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After our initial consultation with Lilia & Lou, I turned to Ryan and said, “They are so much cooler than we are.”  She’s a blogger for the New Times. He’s a musician that used to play bass guitar for the Miniature Tigers. Yes, very cool indeed.  Many months later, after having the chance to get to know this amazing couple, my opinion remains the same except for one thing, I’m now aware of just HOW MUCH cooler they are then us!  LOL!.  All joking aside though, it has been a total pleasure getting to know Lilia & Lou.  They are both such genuine and heartfelt people with a great passion for life and the things that they love.  We had the great pleasure of capturing their awesome wedding day just a few days ago, but the week before that, we got together for a bridal session. They made the wise choice to book a bridal session with us the week before their wedding so they’d have the chance to really focus on getting some awesome images without having to worry about schedules and such on the big day.   And boy, did it pay off.  They’re both total naturals in front of the camera so it made our jobs super easy.

(Please sign the guestbook if you’d like to be notifed when the rest of their photos are online.)
AND don’t forget to click “love” under your favorite images along the way!

Lilia & Lou choose the Desert Botanical Garden for their bridal session.  They both have a true love of Arizona and all that it entails.  The garden made a perfect backdrop for them.  As always, we started out with a first look.

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Love this image of Lou.  You can just see the admiration in his eyes for his bride-to-be.

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We’ve been looking forward to shooting a bride with a short dress forever, so Lilia was a dream come true.  She looked amazing!  Totally chic and stylish with a great understated elegance.  Her mom made the dress she wore for the bridal session AND a second (slightly different) dress for the wedding day.  You’ll all have to hold your breath for a few days to see what that one will be like when we post a preview of their wedding :-)

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The night before the session she put together her own bouquet.  Well done!  Love how the fall colors complimented the natural tones of the Garden.

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Love the slight moodiness in this next one.

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A prerequisite to pulling off the short wedding dress . . . great legs!  Check :-)

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Our instruction for this shot was something like, “Sit here and be yourselves.”   Love the result.  They have such a great relaxed way with each other.

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Total sweetness :-)

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Looking for a good “Core” workout?  Try this pose ;-)  LOL!

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In addition to having such an awesome couple to work with, we were also blessed with some amazing light!  (Another great benefit of a bridal session – you get to chose the best light for photography rather than just shoot whenever if fits into the schedule of your wedding day.  It’s pretty awesome . . . just sayin’. )  Totally loving the sun in these two.  I have to admit, between the two of us, Ryan is the sunflare expert, but I’m proud to say that the image on the left is mine!

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Loved the way the light was hitting the trees behind them in this scene.  And those little yellow flowers?  Perfection.  By the way, did I say “Rawr”?

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So we were actually a little late meeting these guys because we were busy trying to stuff a piece of furniture from our living room into the back of my rather small SUV!  They loved the idea of doing some shots on our chaise lounge in the middle of the desert so we headed just  down the road to Papago Park.  The garden tends to frown on guests bringing in their own furniture :-)

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Apparently our chaise belongs in the great outdoors . . . and it does seem to look extra good with a gorgeous bride seated on it.  Love love LOVE!

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The necklace Lilia is wearing is a family heirloom made from an earring that belonged to her great–great-grandmother.   The gold it’s made out of came from the California gold rush.  So cool.  By the way, how amazing are Lilia’s eyes?

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I’d say that Lou looks like a stud, but that doesn’t sound cool enough.  Like a rockstar maybe?  Yeah, that’s a little better.  Either way, you’re a lucky women Miss Lilia :-)

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In our house, shoes ARE permitted on the furniture.  And apparently, bringing the furniture to the middle of the desert is also totally normal.  That’s just how the Gotchers roll.

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Stay tuned for images from Lilia & Lou’s wedding!  It’s gonna be A-MA-ZING!

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The morning after Flo & Brad’s wedding, they met us in downtown Seattle for a “Day After” bridal session.  They really wanted some awesome portraits that were a reflection of the city and what could be more of an “Emerald City” icon than the world-famous Pike Place Market? Now I’m guessing that even if the name Pike Place doesn’t ring a bell to you immediately, you probably know it better than you think.  You know those “Fish! Philosophy” motivational videos? The ones where the employees at the fish market throw the fish around to keep up employee moral?  Well, Pike Place is the setting for that well known series that you’ve probably seen a million times.  (Hint, hint – you just might see a bit of fish throwing a little later in this post so keep on reading :-)

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

For the start of our session, the newly minted Hettle’s met us at our hotel, the very cool and modern Hotel Max so Flo could get into her dress.  We just had to take advantage of the awesome decor in our room before heading out into the city.

