Album Mania!

I’ve been busy lately getting albums out to my clients. All of our albums are customized to tell the story of each of our clients’ weddings in a unique and original design. Each album is one of a kind. I’m really proud of the amount of care and work we put into out albums. They are a historical record of your love story, and will become family heirlooms. To ensure that they will last a lifetime and beyond, we use only the best album manufacturers in the world.

I thought y’all might enjoy seeing some of them. So I’m going to be posting a whole bunch of albums in the coming weeks. I’m also going to add many of these to my web site.

Here is Melanie & Mounir’s album. They had an absolutely gorgeous wedding at The Strand in Naples.

The Olympics are here!

I’m so excited because I’m an Olympic fanatic! I’ve been like a kid waiting for Christmas. The anticipation has been killing me. But it’s finally here. And NBC is airing more coverage than ever. Thank goodness for TiVo ☺

I’ve had the privilege of attending two Olympics so far: the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Both events were so much fun.

I lived in Alabama at the time of the 1996 Olympics, and already spent lots of time in Atlanta so the city wasn’t new to me by any stretch. But it was my first Olympic in person and still quite a thrill. The highlight, I think, was when my friend Lyn and I were at one of the swimming matches. The entire Swedish water polo team came and sat by us, still in their little swimsuits. What can I say, those guys are hot! We saw a few swimming matches, including the first US gold medal of the games, and a baseball game.

The Salt Lake City Olympics were wonderful, as well. I love visiting new places and had never been to Salt Lake. As much as I adore warm weather, it is always a blast to visit snow and do some snowboarding. Plus, there really is nothing like being around hundreds of other people who are as much into the Olympics as I am.

The only event I was able to see live was the Bobsleigh, courtesy of my friend Nicholas who was on the Hungarian Bobsleigh team. It was so cool standing right next to the track seeing them come around the bend at neck-breaking speed!

I hope you enjoy the games as much as I will. Hopefully, some of you are even getting to experience them in China!

Dog or lamb? You decide!

OK, I’ll be honest. I think about blogging more than I actually blog. I started this post last year but never published it. I have a doggy Holiday card shoot tonight, which got me thinking about Neville. Glad to finally share it…

I am so excited to have photographed my first Bedlington Terrier. These are the “lamb” dogs. At certain angles it is almost impossible to tell them apart! Especially when Neville starts grazing on his mom’s manicured lawn. Clearly his favorite activity. At 8 months old, he’s still very much a puppy!

I can’t leave out Neville’s brother, Morgan, the big barrel bodied yellow lab. The mission was to create a photo of both dogs for the family’s Christmas card. I got tons of great photos of the dogs together, as well each of them separately. It was a lot of fun!

I even enjoyed the sibling rivalry. Can’t you just hera Morgan thinking, “That puppy is so dumb!”

Oh, I can’t forget to mention that Neville has his own blog:
http://nevillethebedlington.blogspot.com/

Neville’s human sister is a professional writer. Check it out. Although I must warn you, you’ll end up spending way more time there than you meant to!

Sweet Baby Ella

What’s to say? The photographs say it all. She’s an adorable and happy baby, who was an absolute delight to photograph.

Ella is a member of my Bare Baby Plan, which includes three photography sessions to document your baby’s amazing and ever-changing first year. We’re currently signing up a select number of babies and soon-to-be-born babies. Please contact the studio for more information.

This was her 3-month session. I can’t wait until our next session, you little cutie pie!

I love baby toes and polka dots, so what a combo!

We started with bath time. She’s definitely a water baby.

This one is Daddy’s favorite.

You can see she gets her good looks from her Mom.

These three photos make the cutest canvas wrapped triptych. It’s a beautiful wall art piece that is 45 inches wide by 15 inches high. You really have to see these in person to appreciate how gorgeous they are, and no framing is needed. The image wraps around all sides.

Here are each of the photos closer up.

Hanging out at the hot new venue in town: Miromar Lakes Beach & Golf Club.

Last night I attended a great event at Miromar Lakes Beach & Golf Club. I’ve been hearing about this new venue, and I must say it really exceeded my expectations. The décor reminded me of many of my favorite venues in Wine Country back in California. Very elegant and classy. But even better, it’s on a beach! Plus, it’s 5 minutes from my house

Some of my favorite people were there, including those pictured. This was taken from Kelly McWilliams’ camera phone, so it’s pretty bad. Hey, at least we got a photo!

Is it any coincidence that the best wedding planners in Southwest Florida are both named Kelly? Kelly McWilliams of Weddings by Socialites and Kelly Werder from No Worries Weddings.

I also enjoyed hanging out with Vanessa and Lori from Pelican Preserve, Rob & AnnMarie from AMC Video, and Patrick from Aace Entertainment. I’m sure I’m forgetting a bunch of people, so please forgive me.

Thanks so much to the wonderful staff at Miromar Lakes: Glyn, Dean, Connie and Vivian, as well as the attentive bartenders and wait staff. I look forward to working with y’all. I just booked a wedding there for next May. Can’t wait!

