Claire

Luke and I went to high school together and graduated the same year... he was actually my date to Gala my senior year. (That is prom for Worthington Christian... aka no dancing). Anyways, I had his wife Bethany on my friends list of facebook and saw that they had a baby... a beautiful baby girl. Since we were in the process of looking for some models for our portrait website, I had to get the little Costello family in front of the camera. So here are some of the photos I took a couple weeks ago. Little Claire was born a tiny bit premature, but weighed just enough so she could go home! This was truly a little miracle! She is just so darn adorable!

FINALLY!!!

Finally, I can tell you our new website is up!! I'm so excited to be finished with it... well for now!! Now I'm onto updating this old blog. This is going to be an amazing year. Thank you to everyone for their patience. I know we've been talking about this website for some time now. The portrait site will be finished by next week!

Hope everyone is enjoying this amazing weather we're having. I love this time of year, everything is so green and beautiful. I always have to post at least one picture, so here is my baby girl Gracie Luu and I in Indiana. Of course she's not looking at the camera, she's just as ADD as I am.

Lauren & Andy

First off, I have to thank Jen & Chris Goff for this one! I met Lauren at their reception back in August and she had just gotten engaged, so she was on the look out for a wedding photographer. Shortly after I got a phone call from Lauren and we booked her right away. I've been looking forward to formally meeting her since I met her on the dance floor of the Hilton at Polaris, it was a bit chaotic at the moment. From the moment I pulled into the parking lot and got a glimpse of their black lab April, matching Birkenstocks and Andy's Northface book bag, I was already excited about this shoot. They seemed like this flower child hippie like couple that liked the grateful dead. I was immediately upset that hippie store downtown Westerville had closed because they would have loved it! She then went on to tell me that when she met Andy, they both were wearing Birkenstocks, and why that made me laugh I don't know, but I told her it was meant to be! Don't worry though, I didn't have them running through a field barefoot, although I think they would have done it if I asked them to, they were up for anything! Here are couple pictures we took of them in Westerville, where they first met while going to Otterbein College!

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep

Has you ever watched Extreme Makeover: Home Edition? If you have, then I'm sure there was a tissue box nearby right?! A month or two ago I was lounging around on a Sunday evening waiting for Desperate Housewives to come on and started to watch EMHD, and little did I know it would change my life. The episode was on a woman and her family that was involved in a flood, of course everything was taken away from them and they were living in a little apartment. She was a photographer in her town and did mostly portrait sessions, but what set her apart was the kind of portrait sessions she did. A couple years ago when she was pregnant with her son, she went into labor very early so her son had to stay in the nicu for a while. If you haven't been in a nicu before, I have to say, the babies you see in there never leave your memory. What set her apart from the typical portrait photographer was that she did not just shoot in her studio, she would go to hospitals and take pictures for families that had taken an unexpected turn in their pregnancy and capture final moments with their baby. After seeing this I immediately felt the tug at my heart to be a part of what she was doing. I then went on my google search and found Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep. I applied for a position as a photographer and a month later here I am getting a phone call of a mother in Dublin Methodist.

I cannot imagine what they are going through, and I cannot find the words to say at this moment to make any pain go away. I am humbled that I'll be the one photographing this moment with this family. I knew it was going to be hard when I filled out the application, but what I did know was that I wanted to use this gift God gave me. Anyways, please pray for this family today, and for the families that will come. I really hope I am used to the best of my ability and that I can hold it together! Check out the website if you'd like, they have some amazing stories on there.

I hope everyone enjoys this fabulous weather we're going to have today and tomorrow! We have two engagment sessions tomorrow so I know Coty and I are excited its going to be beautiful. Love you all!

ashley*

2009/2010 Booking

I must say, this year is going to be fabulous! We are blessed with tons of amazing couples that have chosen us to be their wedding photographers, and we couldn't be more thankful for the business. We just booked a wedding in November and I think we're only going to book one or two more weddings that month. If you don't know this already, we hold our family at the highest priority. Our marriage, family and friends are so important to us so we try to keep some time open to spending it with those loved ones. Not that we don't LOVE shooting weddings, but our feet and hearts need a breather from time to time. So any Friday in November is still available and the 7th, 14th & 21st! December of last year was an unexpected big month for us. We booked a couple weddings last minute but had a blast shooting them. This year we have 2 weddings already booked but we're still able to book one more! We've kept the 26th open for ourselves to go home to Indiana to be with Coty's family. I've said this before but when you get married you merge the families together, so when you pick which home you'll be at for the holidays you have to try very hard to please the Mothers! Since we had spent 2 years at my house (here in Ohio) because of weddings being days after, we decided to give Coty's mom the choice of when she'd want us at her house. She could choose Christmas eve and we leave Christmas afternoon or we come Christmas afternoon and stay for a couple days. She chose to have us come for dinner on Christmas so we've reserved the 26th just for Indiana! I love what I do, and so does Coty, but our families get a little irritated that we have to plan things SO FAR in advance. But what else am I to do when I get emails for a wedding almost a year in a half in advance? Try planning a baby?! That'll be pretty hilarious to "plan" a baby when the time comes. I say this "you plan and God laughs" because no matter what its His plan not ours!

Anyways, so after we book those couple dates we'll be totally booked for 2009. I still can't believe how fast the year books up. As for 2010 we've been getting tons of emails and we're excited to start booking. So if you're engaged and you think you have time, don't hesitate to call or book a meeting to lock in the prices right now. There is no time like the present to get the big vendors booked and finished so you can focus on the fun little details that make your wedding your own! For fresh and fun ideas check outTheKnot.com. I lived on The Knot when I was engaged. I changed the entire look of my centerpieces a month before my wedding because of something incredible that I saw on the knot. Okay, Okay, I'll stop rambling on. I can't get started on planning because I won't stop! Hope everyone enjoys this amazing day God has given us. Love you all!

Ashley*

Erin & Jack

Erin & Jack were one of my couples that I just loved from the beginning. I met Erin last year when her and her mom came to my house for a client meeting. She informed me that Jack was in the Army and he was going to be overseas for a while. Of course it tugged at my heart a little bit because I couldn't imagine planning a wedding without Coty being around, let out of the country! Their engagement session was such a good preview to their wedding I had to laugh a little. I remember that they couldn't keep their hands off eachother! One of my favorite engagement pictures I have ever taken was Erin and Jack in front of the infamous turquoise blue wall in the Short North, they were kissing and had their arms around each other and Jack tugged on her butt and she lifted her heels up as he did it. The moment captured every bit of passion and love they had for one another! At one point I felt like I needed to give them a moment to themselves! It was too cute! I guess I'd be the same way if Coty was leaving too. Anyways, here is a sneak peek of their wedding on March 28th!

Maylee Jo pt.2