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We took a short cab ride down to the market and almost as soon as we got out of the car is started to rain.  And I’m not just talking about a light drizzle either, it was a full on downpour!  But of course, no amount of precipitation could keep these two lovebirds from taking advantage of the scenery.  After a very wet start (see the first image), it pretty much rained on and off for the entire session. We did attempt to stay dry whenever it was possible and lucky for us the market lent itself to a great variety of backdrops with it’s many overhangs and covered walk ways.

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When we originally talked about locations for their session, Brad & Flo really wanted to get a great shot of them with the Space Needle.  With the weather complications and a limited amount of time to shoot, we decided to just stick to Pike Place . . . but we did improvise a little bit.  I actually kinda love how this one turned out :-)  What can I say?  We aim to please!

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This was one of our favorite moments from their session.  We set them up in a pose and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, a big gust of wind picked up Flo’s veil, getting it tangled all over the two of them!  They’re interactions were so cute! No amount of posing can create moments like these.  (By the way, we like to call this little series, “Attack of the Veil”. LOL!)

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Love, love, LOVE the vintage feel of these shots by the water.  They look like stills straight out of an old black & white movie.  So romantic!

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We also walked down by Post Alley for a few shots and I just love how they turned out!

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This next shot is one of mine.  You’ll notice it has a slightly “hazy” quality to it because my lens was getting soaked as I was shooting.  I was literally holding my camera in one hand and an umbrella in the other.  Clearly, I’m not all that good at multitasking with my camera-in-hand, but I still love the results :-)

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There’s a cool little tunnel that runs under the main part of the market.  The walls are covered with gum (yes, gross, I know) and the first day that we walked around to scout out the area it was packed with tourists.  The one good thing about the rain was that it kept a lot of the people away, but there were still a few stragglers with cameras.  In this next image, you can see someone towards the back of the tunnel taking a photo of Flo & Brad.  Why they would want photos of strangers in bridal attire?  I don’t know.  But this always happens when we shoot with brides & grooms in a really public setting.  It’s so wierd!  Love this image by the way :-)

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Recreating the “dip” at the end of their first dance :-)  How fabulous are they?

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And of course, the photos you’ve all been waiting for.  FISH!

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Flo’s expression absolutely cracks me up in this series. What?  You don’t enjoy being sprayed with fish guts in your wedding dress?  LOL!  For the record, this was totally their idea!

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Love in the fish market :-)

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To Brad & Flo:  you guys were amazing!  Thanks for being such troopers in spite of the rain, cold and flying fish guts AND being totally dedicated to getting awesome shots no matter what.  You guys ROCKED it!  This session was an adventure none of us will soon forget.  We’re so glad to have had the chance to be a part of your day and help you capture such fun and unique memories.  Thank you for inviting us into your lives.  It was truly a pleasure.

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The day that Caleb asked Amanda to marry him, he had an elaborate plan. They would drive up to Sedona and spend a romantic day together in one of their favorite places . . . and then he would pop the question. Well, things didn’t exactly go as planned. On the way up to Sedona, the car broke down. They ended up in Cottonwood and had to wait around for the car issues to get resolved. Not exactly what he had in mind. In a last ditch effort to salvage the day, they decided on a sunset picnic by a lake. Frustrated that the day had taken a turn for the worse, Caleb had pretty much decided to save the proposal for another time, but there was just one thought that he couldn’t seem to shake. While he had been upset and stressed about all the issues they had encountered, Amanda has just rolled with the punches and been totally upbeat and positive. Her attitude in the midst of such a mess was just another confirmation that she would be an amazing wife. As the sun went down, he realized that the day God had planned was even more perfect than what he had imagined. And of course, underneath a star filled night sky, she said “Yes!”

We feel so blessed to be able to tell love stories like theirs. Not only are Amanda & Caleb deeply in love with one another, they also know that it’s because God has brought them together. That is one AMAZING love story if you ask me! Today, on the day that this blog will post, they will become man and wife :-) We had the huge pleasure of hanging out with these two last Saturday to capture their bridal session. And since it is one of their favorite places, we thought it made perfect sense to do their photos among the iconic red rocks of Sedona.

