If you missed PART I of the adorable wedding of Amanda & Caleb, make sure you CLICK HERE to go back and check it out!

Now where did we leave off?  It was something pretty important, right?  Oh yes – the kiss!  And not just any kiss, but Amanda & Caleb’s first kiss together!  There were many tears AND cheers from the friends and family (and us) that got to witness the joining of these two very special people.  How cute are they?

They were all smiles as they took their first walk as Mr. & Mrs. Thompson!

Nothing like making up for lost time!

Amanda: you’re adorable!  I believe this expression was her response to one of her girls asking, “So, is he a good kisser?”  LOVE it!

As the guests began to head to the reception, we took a little stroll up to the hilltop for a few post ceremony portraits.  How cool is it that CCV has its own little mountain?  What a view!

Sun flare = some very cool sunset portraits :-)

We decided to head down the hill and leave the lovebirds for a few quiet moments to themselves, but Ryan just couldn’t help grabbing one last shot of such a perfect scene.  (Don’t tell them we were spying, ok?)  Ha ha!

The reception took place in the backyard of Amanda & Caleb’s brand new house!  They closed on it about six weeks before the wedding and have been working tirelessly ever since to get it ready to host 125 people.  How cool is it that their first home together will also hold the memories of such a special day?  They did a great job creating a really beautiful setting.

Outdoor wedding rule #1: lots of lights are essential for great ambiance AND awesome photos!

The first dance: this one makes my heart happy :-)

It was so fun to watch these guys interact with their families.  Lots of love in this group!

A sweet moment from the father daughter dance :-)

Caleb & Christabel had their very own father daughter dance too!  What father daughter dance is complete without a little acrobatics here and there?

Time to party on the dance floor!

Sparkler exit = awesome!  So much fun!

A little sparkle for the road and it’s off to Sedona for the honeymoon!  They were literally driving away when Caleb grabbed this.  Way to make an exit Thompson’s!

To see more photos from Amanda & Caleb’s wedding day, click on the “view slideshow” button below.  And don’t forget to leave us some love in the comment section at the bottom of the post!

To Amanda & Caleb: from the moment we met the two of you, it was clear that you guys were something special.  I doubt we’ll even forget that excited text message from you after our first meeting ;-)  You guys ROCK!  We are so honored that you chose us to be a part of your day.  Now it’s time to relax and enjoy being married!  May God bless you abundantly and always remain the source and the center of all that you are!  We heart you guys!

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Amanda & Caleb’s wedding was so much fun for us!  Having just shot their Sedona bridal session the week before, we knew exactly what to expect from their wedding day and it did not disappoint!  It was completely filled with joy, love and countless beautiful memories.  Amanda & Caleb met while attending a bible study at their church.  Their relationship is so  special and God centered.  You could really see the evidence of their faith and God’s blessings throughout the whole event.  We are so glad that they choose us to capture it!

(Please sign the guestbook if you’d like to be notifed when the rest of their photos are online.)

The day began at Christ Church of the Valley where the happy couple was preparing for the day.  Love this shot of Amanda’s dress.  CCV was a great place to shoot.  It’s HUGE and has lots of colors and textures and a variety of backdrops for all sorts of photos.  One of the coolest churches we’ve had the pleasure of photographing in a long time!

How cute are these?  Love the fun dangling rhinestones on the straps of her shoes!

Amanda’s daughter Christabel was their flower girl.  Love this sweet moment between them as she was showing Christabel how to drop the petals as she walked down the isle.

How awesome is this shot of Caleb’s brother Christian?  Hilarious!  Ryan snagged this as the guys were getting ready.  Everyone kept commenting that Christian totally looks like Caleb’s identical twin with a little more hair :-)

The bouquets, created by the talented Sara Skinner at Bliss Occasions, were so fun!  Love the great mix of colors and the variety of flowers that complimented each other so well.

Their second First Look was just as sweet as the first time around.  Even though they had already seen each other in their wedding attire for the bridal session, it was really important to them that they had some time alone before the ceremony.  A first look worked out to be the perfect way to spend some time together and take in the day before things got started.

Yep.  We lucked out with these two :-)

Love the great mix of greens and yellows in this next shot.

Say cheese!  Christabel was proudly showing off that she had just lost a tooth :-)

We had a lot of fun shooting their bridal party.  Such a great group!

This was a first.  The guys came up with the idea to do a “peeing on the wall” shot!  I was shooting the girls while all the male bonding was going on, but I laughed pretty hard when Ryan told me about this shot.  Gotta, say, I’m kinda lovin’ the results!  Ha ha ha!

As Ryan was taking some candid shots prior to start of the ceremony, he discovered that he has his own little paparazzi!  Their wedding was just full of great little moments like this one.

Can’t you just feel the anticipation in this shot as Caleb waits to make Amanda his wife?

Caleb’s reaction as Amanda & her Dad came down the isle.  He was one happy guy!

No wonder he was smiling :-)

The ceremony was so heartfelt and sweet, especially with Caleb’s Dad acting as the minister.

Just after taking communion, they shared a few quiet moments together in prayer.

There’s one thing that you may or may not have noticed about their bridal session – there are no shots of them kissing!  Well, that’s because they didn’t.  Early on in their relationship, they decided to make the commitment to each other and to God to not kiss until their wedding day.  So as you can imagine . . . everybody was pretty anxious to get to the “you may now kiss the bride” part of the ceremony!

It was pretty cute how much Caleb’s Dad playfully “dragged” out his final remarks, knowing it was so important to them.  So we decided to take a little lesson from him and make all of you wait for it too!  Come back and visit our blog tomorrow for the big kiss and part II of Amanda & Caleb’s wedding!

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Today was a momentous day!  Okay, not really.  It was actually an extremely ordinary day, but I did get to check off my very first 101 in 1001 goal!  Good old #60: Eat an entire meal with chopsticks.  Yes, I realize this was not one of my more ambitious goals, but in my defense, after coming up with the first 50 it starts to get hard!  And it’s nice to have a few small, easy goals nestled in among the big ones.

Ryan & I decided to have Chinese food for dinner so it seemed like as good an opportunity as any.  Here’s the “before” . . .

And here’s the “after”.  It may not look like I actually ATE an entire meal, but promise that I did.  Ryan can vouch for me.  And it was a lot easier to get used to than I thought it would be.

Check out my fun fortune!  Pretty appropriate for someone who’s celebrating eating a meal with chopsticks, right?

And Ryan had a winner too.  We’re hoping this one comes true in the near future.

Of course, I couldn’t have reached this “ever so important, life altering goal”, without the help of one of our favorite take out joints, the fabulously tasty Pei Wei Asian Diner.  Many thanks friends!

There are actually a lot of goals in the works, but it sure felt good to check at least one off the list :-)  Hope everybody has a great weekend!

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