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...;)

A cute little couple's questionnaire I snagged...

I snagged this couple's questionnaire from one of our bride's blogs http://bear-yexcitedbride.blogspot.com/ Thanks Caitlin!
I just thought it was so cute and a great way to tell you about the B man and I:

♥ What are your middle names? Ellen and Lee
♥ How long have you been together? 7 years
♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating? 4 years
♥ Who asked who out? Brandon did! It was the sweetest thing. He came into my work (with a friend...very smooth....) and came up to the counter and asked if I wanted to go out sometime and we ended up going on a double date a week later.
♥ Whose siblings do you see the most? B's. We see my brother's every once in a while...
♥ Do you have any children? No, no kids yet.
♥ What about pets? YES!! These are our kids...Phoebe and Kimber. They are rat terriers. One is a standard and one is a miniature. They are the best, smartest dogs I have ever met.
♥ Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple? Probably when we were separated (when B was deployed).
♥ Did you go to the same school? We did for my first two years of college.
♥ Are you from the same home town? Kind of...we're from the same small town but I lived there pretty much my whole life and B didn't move there until his junior year of high school.
♥ Who is the smartest? hmmmm...I think we would both say that's debatable...
♥ Who is the most sensitive? Me! I will cry about something stupid and B will just laugh at me...
♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple? SUSHI!!!
♥ Who has the craziest ex? BRANDON!!! DEFINITELY! BOY could I tell you some stories.
♥ Who has the worst temper? Me, definitely me. Brandon just doesn't get mad...it's actually kind of annoying how nothing rattles him.
♥ Who does the cooking? Me. Always me.
♥ Who is more social? We are both pretty quiet until you get to know us.
♥ Who is the neat-freak? unfortunately, neither of us.
♥ Who is the more stubborn? hmmm...I think that's a tie
♥ Who hogs the bed? Brandon. I am constantly waking up pulling the blankets back over to my side.
♥ Who wakes up earlier? Brandon. He gets up at 5, eats breakfast, watches fox and friends and then comes back in the bed to cuddle and wake me up.
♥ Where was your first date? a great little jazz place in Destin called Blue's. It's not there anymore.
♥ Who has the bigger family? Equal sized families
♥ Do you get flowers often? mmm...I'm not really a flowers girl. But get me a camera or a lens, or some sunglasses and I'll love you long time;)
♥ How do you spend the holidays? Thanksgiving with my family, Christmas with his
♥ Who is more jealous? We're really not jealous people at all.
♥ How long did it take to get serious? A while...we were just friends for years...
♥ Who eats more? Also, sadly, debatable.
♥ Who does/did the laundry? We both do not do laundry enough...so I would say we both do. but not enough.
♥ Who’s better with the computer? Definitely Brandon. He's a software engineer!
♥ Who drives when you are together? Always Brandon. I think he lacks faith in my driving!

Coming off of the long long weekend

Well, all good things must come to an end. Brandon and I are getting ready to go back to work tomorrow and we had a great long weekend, minus me being sick with a cold! Hopefully you all had a great weekend too. So I FINALLY put links to our myspace and facebook pages on our site and we even added a new video to out about us page. I am of course a big nerd (Brandon makes fun of me when I talk on camera!!!) but my handsome husband looks very nice all dressed up! Well, i'm off to get some work done before I hit the sack. Have a nice week and check back in with us, we have all kinds of fun things going on in March- we have the Seaside half marathon coming up in two weeks and an engagement shoot and then a marriage blessing ceremony at the end of the month- I can't wait!

Check out our Addilay slide show

Brandon put together a little slideshow the other night for a meeting with a client. You can check it out on our page: www.addilayphotography.com and click on "clients."
Susan

A new week, and a new wedding!

Another week down, one week closer to our wedding season starting! We could not be more excited..as evidenced by my non stop chatter about pictures and colors and cameras. It reminds me of when I was a kid and I would get excited about something. It was so rare that I would, but when I did there was nothing anyone (much to my parents annoyance I'm sure) could do to shut me up about the new obsession. First there was a snoopy snow cone machine, then the barbie dream house, and who could forget my pink Minnie mouse Kodak camera. Middle school was my summers at music camp (notice how I did NOT say band camp...) and the trendy Esprit bag that all of the older girls were carrying. High school and college were spent dreaming of shopping at Sephora and spending as much time at Neimann Marcus as possible. I never thought that I could ever get that child-like excitement again, but venturing into photography has definitely done just that. I am so lucky to have found something I love so much.
This weekend we booked another wedding, a really great couple that are having their wedding in October in Fairhope. The way the bride decribed her vision for her wedding made me realize that she too has the child-like excitement about her dream wedding. We're just so happy that we can capture those memories for her.
The pictures that I have posted below are the ones that I said were of my sister in laws house at Christmas time. She is the most talented home designer ever! The last picture on here is of Kimber...we were opening up presents Christmas morning and I caught her being super cute. Have a great night!
Susan

Catching up

Only 19 days into the new year and I have broken my #1 resolution...to get back to blogging regularly. I think reality is starting to set in that the holidays and vacation are really over...

Brandon and I had an awesome Christmas and New Year's. We went to visit Brandon's brother and his wife and our niece in South Carolina and then we spent the week of New Year's in Orlando at Disney. It was so so so much fun...but I think it's safe to say that we are so done with traveling...for a few months at least!

I do have a couple of pictures that I thought i'd share...


This is Brandon and I at Troy University (B's Alma mater:)


Me and my adorable niece (she is holding her little Wii controller and oh my goodness can this girl bowl! boom-chaca-laca!)