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

The day began at the Los Abrigados Resort. Their first look was soooo sweet and totally filled with emotion. I swear they forgot that we were even there!

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They were so in the moment, we didn’t want to interrupt them to start doing some portraits! Adorable :-)

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These two were such a joy to shoot all day. I mean seriously, how adorable is this?

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You know it’s going to be a good day when you get shots like this within the first 10 minutes :-) Absolutely love this shot that Ryan took. Pretty sure that this will be a canvas print hanging in our studio someday.

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Next we headed over to Tlaquepaque. Amanda really wanted to find a spiral staircase. We weren’t sure that there would be one in the area but we thought it was worth a look around to see what we could find.

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We had been in the area for maybe 10 minutes when all of a sudden, we started to feel rain drops . . . uh-oh. We headed to this little tunnel for cover and just as we got inside we realized that it was not only raining, but it was actually HAILING! In typical Amanda & Caleb fashion, the two lovebirds made the best of their downtime with a bit of snuggling. Not a care in the world :-)

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One of the store owners nearby happened to notice us and asked if we wanted to come into her store to get out of the weather. “You may even want to take some photos in here actually” she said, ” The store is really cool – I even have a spiral staircase.” You would think getting stuck in a hail storm during a bridal session would be a bad thing, but not for us. We had somebody looking out for us all along and HE was determined to lead us right where we needed to be :-)

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After a short hail delay, we were able to venture back out for a few more shots before heading to our next location. This is another one of my favorites from the whole day! Love the moody feel and their sweet embrace.

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On our way to Red Rock Crossing, we pulled over and hiked up a hill to take advantage some classic Sedona views!

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We heart these two!

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Another favorite :-) Love their interaction.

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We finally made it creek side. By this time the sun was setting pretty fast, but the scene was just amazing.

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I think this photo is proof that my husband is hillarious. I don’t know what he said, but it must have been pretty funny to get this laugh! (Maybe it was his, “You’re gonna love these pictures” song?

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Gorgeous couple + beautiful setting = Photo Heaven

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Um-Yeah. They can work it too!

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Love the texture of the ground in this one. And the trees too. It feels very “wintery”.

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All for of us were having so much fun we weren’t really ready to stop shooting, but sadly, we did eventually run out of sunlight. Boo.

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To check out more photos from their session, click on the slideshow button below and make sure to stay tuned for their wedding day photos coming to the blog soon!

To Amanda & Caleb: we feel so honored that you choose us to capture such precious memories. Your love is so beautiful and pure. We have full confidence that God will bless your marriage in ways you can’t even imagine! We enjoyed our time together so much and can’t wait to watch you two make it official!

I know we’re already 18 days into 2010, but as long as it’s still January, we decided that it was not too late for one more 2009 wrap up post.  It was such a great year full of awesome images so we selected some of our favorite photos from the year to feature one more time on our blog.  We love so many, it was really hard to choose!  It kinda ended up coming down to what makes each individual image special to us.  Some of them have great color or amazing light, some make us laugh, some make us remember a particularly sweet moment, some totally capture the personalities of the couple and some just make us say, “Wow, that shot ROCKS!”.  We’d love it if you would take a moment to tell us which shots make the top of your list by leaving a comment at the bottom of the post.  It’s ok – you can choose more than one if you want to :-)  They’re each numbered to make voting super easy.

So here they are, in no particular order . . .

#1

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Don’t forget to tell us which ones are your favorites by leaving a comment below!

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Vanessa & TJ are the definition of a “cute couple”.  We had so much fun getting to know them while shooting their bridal session and wedding last week!  They both live in Utah so we didn’t actually get the chance to meet until the beginning of their session on Friday, but that didn’t stop the four of us from hitting it off!  They met and started dating in high school while they were both living in Arizona and then went off to college together in Utah.  Being high school sweethearts ourselves, we liked them immediately :-)  We met up at Scottsdale Civic Plaza to wander around old town Scottsdale for their bridal portraits.  They had mentioned to us on the phone that they were really nervous about being photographed . . . and of course, once they were out posing for us we discovered that they were total naturals!  I mean seriously, look at these two – they’re adorable!  And so in love . . . all we had to do was tell these two lovebirds to focus on each other and capturing great images was a piece of cake!  Here are some of our favorites from their session:

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

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So cute!  Vanessa only has eyes for TJ :-)

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Vanessa is a florist and did all the flowers for their wedding.  They turned out awesome!  I just loved the bright, fun color palette.  It totally fit their personalities.