If you’re looking for a top-notch venue for your wedding, I highly recommend Miromar Lakes. Now that the word is out, this venue is going to book up like crazy! Contact Glyn Williamson, Assistant Manager of Miromar Golf Club, and he’ll take great care of you.

Your weekly dose of Ruby Jean cuteness!

RJ likes to rest her head. I guess having a 1/2 pound pea-sized head gets heavy!

Christina looked so beautiful in her greek goddess dress at the Marco Ocean Beach Resort

Christina and Steve are such a sweet couple, the Marco Ocean Beach Resort has definitely become one of my favorite venues. I love how Christina’s greek goddess wedding dress blended so beautifully with the architecture of the hotel. I also loved her hair. It was beachy casual, but also elegant.

Kudos to all the vendors who made this wedding so wonderful:

• Wedding Design and Planning: Kelly Werder of No Worries Weddings
• Ceremony Music: Seaside Strings
• Flowers: Marco Island Florist
• Cake: Ella’s Cakes
• Wedding, reception and catering (including that amazing Venetian Dessert Bar): Marco Beach Ocean Resort
• Special thanks to the Director of Catering, Melissa Burke-Cabral, and the Wedding Coordinator, Jade Calvert, from Marco Beach Ocean Resort. They are a pleasure to work with, and will help you plan the wedding of your dreams.

This is one great view from the hotel.

Sean took this beautiful shot.

The reason I have the greatest job in the world is I get to witness moments like this! The flower received a surprise gift of a charm bracelet she really wanted. It was so sweet!

Sean also took this photo of the flower girl, which I just love!

More lovely romantics.

Seaside Strings provided lovely music for the ceremony.

The reception looked great. I really like this color combination.

They had some company cutting the cake! Ella’s Cakes really outdid themselves with this one.

And the Pièce de résistance, the Venetian Dessert Bar. YUM!

An entire intimate wedding package for only $1455!

This is a fantastic way to have a really lovely wedding on a tight budget. Put together by my friend, and wedding planner extraordinaire, Kelly Werder of No Worries Weddings.

All the details are below, but in a nutshell, this complete package includes: ceremony arch at a beach in Southwest Florida, officiant, flowers, cake, music, wedding announcements and photography! WOW, this is a great deal.

Please note, this includes one hour of professional photography with Shari Bare Photography*. I’ll provide you with a DVD with at least 100 gorgeous photos of your wedding.

Please contact Kelly to book this package: 239-261-1076 or kelly@noworriesevents.com. But also feel to contact me if you have any questions.

The Details:

The “Sand Dollar” Destination Wedding package Summer Special will give you an enchanted beach ceremony at the Southwest Florida Location of your choice with our officiant. Package is designed for intimate weddings with 20 or fewer guests. Let our trusted professionals put your plan into action so you can enjoy your most important day.

Your Package includes:

• Initial Consultation with our Wedding Consultant to discuss your wedding vision
• Personalized recommended vendor list for: hotel accommodations, hair & make-up and restaurant for a wedding dinner reception.
• Personalized ceremony created by our wedding officiant with ceremony performed and notarized by our officiant at your beach location.
• Filing of your marriage license.
• Colorful Fresh Flower Bridal Bouquet and Groom’s boutonnière–roses or similar.
• Small Two-Tiered Wedding Cake delivered to your wedding dinner location.
• One Hour of Ceremony Photography with photo disc.
• Pre-recorded wedding music for your processional and recessional.
• Bamboo, Tulle & Starfish Arch to enhance your wedding location.
• 100 Photo Wedding Announcements with envelopes to send to all your family & friends.
• Unlimited telephone and e-mail consultations.
• Vendor Confirmations to all ceremony vendors two weeks prior to wedding.
• 20% discount on invitations or announcements and wedding accessories from Carlson Craft– available for order online at: www.noworries.cceasy.com

Additional options such as bridal party flowers and live music are also available. Summer Special available for weddings booked by August 31, 2008. If you would like to book our services for your wedding, please contact us and we will prepare a contract. A 50% initial payment is due at time of contract signing. If you have any questions, please contact Kelly Werder at 239-261-1076 or kelly@noworriesevents.com.

*Professional photography by Shari Bare Photography if I’m available. If I’m already booked, Kelly will find you another photographer.

Check out my new destination wedding blog, Fly Away Photography, with a FREE destination wedding photography contest!

My good friend Shannon and I have launched a new blog: Fly Away Photography. It’s all about destination weddings, honeymoons and travel.

In celebration of our new blog, we are having a free destination wedding photography contest. Since there are two of us, two lucky couples will get their destination wedding photographed free of charge! You can read all the details here.

We’re also looking for contributors to our blog. If you have photos from your destination wedding, honeymoon or just any interesting travel stories, please send them to us! Ideas are always welcome.

Happy Monday!

Sean and I were treated to this amazing rainbow at sunset last night. It’s hard to see in this small digital copy, but it was a double rainbow! It was even worth the mosquito bites I got