A Love Story in Pictures: Joanna + Austin May 9, 2009

I love to tell a good story, the kind that makes my friends want to laugh, smile, reminisce, cry... That's why one of my favorite things about being invited along to shoot a couple's wedding day is getting to tell the story of their love through photographs. It's almost like being a fly on the wall, watching and listening for those special moments that even the bride and groom might miss. It's all of those moments that help to tell their story. The wedding day can be such a blur, surrounded by friends and family, dancing, eating, loving, and laughing. It goes by so fast and after it's all said and done you are left one thing: your story in pictures.
A few weeks ago Brandon and I got to shoot Joanna + Austin's wedding. J + A are students at FSU and with family in the Destin area they decided to have their wedding in Fort Walton Beach. The backdrop of their beautiful day was the Fort Walton Beach Yacht Club {http://http://www.fwyc.org/}. They had a lovely ceremony outside at the pavilion by the bay and then headed in for the reception and an evening full of making memories with their friends and family. Oh and there was dancing. A LOT of dancing...they even had a couple from a dance company come to show the guests a few moves to help them get out on the dance floor. It was an ingenious idea, I have never seen so many guests at a wedding get up and dance! I could go on forever about all of the little details that J+A thought of to make their day unique and special but I will let the pictures tell the story... {and as always click on the picture to make it BIG!}







I love this one so much...it's so melty and soft...it's like butter!
















J+A, I hope you enjoy the preview of your pictures! We wish you all the best in your new journey as man and wife:)

Well, I better hit the sack, it's getting late. B+I shot a wedding this last weekend and will hopefully be getting a sneak peak up soon!
goodnight!
SC

Sweet, sweet baby

Two weekends ago Brandon and I drove out to Fernandina Beach to meet up with Leslie, her husband Steve, Leslie's cousin Jenn and her husband Mike (who were visiting all the way from Canada!) and their six month old, baby Oliver. I wasn't sure how the shoot would go...it's always interesting to shoot families with babies because there is no set formula of how things will flow. Shooting with babies is a very organic thing...that's one of the things that I love about shooting families. You just shoot how the family interacts with each other, how the baby reacts to their surroundings and no matter what, the pictures always reflect who the family is. With Leslie, Steve, Mike, and Jenn I saw that baby Oliver is the center of their world. He is so loved and he totally steals the show. We had such a fun time with them. Here are a few of their pictures...(don't forget to click on the pictures to enlarge them...it's so much better when it's BIG)

Mike, Jenn, and Oliver


Steve, Leslie, and Oliver


Dad and Oliver


Mommy, daddy, and baby


Mommy and baby


Leslie and Steve...who never needed prompting to be affectionate with each other, I love it!




We also got a chance to go by the house that Leslie's husband Steve is working on in Amelia Island Plantation. Every piece of wood, every nail, every precise calculation of where a plank would be laid...Steve has done it all himself, it is truly amazing. The home is (I believe) 4600 square feet and there is such attention to detail, you would not believe. Brandon and I got the grand tour with the architect and builder himself. Needless to say we left the house wondering how many photo jobs it would take to buy the house when he was done with it...one of my favorite pictures is when Leslie arrived at the house (a little after our tour had begun) and she and Steve sat in the upstairs window while we took pictures from the street.

Leslie, Steve, Mike, and Jenn- thanks for inviting us to spend a little time with you guys. We had a lot of fun and you guys made the shoot super laid back and relaxed!!
S+B

Busy weekend wrap up

So this post is really about a week late...we spent last weekend in Jacksonville, Amelia Island, and then finally St. Augustine. The occasion being that we were comissioned by a lovely family to come out and shoot them on Fernandina Beach. We stayed in Jacksonville the night before with the lovely Julie and James{www.juliecate.com}, and then we got to spend our last night at the Inn on Charlotte {www.innoncharlotte.com} in dowtown St. Augustine. It was a perfect weekend and we cannot wait to share our pictures from the beach shoot. In the mean time, here are a few pictures from our stay in St. Augustine.
Have a great weekend-
Susan
P.S. We shot a sweet wedding yesterday so check out our sneak peak which should be up before the end of the week!
P.S.S. check out the slideshow for Julie and James' marriage blessing ceremony at www.addilayphotography.com click on "featured wedding" on the bottom left.


this one Brandon snapped of me trying to figure out what to going to write in the journal at the bed and breakfast...

And this last one is when I finally finished writing in the journal about all of the memories that Brandon and I have in St. Augustine...I can't wait to go back;)

Allison+Allan

We are finally through about half of the editing process of Allison and Allan's wedding and have some pics to share! Enjoy and have a great weekend!
Susan

Happy Birthday to Me!

So today it's official...my parents are getting old...it's my 27th birthday! It's such a beautiful day out and I am so excited about our weekend plans (a slumber party at our friends' house, tubing and wakeboarding tomorrow, and hopefully some mad Wii tennis tournaments)!! So in honor of me (yes, that sound is my head getting bigger;) I will include a picture that Brandon took of me last week with one of our new lenses. Also, we (well mostly Brandon) have been editing pictures like crazy because we are still wrapping up Julie + James' wedding and we have scratched the surface of Allison + Allan's wedding. It's about to get really busy starting next weekend. While Brandon was editing today he came across the picture of Julie and James and their kiddos- we looove it! Have a great weekend.
Susan

Allison + Allan

This last weekend Brandon and I had the pleasure of shooting Allison + Allan's wedding in downtown Pensacola. You could not have asked for better weather or a more in-love couple. It was great! Here is a a little sneak peek....