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Love this portrait Ryan shot of Vanessa . . .

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While I was shooting from up here.

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Love it!

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The handsome groom :-)

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That’s right, these two are so HOT they have to hang out in the fire lane!

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What an adorable pair :-) It’s no wonder they were High School Prom King and Queen.  Talk about meant to be.

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Love the great connection between them in this one.

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Not sure I can even say why, but I think this one is my favorite :-)

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We totally love it when our grooms go outside the traditional black tux . . . TJ rocked it with his gray suit!

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Work it!

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I’ll never know how he always manages to do this so well, but Ryan basically just set his camera on the ground in front of them and nailed this next shot.  I totally love that TJ’s carrying her dress in it too.  He was super sweet and worked so hard to make sure she would be nice and clean for the big day on Saturday.  You’ve got a keeper there Vanessa!

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We scored some beautiful soft light towards the end of their session.  It makes this shot so warm and yummy :-)

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I think this last one pretty much sums it up . . .

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To Vanessa & TJ: Thanks so much for making our jobs so easy!  And for everyone else, there’s a lot more of this cute couple coming to the blog very soon!

They’re here!!!  The photos from our Shooting Workshop in the streets of New Orleans!

We were lucky enough to be part of this awesome workshop led by two of the sweetest and most gifted photographers we know, Jeff and Erin Youngren from San Diego, California.  We also had a wonderful opportunity to sit down and have lunch with them in between speaking sessions during the conference.  They are such amazing photographers and people.  We learned so much from just spending a couple hours with them!

It was a little tough to drag ourselves out of bed the morning of the shoot at 6:00 am (4:00 am our time) but we knew how much fun we were going to have with all these guys.  There were a total of 30 photographer’s shooting away at two amazing models.  While it could be a little intimidating to most people, Zack and Jody, were total rockstars the whole time.  They are from Nashville, Tennessee and are another awesome husband and wife photography team known as Gray Photography.

We knew it was going to be fabulous shoot when these were some of the first few shots we got.  They’re kinda similar, but we just couldn’t decide with one we liked better  – so you get to see them both :-)

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If you could be ridiculously good looking for a living, they would be pros.

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We loved that you can see the two guys behind the truck in the background smiling at Zack and Jody with all their paparazzi.

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I’ll try not to comment on every single photo, I promise.  This is the super sweet and talented Erin :-)

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New Orleans is truly a photographer’s dream . . . and it doesn’t hurt to have two good looking people to help show it off!

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Zack and Jody just got iPhones a couple weeks before PartnerCon and I think they were tweeting about how many people were taking their pictures at the moment.

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This is one of my favorites form the whole shoot.  She could seriously pose for for any fashion magazine.  Elegant yet edgy.

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By looking at these shots, you’d never know there were 30 of us out there shooting the same couple.

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And of course, we had to throw in a shot of Jeff.  He is also incredibly nice, hilarious, talented, and he’s a bio chemist so, yeah, he’s a genius too.  I love Zack and Jody in the background as Jeff tried to get a little camera time of his own.

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Their personalities really show through in this next series.  They are a lot of fun!  I loved how they could switch so quickly from serious to hillarious!

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I love how Jody is looking at Zack in this shot.  You can just see how much she loves him.  She’s  so proud of her man.

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I would love to know what product Zack uses in his hair.  I looks pretty rad, I wish I could get my hair to look like that.

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Jeff and Erin had some volunteers in the group set up shots too.  This one was set up by my favorite photographer in the world . . . DENISE!

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Another favorite.  Such a great connection between them.

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Here’s a shot Denise grabbed of the whole group. Jeff and Erin are up front giving some instructions to our models.  And who’s that handsome guy in the white shirt over by the pole?  I bet that guy’s awesome.

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One of the locals saw us shooting in the corridor and invited us into her private courtyard to take some shots there.  Such nice people in NOLA!  Really loved the exposed brick wall.

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A huge thanks to the Youngren’s, the Gray’s and to Pictage for putting together this awesome event.  We had such a blast, met tons of awesome people and learned so much!  This workshop was definitely one of the highlights of our week and we feel so blessed to have had a chance to be apart of it.  We’ll be posting one more set of shots from our trip in the next couple days so stay tuned!

