The Greens: Rebeccah & Chad

The lovely Green couple held their ceremony and reception at the beautiful Ocean Breeze Conference Center located on Jacksonville's Mayport Naval base. It just happened to overlook Jacksonville Beach. There were several military honored throughout the evening who were both in uniform and out, so it made the night even more special by seeing so many proud soldiers present. Stunning wedding decor, food, and service coordinated and provided by Adair Currie with Your Wedding Weekender as well as the Ocean Breeze Conference Center. Thank you again to Bella Blue Photography for allowing me the opportunity to come and second shoot for your wedding! Always a pleasure working with other photographers! Here's a brief look at my shots for the evening!

Brittany & Aaron's Wedding

Nothing makes me happier than taking photographs of people in love, other than, taking photographs of the people I love who are in love! Brittany and I worked as an awesome dynamic duo for FSCJ's Campus Voice Newspaper. Through many late nights and long hours of editing oh and lots of line dancing, Brittany and I became extremely close friends. I remember one day she sent me a text asking me, "How did you know that your husband was 'THE ONE" for you to be with?" That's when I knew that she was head over heels for Aaron. At that time, I didn't know Aaron all that well, so I started drilling her with questions. Slowly but surely, this conversation headed down the path of understanding their relationship and being absolutely excited about their love.

Brittany was one of those brides you just love! She is an art major, so she has an extreme eye for detail. So for me and my camera, we fell in love with every single one of her efforts. Her proud husband spoke to me before the ceremony began, "Doesn't everything look great? She did everything herself!" As you can see, Brittany didn't miss a thing. Their ceremony was intimately held on their family property under a huge oak tree. The ceremony began with the couple to remove their shoes to imitate standing on holy ground as stated in the Old Testament of the Bible.

The couple held the reception under a beautiful large white tent with all their family and friends. Chick-Fil-A is Aaron (and I believe now Brittany's) favorite place to eat. They catered the meal. There was also a candy table set up for guest to make their own sweet treats. Brittany and Aaron both are avid rock wall climbers so their cake had a groom and bride climbing up the side of several rocks. Perfect for these two! Guests were given mason jars to drink their sweet tea tea from and to take as party favors.

I hope you enjoy the sneak peek from their big day!

-Aaron and Brittany-
I love you both and I pray that God is blessing your marriage greatly! I am so thankful that you chose me to be a part of your big day. Congratulations to you both!

Shooting with Bella Blue Photography

Wow! So I realize it has been a really really long time since I blogged. It was fun reading back through all the old posts and seeing how much my photography skills have grown in a year.

This past weekend I was privileged to shoot a wedding with the lovely Bella Blue Photography. The ceremony and reception were held at the Hilliard Mansion located in Hilliard, Florida. It is the perfect venue for an outdoor ceremony, but only if the weather is graciously in your favor. When I pulled up the sky was black and the rain was pouring down. I sat in my car debating with myself on whether to unload or to stay hidden until it all passed. Once arriving to the house I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful the inside of the mansion actually was. Thanks goodness because the rain showed no signs of letting up....until about 10 minutes before the ceremony was supposed to begin! Since I was second shooting, I hung with the groom and groomsmen prior to the ceremony. I have learned that the guys have it so much easier than the girls when it comes to getting ready on the wedding day. Brooke, the bride, had planned such cute details that I hope to add here soon. Their colors were a ocean blue and silver. Perfect for this garden wedding.

I loved being able to assist another photographer and have fun while doing so. It also helped that this couple was absolutely adorable!!! I look forward to helping their company again in the future! Enjoy my little peek at their big day!

BLACK FRIDAY SALE

Welcome Mr. & Mrs. Campbell!

Richie Campbell and Stefanie Richardson were married Saturday, March 27, 2010 at First Baptist Church of Jacksonville Beach. Their reception was held at the Majestic Room. The food was absolutely incredible! Richie began their reception with prayer, but soon sang to his bride. He wrote and composed a song about his feelings and their relationship. He sang this to her prior to them taking their first dance. How romantic! I am currently uploading the video now to youtube. Once it's there, I will post a link. Enjoy!

Spending the day with my Rylan

This spring break, we decided, that we would allow our children to pick a day to spend with one of us (my husband or myself). My oldest son, Rylan, picked to spend his day with me. Rylan will be 11-years-old in October and is a 4th grader. He's growing like a weed, reaching my shoulder. He has a super gentle spirit and loves to be creative and artistic. I could see him having a piece of artwork hanging in a gallery somewhere one day. He constantly picks up trash, which he kindly tells me that it's something he wants to turn into his own creation. He is at that age where he wants to know why things happen and questions everything, but not to be defiant, instead it's because he wants to understand.

We started our day at a pottery painting facility, "Doing Dishes" on San Jose Blvd. They were so sweet and very helpful! Rylan is into anything that has to do with aviation. He tells me that he wants to go into the Air Force and I tell him, "Over my dead body!" He had his heart set on painting a plane before we ever left the house, but when we got there, we couldn't find one. He settled for a speed boat and began painting. The people who run the facility came by and gave him compliments on his boat. He noted that he really wanted to paint a plane. She went to the back and brought him out a plane. Dude was stoked! So he ended up painting two pieces instead of one.

Rylan has wanted to try snow crab legs as long as he has been old enough to read a Red Lobster menu. The day has finally come! Since neither of us had ever had these before, the waitress kindly taught us how to use the tools. As she tackled the first snow crab leg with a "snap-crackle-pop", Rylan just about fainted. He shuttered and said he was about to be sick. See, Rylan has trouble killing a fly, or eating a chicken wing. I don't know if it's just that he has a light stomach or couldn't imagine an animal being hurt, either way, he didn't eat but about two bites. He said it still looked like an animal and he just couldn't do it. I cracked up!

I enjoyed my day with Rylan, not just because I was able to go and do some things I love too, but because I feel like I am preparing him for the future. See, to me, days like this prepare him for what his life will be like with a future date, girlfriend, friend, or wife. The Lord gives us our children to teach them His way and His path for their lives. I know that my husband and I are here in our children's lives to show them how to love their future spouses by loving each other first. One day Rylan will make a good husband and father; I just know it!

Rylan was so adorable. Before we even left the drive way, he said that he was nervous. It was like he was going on his first date!

These pics are taken with my iphone.