Allison + Allan being pelted by family and friends with what was thought to be rice, but was actually heart shaped cupcake sprinkles!!

A little late...

This post is about a week late, but I guess it's better late than never. Last weekend we celebrated Good Friday at my in-laws house. It was such an awesome fellowship of believers enjoying the beautiful gift that is Jesus. My mother in law and her friend Anna are two of the best party hostesses...I think they secretly work for Southern Living because their cooking and decorating skills are impecable. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the get together. Tomorrow I will be posting about Allison and Allen's wedding which we shot this last weekend.

By the way...if you live or are having your wedding/birthday/special event in the Niceville, Ft. Walton, Destin area you have to get with the ladies at Say Cake baker in Val-p {Saycake.net} They make the BEST cakes in the world and you really just can't find a nicer family to work with! They made three delicious, beautiful cakes for the party...Red Velvet w/ buttercream, german chocolate, and a strawberry and chocolate.

My mother in law...



The cute little menu detailing all of the goodies that Anna came up with...

Phoebe has been getting into the camera bag again...

So we got some new lenses in yesterday when we were at work and Phoebe (yes, our very intelligent dog) decided to try them out and send us some pictures at work. Much to my amazement, her self-portrait was pretty good! I like the lens she chose to use too...(nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8d). Unfortunately, I can only post one of the pictures...the other one she sent...well...i'm going to have to have a talk with her about what she can take pictures of;) Hope everyone is having a great week! I will be posting a few pictures from our Resurrection weekend get together asap and then we have a wedding this weekend. Allison and Allan are getting married at a chic little spot in downtown Pensacola. I can't wait to try out the new lenses!

Susan

My Best Friend's Wedding

This last weekend I had the opportunity to shoot my best friend's marriage blessing ceremony. Julie+James were married in Jacksonville, FL and had their reception at an amazing house on the intercoastal waterway. Julie just so happens to be in the photo biz as well http://juliecate.com/ and James is a firefighter and paramedic for St. John's County.
There are no words to describe how cool it was to be a part of their special day. Julie and I have been friends since middle school and have known each other for even longer. I feel that our friendship really helped me to capture Julie's spirit, which is witty, sweet, and SO SO funny. Julie+James I am so glad that you guys found each other! You are an amazing couple and I could not be happier for you guys. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the weekend...

Meeting with Caitlin+Brandon

Yesterday we had the opportunity to meet with a couple who's wedding we will be shooting in October. Caitlin + Brandon live in Atlanta and came down to meet with vendors, check out their ceremony and reception locations, and enjoy a nice long weekend at the beach. While Caitlin and I talked about wedding stuff, Brandon started snapping some pictures of the cute couple. Here is the future Mr. and Mrs. Houston and a couple other little details from our meeting.

An Afternoon at the Ballpark

I got to play around with our new d700 shooting my girlfriend's daughter at her softball game today. I had never done any "sports" photography before...it was definitely a great learning experience! Here are a couple of my favorites:


Her dad is the coach!




I left before the end of the game but I heard that they won 28-4. Go cubs!
Have a great night-
Susan

Seaside Half Marathon

I am really just catching up from all of the fun we had last weekend at the Seaside Half Marathon. My best friend Alicia and her husband Sean came down from Atlanta and it was a nice long weekend of laughing,eating, staying up late talking about politics, modeling the snuggie, hearing "the" story of how Alicia courted Sean, and running!
Sunday, race day was freezing cold-literally! We woke up at 2:30am to start getting ready and the temperature had gone from in the 70's the day before to the low 30's that morning!! Unfortunatley for me being cute and wearing a running skirt (yes- I could have picked pants but didn't...)was a high priority.
We got down to Seaside at about 5:30am and sat in the car for as long as possible before we had to brave the cold and take care of any final business at the porta-pottys. I literally never thought I would enjoy being in a port-a-potty better than being outside in the FRESH air...but the porta-potty was warm and I think I was really close to death it was so cold;) Anyway, so this was our first half marathon and it was such a great experience. I ran it in my goal time of 2 hours which I was really excited about!

This was what we saw sitting inside the warm car before the race...


We unfortunately don't have any pictures of us actually running the race since we were all running...even though Alicia did run with: tissues, an ipod, her CELL PHONE, chapstick, gum, and i'm pretty sure she had a small toaster oven for making a snack...in her jacket pocket;) I am actually suprised she didn't have a camera...

This is Alicia, Sean, and I after the race eating Jim and Nick's at the after party (which was not really a party due to the fact that everyone was leaving because it was 33 degrees!).

**Brandon is not in any of these pictures...cause he is always the one taking pictures!!
Alicia and Sean, thank you guys so much for for coming down and visiting us and doing the Seaside race with us. We had so much fun and Alicia you are the bestest friend a girl could have. I still remember the day we met on the first day of sixth grade. How lucky I was to have met you that morning on the "sixth" grade hall--someone to brave the locker room at PE with, someone to share a love of vests and band with, and more importantly someone to have had in my life this long. I love you!
P.S. We also love Sean..so much that we are considering becoming Ole' Miss fans...;)