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It’s Friday night at about 11:30pm as I’m writing this, but it won’t officially post on our blog until 10:00AM on Sunday.  As you’re reading this (at exactly 10:00AM), Katie will be walking down the isle to marry the love of her life Justin in the backyard of their Phoenix home.   I’m sure you all recognize them from their super cute engagement session a few weeks back :-)  There’ s a million things to say about Katie & Justin, but the most important one is that they are just perfect for each other.  We’ve been so lucky to have the chance to get to know these two and they’ve become our absolute favorite kind of clients . . . ones that turn into friends!  When they first approached us about capturing their wedding, they told us that their intimate backyard ceremony was exactly what they wanted for their wedding day, but they also wanted to make sure that they had a great back drop to get lots of AWESOME wedding photos too!  So we decided that a bridal session would be a perfect fit.  Last Monday we met them in the quaint little town of Jerome, Arizona to make sure that would happen.

They were both SO excited about their First Look!  We found this adorable little park that served at the perfect setting.  We told Katie to come down the stairs behind Justin and call his name so he would know to turn around and see her.  She was so happy and excited that she just stood there and giggled until Justin finally said, “I can hear you giggling back there – I guess that means I can turn around now, right?”  It was so cute!

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So happy!!!

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Once the adorable giggling and snuggling stopped for a few minutes :-), we headed out to explore the awesome streets of Jerome for some portraits of the lovebirds.

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Loved Katie’s yellow shoes!  This shot has such a shy, playful quality to it.  Yep.  That’s right.  Feet can be shy and playful!

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One of my favorites from the whole day :-)

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Apparently these two have some kind of VW magic because this cute little bug was just begging us to be included in their photos.  Kinda like the orange bus from their engagement session!

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Dang it.  I love this one too.  I guess I’m going to have to come up with another word for favorite because there are just too many.

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Rockin’ the serious look.

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Katie is one beautiful bride.

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So you know you’ve got a pretty awesome location when this happens.  Katie & Justin are pretty much standing in exactly the same place for these next two shots and just moving around them gave us two totally different, totally AWESOME backdrops.  Jerome, we heart you.

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Adorable :-)

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This shot makes me laugh!  I was down on the sidewalk level shooting and all of a sudden Ryan calls out to Katie & Justin from directly above us!  He had climbed a stair case (of which there are about a million of in Jerome by the way), and ended up right on top. So fun and it only scared all of us a little bit :-)

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Ok.  I really do think that this is my number one favorite.  It’s such a sweet and intimate moment between them.  We always love the moments in a session where the couple completely forgets that their being photographed.  I just love it!

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Time for a little fun!  We love trying to find something new to do with every couple, especially when it’s something fun that really brings out their personalities.  Katie is our very first bride who was willing to brave the swings in her wedding dress!  Love it!

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GQ called.  They’re looking for a new cover model.  I think Justin is available.

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We haven’t done one of these progression shots in a while, but this staircase setting was just perfect for it!  I think Katie & Justin were wondering what the heck we had in mind when we were setting up this shot, but they totally worked it.

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These next two warm my heart :-)  Such an amazing pair!

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And we can’t forget to give a shout out to our wonderful friends at the Mile High Grill & Inn. We met there for lunch and they were kind enough to let Katie & Justin use the Inn upstairs to get ready.  Located in the center of Jerome, this perfect little B&B has TONS of character!  Not to mention the fabulous food.  Thanks to the staff for being so kind and helping us make the day so special for this awesome couple!

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One of the many cool things about the Mile High Inn is that each room has a theme.  What can I say?  This one seemed appropriate :-)

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Now, don’t forget!  There are still the photos of their wedding day to share so you haven’t seen the last of these two! Make sure to check out the slideshow below for more photos from their Jerome Bridal Session and the rest will be on their way soon.  Special thanks to Justin’s parents Ross & Phyllis, who drove up with them and hung out in Jerome for the day while we were shooting.  It was so great having you guys there to help them get ready and share lunch with all of us!

To “Justie”: as usual, you two made our day!  You guys rock and we feel so blessed to have been able to be a small part of making this time in your lives so special.  We made some great memories that day and can’t wait to make even more!

