. She was naughty and would sneak out of her crib and crawl all around while I thought she was fast asleep. And then I would panic and find her like on the basement steps or something. Fun! haha. But before everyone goes and freaks out about my childcare skills, I would like to point out that I was like 13 at the time. I've much improved, I swear!

Anywho. This is Jill. Jill is absolutely, drop dead gorgeous. And what is so awesome about her is that she has no clue how gorgeous she is! She is interested in pursuing acting and I don't think being this pretty is going to hurt when it comes to her dream. She actually has the role of Eponine in her high school's musical this spring, Les Miserables. She's totally going to rock it out!

I was so excited to do this photo session with Jill because I really want to get into doing more high school senior portrait sessions like this. While Jill isn't a senior yet, I thought she was a perfect subject to get the ball rolling! So if you are a high school senior, will eventually be a high school senior, or know a senior who would LOVE their own personal photoshoot, drop me an email and we can set it up! It's the perfect gift for graduation, and I promise it's tons of fun! :-)

So here are a few photos of Jill from our recent photoshoot! :-)

I couldn't decide if I like the photo below better in color or B&W. I'm leaning toward the b&w because I feel like it has a film noir vibe, but I decided to post both for the heck of it. :-)

We stopped by this construction site because I had been eyeing these colored tubes for weeks, and thought they were super cool!

This last one might be my favorite :-)

Jill, I had such a blast! Thank you so much for being such an awesome model! I hope you enjoy the photos :-)

Lexie

2008-02-04T10:57:00.000-05:00

Look at that smile! Ugh. Lexie is just sooo so adorable and sweet. I love her!

My cousin Beth asked if I would come over and take some photos of Lexie a few weeks ago and I was so excited! Lexie was a little wary of the camera at first, but got used to it really quickly as we played with her puppy dog and the magnets on the fridge, which is always a good time in my book.

Here are a few from my session with Lexie :-)

Puppy dog!

Couldn't you just kill for those lashes?

The photo above just cracks me up! Mid-yawn/toe grab.

Scrunched up face!

Yay Lexie! Thank you so much Beth for letting Lexie and I make a huge mess of the family room! :-)

First Post :-)

2008-02-02T09:25:00.000-05:00

What should be my first post?!

I've been racking my brain trying to think of the perfect first post for my brand new blog here, and it's been driving me nuts!

I launched my new website yesterday and the response has just been incredible. I appreciate all of your emails and well wishes more than you know! It's so amazing knowing that I have such a support system behind me cheering me on while I start out on this new adventure. :-)

So this morning as I was drinking coffee with my parents we pulled out some old photo albums and I came across an old photo I thought would be cute to post. My sister Andrea, brother Dan and I have always been each others best friends, and I know they are two of my biggest supporters. My sister might kill me for posting this picture from when she had that haircut, but here we are chillin' on our old swing set (I'm the bratty one sticking out my tongue.) Yay for the kids!

Thank you all so so much for believing in me! :-) And stayed tuned for a post of one extremely cute little baby named Lexie :-)