Nicole and our brave little dog Kimber...a big shout out to kimber for being so great with her:)


Brandon and Nicole

Well, I'm going to go start on dinner, my next post will be on how cute my sister-in-law's Christmas decor was. It was seriously like shooting picture for a Pottery Barn catalog!

It has been TOO long...part 2

Alright, so we're finally back from being gone it seems like most of December. We had a great Christmas and New Year's and hope that all of you had a great holiday season too! Well, we are definitely gearing up for 2009...big weddings...we're very excited. Anyway, I am falling asleep (still haven't recovered from all the traveling and walking a couple hundred miles at Disney last week)- so I will cut this short and vow to update everyone tomorrow with pictures from our Christmas break.
Susan

It has been TOO long-

Wow! I cannot believe it is December 9th! It seems like we just had Thanksgving and now were only 16 days away from Christmas. Where has the year gone??!!
Well we have been very busy- we just finished up the final editing on the wedding we did in November and that's always a good feeling to see the entire finished product.

December is a slow month as far as shooting, but we have been busy planning and speaking with quite a few couples about doing weddings/engagements in 2009- we cannot wait for the wedding season to start back up.

As I was looking through magazines for artistic inspiration today, I came across a Kate Spade Ad {Katespade.com} that I simply adore. The reason being that the girl is holding her camera but is looking so incredibly chic. I have a secret love of all things preppy, it brings me back to my chidhood (in the all too fashionable 80's). The Lacoste shirts, the Esprit bags, Ralph Lauren polos w/ the collar turned up...all very 80's yet traditionally preppy. I love this picture because it has all of those elements but in a more grown-uo sophisticated way.

I always look at fashion magazines before we do a shoot- there's just something about looking at the textures and lines and emotions.

Brandon and I will be leaving to go out of town Thursday, so we'll post when we get back. Have a great weekend.
Susan

Some gems...

So I was looking through some of the photos that Brandon has been editing from the wedding we shot a few weekends ago and came across these gems. I love the cake photo because it was just such a unique angle to capture it at. I love that we can both be looking at the same thing but our photos will be totally different. The second shot are some guests- I have no idea who they were but they were doing the bubbles all night so it was quite fitting to get a photo of them blowing bubbles. Well, Brandon and I are about to take off for Thanksgiving...and we cannot wait! We need a nice loooong weekend and there's nothing like going home and being pampered and totally rellaaaaxxxxeeedd..... I hope you all have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Oh, and our photo shoot this weekend got rescheduled for December so we really do have the whole weekend off! Good Night-SC

Only 1 more WEEK till Turkey day!

My favorite time of the year is finally upon us (well, besides for fall, spring, and the very beginning of summer;)- the Holidays! I love love love Thanksgiving and this year will be even more fun than last because we will be shooting an engagement session for a couple coming down from Auburn on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We cannot wait!
So my plan for the holidays is to:
#1- Enjoy my time off from work!
#2- Avoid the mess that is Black Friday at all costs!! I could
tell you stories about standing in the longest line ever.
Best buy. 3:45am. freezing cold...thanks dad;) BTW...we didn't
even get anything good for anyone wondering.
And finally...
#3- Gorge myself on turkey and stuffing

Oh! I completely forgot to mention that we have launched our new site www.addilayphotography.com and we are working on finishing all the pages. Just an FYI if you've tried to access some of the pages and there's nothing there. I will blog as soon as we get it all set up.
Susan

Introducing, the Azar's

Their love story is the kind of love story that romantic, sappy John Cusak movies are made of.
Nicole and Steven (a kicker for the New York Dragons) met by chance through a mutual friend four years ago and have been together ever since.
This past Saturday they took the plunge into matrimony before all of their friends and family on the bay at the Eglin Officer's Club. The day was crisp and clear and the water sparkled almost as much as Nicole's eyes as she walked down the aisle.
Nicole and Steven, thank you so much for letting Brandon and I capture your special day. It is always a great joy for us to spend time in the presence of a couple so in love. We hope you are having a blast in Orlando- enjoy the sneak peak!
B+S

We're getting a facelift...

Okay, maybe not a la Joan Rivers...but we ARE getting a new website! We have been pondering how we were going to set ourselves apart from other photographers (besides for our obvious awesomeness- i am kidding!) and we knew we would have to have a more customized website. With that said, I'm not sure when we will have our big reveal, It will be sooner than later. Brandon has already started working on it, we'll definitely keep you posted.
Since we will be posting up a lot of wedding pictures from Nicole and Steven's wedding later this weekend I thought I would change it up and leave you with a funny...
This is one of our beloved dogs, Phoebe. She's a genius...
SC

Did you vote?!! Did you vote??!!

I don't know why...maybe because my parents were into politics? maybe because we listened to talk radio for fun?? maybe because my dad and mom would take me with them when they voted??? These are some of the explanations I have come up with as to why I love election season. Lucky for me, I married a man who shares in my love for exercising my right to vote:)
The picture below is Brandon and I after we got back from voting- you can see- i am very excited...I bugged the B-man to take a picture of us when we got home..."so everone can see our 'I voted' stickers!!!" He finally obliged, but I have a strong feeling that it might have only been to try out our new lenses. Either way, here is our documentation of voting in 2008.
Have a great night!
Susan

Our Very Exciting News!

So we've been getting pretty excited about next year because we've booked quite a few weddings...but this last week something really really exciting happened.  We booked a wedding- for NEXT weekend!  It was completely unexpected but we cannot wait for the opportunity to document the couple's special day.  We will definitely be sharing with everyone asap- I will tell you all that the groom-to-be has a very interesting job...check back with us for the details!

B+S

Other Album Options...

These are the other albums that Addilay Photography are able to produce for your wedding/session archival needs.

Our other "coffee table" book-

And our high end "couture book."  This book can be produced in an array of colors and also in leather.