Lots of Love,

Denise

WARNING: Due to HIGH levels of cuteness and adorable you might need to shift your eyes briefly away from the computer screen anytime you look at this next breathtaking duo.

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WOW! Meghan and Matt were the perfect pair!  Just like us, they met and have been together ever since High School  :-)  They met when they were working together at a Veterinary Clinic. (More on that in our next post) Their love for animals, nature, laughing, and well . . . of course . . . the Beatles, grew into an amazing friendship and bond.  They have been deeply in love ever since. After spending the weekend with them I can honestly say with absolute certainty that their unabashed love for each other is refreshingly unique but ultimately perfect and will last them a lifetime.

*     ::tear::     *

Okay, on to the story.   We were so honored that Meghan and Matt invited us up to Sedona for the weekend to shoot their Bridal Session and Wedding.   In this blog post we will highlight the Bridal Session.  SPOILER ALERT - It might get a little wet towards the end so I hope you all brought your swim suits  ;-)  We drove up to meet them on Friday morning.  The day began at their hotel the Best Western Arroyo in Sedona, Arizona.

For their “first look” we went down to the majestic hotel garden for some great photos.

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I totally love Matt’s reaction to seeing Meghan for the first time in her wedding dress.

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Yeah, not a bad backdrop.

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After that we drove over to Tlaquepaque for a quick lunch (thanks again Matt)  and some PHUN!!!

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I love our job!!!  :-)

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Cute, charming, adorable!  :-)   “Cuecharmable”

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We stumbled on an abandoned wedding ceremony so we decided to crash it.  Doesn’t Matt look so proud?

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Bridge fun!

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Next, we headed over to the Crescent Moon Picnic Grounds at Red Rock Crossing where their wedding would take place the next day.  Ummm . . . good view?

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Like most of our couples,  they requested a jumping shot.  So fun!

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Soooooooo adorable.

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This was taken in an area called Buddha Beach where there actual ceremony was held the next day.  They both seemed to enjoy the spinning :-)

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Time to head down to Oak Creek and get WET!

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Ha! It was Meghan’s idea to beat Matt with her bouquet.  So hilarious!  They had sooo much fun doing this although Matt did say afterwards that it kinda hurt!

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Opps, I think they got a little wet.  This is one of my favorites!  Doesn’t Meghan look like a Mermaid coming up out of the water?

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How cute is this?

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Completely submerged in the water!  Did I mention that the water was VERY cold!!!  They were such great sports!

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. . . and then something pretty amazing and perfect happened . . . This random guy with a guitar came over and serenaded them while they were getting out of the creek! Meghan requested a Beatles song.  He played “Something in the Way She Moves” and the dancing ensued.  PERFECT!

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A perfect ending to a perfect day!  Please click the slideshow button below for some more great photos and to hear a little Beatles tune!  Also feel free to leave us a comment or two!  We LOVE hearing what you all have to say!

To Meghan & Matt:  We had so much fun with you guys!  You’re an amazing couple.  Your love and laughter is truly contagious.  There’s still so much more to come from your wedding day!

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Today was a beautiful day :-)  I got to stand beside my oldest and dearest friend as she married the man of her dreams.  Julie & Jimmy – we couldn’t be happier for you guys!  We love you both soooooo much!  Now, just to set the record straight, we did NOT shoot their wedding.  Being the maid of honor comes with a lot of duties, but “photographer” is not one of them!  Julie and I agreed earlier on that she’d much rather have me IN her wedding party enjoying the day with her than shooting it, so I actually got to be IN some photos today.  However, last weekend Ryan and I were so blessed to have the chance to do a bridal session for them in preparation for the big day.

Their session was SO much fun and turned out SO awesome, it’s been really hard to keep all these great images to ourselves for a whole week.  But of course, we didn’t want to spoil the surprise for everybody else so now that their officially man and wife, it’s time to share :-)  I should warn you all now, that I LOVE LOVE LOVE this couple so this is gonna be a long one.  My apologies in advance . . .

Jimmy had not seen Julie in her dress before our session so we set up a very special “first look” for them.  There were some tears . . . well mostly, Jimmy’s :-) . . . and it was so much fun for us to see how overjoyed they were!

