Yet another video

For your viewing enjoyment:

The Black Family.  No, not this Black family, silly!  A different one!  See their still pictures here. 

Lovely.

The winner of the $100 to anything ETSY | Temecula Family Photographer

Marielle!

Which is REALLY cool, because if I'm not mistaken, this Marielle is one of our upcoming brides.  Aaaaand she said she might want to buy a birdcage veil off etsy with the $.  WHICH IS AWESOME.  Because I heart x infinity birdcage veils.

So that's cool.

Congrats Marielle, and to all the other participants: you rule as well for sharing so many great esty links. Etsy is like a time suck of wonderfulness. I just bought a hat off there the other night, it is so wonderful that I cannot even wait to get it in my little hands. And then I will show off how adorable it looks. Woot!

Oh, as a side note. While I was shopping for birdcage veils that I could force Marielle to wear to her wedding, (jk!)  I found this lovely shop on etsy:

Lurve. 

A Letter:

Dear Future Brides Who Will Hire Us For Their Wedding:

please shope at Twigs and Honey.

Thx.

xoxo,

wendy

a word

Today my friend Stephanie Nielson and her husband Christian were featured on Oprah.  I'm sure you know their story by now.  The crash, the comas, the recovery.  All of their supporters have been waiting for them to go on the show- we just knew it would happen.

The Nielsons are an incredible couple with an inspiring story of overcoming the most challenging and devastating of trials.  I was expecting to watch and be once again inspired by their courage, spirit, and strength, but the show went off in a direction I didn't foresee.  Instead of simply telling a story from beginning to end... I do believe they showed a lot of women what it means to truly be a mother. 

Watch this clip.

You'll be changed, I promise. Leave it to Stephanie to prove that one of the highest callings in life is to be a mother. To choose to be there for our children, to love them unconditionally- and to not take that job for granted. 

It's a more beautiful story than I could even have imagined.

It's always great to see our photo art on client's walls in their homes. But it was frea-king thrilling to see the Nielson's Blue Lily pictures on her walls as art, and even more scattered across the segment. I bet that will never happen to us Blue Lilys again.  So I'll end on a selfish note and say, that.was.rad.

Raleigh, NC- the awesomeness | raleigh family photographer

I know I've already raved enough about our very cool photography trip to the south- through Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.  Over the next few weeks we'll be showing off the fruits of our labors!

Such as this family, the Blacks (strangely enough, tomorrow's post is also a video of the Blacks, but a different set.)  Three totally hilarious little gals, two adoring and loving parents.

What more needs to be said.  

The video, by Mr. Video Slayer Tyler (full name, FYI)(and ps if the video doesn't play smoothly, try clicking through to vimeo to view it.)

And the pix, by yours truly. Don't forget: in the next month or so we continue our travels through Utah, Maryland/Washington DC, New York City, and Arizona. Sessions available here on the blog!  

Also: the giveaway a few posts below ends tonight at midnight.  

The Arizona Heat

I have feelings for Arizona.  

What kind of feelings?  I admit, sometimes I will rant about the heat, or the traffic cams hiding everywhere. I will sometimes express frustration about the lack of grass. Or trees. Or.... any kind of green. 

But a lot of our clients are in Arizona. So naturally I travel there several times a year.  And every single time, I'm amazed at the quality of people in the state. Friendly, non-stressed, happy people. Family oriented. People who have an uncanny ability to live in an oven for over half of a year.

Got to admire that!

We were hired early in the year by the fabulous couple below, to photograph their wedding in mid-August.  In Arizona. In the heat.  I must say, I was having panic attacks  slightly worried for about 5 months; how would this turn out? 

Would Tyler and I achieve epic armpit stains while shooting?

Would I pass out from the heat, because I am a total wuss?

Would the sun burn my pale, pale skin, until I was simply a heap of ashes?

ANSWERS:

no.

no,

no.

The wedding was amazing.  The weather was phenomenal. The bride? Holy moly, she was so beautiful and I especially adored her dress. The groom was charming, the bridal party was a blast, it all went off without a hitch.

Gotta chalk up another point for AZ.  I love you Arizonians!  

P.S. You can find killer hotel deals in AZ during the freakishly scorching warmish summer months. We stayed at the Arizona Biltmore and felt like royalty- only we felt like the super cheap, bargain hunting kind of royalty. (Which is the best kind, obviously.)

Below you'll find the beautiful couple Sarah and Dave.  Congratulations on your marriage!

I do have quirks

The road to Durango, CO through Arizona is, for the most part, one lane for each direction of traffic.  

For me, this is problematic.  

When driving, I certainly take risks.  Like that one time my friends and I drove from San Diego to Salt Lake city in 8.5 hours.  Yes, we were going FAST.

Or that other time, when I was tired of driving, and I made my passenger switch seats with me while going 80 on the interstate, just so I could nap.  

But, I am a bit quirky in that some perfectly normal driving laws completely freak me out.  Like that whole thing about passing the car in front of you if he's too slow, by cutting into oncoming traffic's lane to pass?  

MAKES. ME. WANT. TO. DIE. rather than have to pass somebody on the road.

Every time I caught up to sombody on good ol' I-40, I'd have this dilemma: should I, or shouldn't I weave in and out of the oncoming traffic lane just so I can go a little faster?

Tyler said: YES.  PASS ALREADY!

My heart said: for the love, PLEASE, NO!

So this one time I was cruising along, when I noticed an oncoming car passing in MY lane. I totally freaked. I started to panic, making some sort of loud noise over and over, which alerted Tyler to my distress. I was pretty sure this car was going to plow right into us. 

The seconds passed.

The car barreled toward us.

Finally when death seemed certain, I suddenly heard Tyler yelling, "Wendy TAKE OFF YOUR CRUISE CONTROL AND SLOW DOWN!"

This is where I introduce another quirk. I hate breaking my cruise control. 

Apparently, I'd rather get smooshed to smithereens than have to reset my speed.

Turns out, that's weird!

(I'm happy to report that we survived. Which is how I'm writing this post, FYI.)

Another beautiful family below.