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Jimmy & Julie were at a car show a few months back and stumbled upon this fabulous “1928 Packard Super 8″ owned by a super sweet gentelman by the name of Dennis.  When they told him that they were getting married and would love his car be a part of their weddng photos, he very generously offered to let us come to his house and shoot their session there!  So awesome!  We could not have asked for a better location and the car fit perfectly with their vintage look.  Dennis, thank you SOOO much for helping us create these fabulous memories for them!  We had a blast!

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Love this fun portrait of Jimmy in the review mirror . . .

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And Julie looked absolutely STUNNING!  She had her doubts along the way as to whether or not she could “pull off” the vintage look, but as I think you’d all agree, she totally ROCKED it!

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I know they’re our friends and all, but I just gotta say it – they are one HOT couple!  And so much fun to be around at the same time!  Who says you can’t have looks AND personality?

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I want to say that these next two are some of my favorites from the whole day, but the truth is I love SO many of them it’s impossible to choose!

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Jimmy was full of creative ideas!  He came up with some really fun “situational” poses like this next one . . . hilarious!  Such good little actors :-)

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Not only was the Packard Super 8 fabulous!  Dennis also had a garage full of other awesome cars.  Love all the great colors!

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Love the motion and the way her train is draped in this one . . .

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Next we headed up the road to one of my favorite resorts, the JW Marriott Desert Ridge.  The property there is beautiful inside and out so we just took our time and wandered around finding all kinds of cool places to shoot.

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Lovin’ the escalator shot . . .

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We decided to play around with some fun editing to really pull of the vintage look for this one . . . what do you think?

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Their expressions are so cute in this one – Jimmy’s looking very GQ and Julie looks like she just can’t believe she scored such a hottie . . .  (That one’s for you Jimmy ;-)

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How cute are they?

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One final shot – such a sweet moment between them :-)

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To Julie & Jimmy: we’re so happy for you guys!  We feel so lucky to have been able to share in this amazing time in your lives and feel so blessed that you wanted us to help you capture it.  Thank you guys for everything!  We love you!

Please, please, please check out their slideshow by clicking on the “View Slideshow” button!  LOTS  more awesome photos of this beautiful couple.  And don’t forget to tell us what you think by leaving a comment below!

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Last weekend Ryan and I had an awesome time shooting bridal portraits for Elizabeth & Kevin.  Shooting them was pretty much a photographer’s dream!  Not only are they a GORGEOUS couple, but they really wanted awesome photos so they were totally willing to do whatever we asked :-)  It makes our job so fun when we are able to stretch ourselves and get creative with a couple as willing as these two.

We’ll be shooting their wedding at the Mesa Temple on Saturday.  They actually live in Colorado, but flew in for the weekend to spend some time with us :-)  I actually felt really bad for them because their flight plans got changed at the last minute so they literally flew in on Saturday morning, got into their wedding attire and met us for portraits at the Temple at 5:30pm.  The next morning we met up with them again at 7am and by 9:30 they were heading back to the airport again!  What a crazy weekend, especially the week before their wedding!

Despite the crazy schedule, they were SO great to work with.  It was 95 degrees and humid during both our sessions, but they were total troopers and didn’t complain a bit!

Okay, let’s get to the good stuff!  Ryan and I had so many favorites it was really hard to narrow it down for the blog post, so it’s gonna be a long one . . .

A shot of the beautiful bride.  Isn’t she such a classic beauty?

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Some of our favorites at the Temple . . .

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I love the way she’s looking at him in this one – so in love :-)

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Elizabeth’s one request was that we got a shot of them standing in the street with the temple in the back ground.  Oh how I love a bride with a sense of adventure!

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Had to take advantage of a little grunge as well . . . Ryan and I always joke about how most people look at crummy, run down building and say “Yuck!”, but we look at them and say, “Cool backdrop!  Let’s bring a bride and groom here!”

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On Sunday, we met at the Mesa Arts Center, a very cool modern venue with tons of great possibilities.

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Beautiful bride + a bit of edgy fashion = AWESOME!

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Then we set out in search of some railroad tracks . . .

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What an awesome couple!  Elizabeth was even totally fine with hiking out onto the tracks in high heels!  (Adorable pink heels by the way!)

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Our final stop was back at the Arts Center to get a little silly . . .

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LOVE IT!

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Thanks so much to Elizabeth & Kevin!  You guys were SO SO awesome and we had so much fun hanging out with you.  Can’t wait to be a part of your big day on Saturday!

There’s a ton more awesome images from this shoot so *** CLICK HERE *** to check out the slideshow!