Maylee Jo

Spring!!!

Well its that time of year everyone!!! The tree outside my bedroom window has flowers on it, the grass is green again and weather.com predicts it to be over 60 degrees next week! A lot of my couples who are getting married this year have already shot their engagement session so if you haven't already done so, now is the time to get that booked!

We are also running a special on portrait sessions. If you book a portrait session with us before June 1st, you'll get a 20% discount on the portrait session. So get those appointments set we have limited space open for portrait sessions in May!

I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful weather we're having. Hopefully I can put my ugg boots away finally and pull out my flip flops!

Have a Happy Easter everyone!!!

Ashley*

Columbus Bride

When I was in high school, I always was picking up a copy of Columbus Bride while strolling through the grocery store with my mom. It was one of those magazines that I always wanted to be in when I got married. Coty and I's wedding photographer wasn't advertising with C.B. at the time so it was almost disappointing that my little dream wouldn't come true. After we got back from our honeymoon we had the amazing oppurtunity to get in front of Davis Photography's camera! It was fun to get back in my dress, and the tuxedo place let us borrow the tux for the night for free, and we went all around downtown for some amazing pictures. Little did I know they'd decide to use one of our photos for their beautiful ad in the Columbus Bride magazine. So when it came down to it, I got my picture in Columbus Bride... and it wasn't just any picture... it was a sexy picture! So anyways, we recently decided to start advertising with the magazine and I've been waiting in excitement to see if the wedding I submitted got in.

So when Coty got home last night with the mail, he woke me up saying "Nate and Maria got in the magazine!" I immediately got on my blackberry and I was emailing Maria the news. I think I was just as excited as she was. I have to say its kinda fun being in a magazine. I picked up some copies of it when Coty and I were in it and we put it away somewhere safe, so we can show our kids that mom and dad were hot at one time!!!

So congratulations on getting in the magazine Nate and Maria. Love you guys!

Ashley*

Little Marlee...

As some of you know, I used to work at the Charles Penzone Grand Salon at Polaris. I did nails there with a group of very fabulous girls, who frequently got pregnant, engaged and married. Kelsy was one of the many who did all of the above just last year. I had the privilege of photographing her little girl Marlee. I met Kelsy when she was dating her husband, and ironically, he was one of my models when I first started. When he walked in I was like "oh my gosh he's not going to fit in the pedicure tub"!!! He's over 6 feet tall and his legs hung WAY past the foot rest, it was quite hilarious. Marley was so fun to photograph. Its hard to get babies to laugh but she was a pleasure to be around. Right at the end they decided to change her diaper and do a couple naked shots, just so they embarrass her later in life, and just as we were finished up, Kelsy sat her on her coat and said "she better not pee on my coat"!! Sure enough... she peed. Kelsy unfortunately learned not to speak so soon about her little wizzer daughter Marlee! Thank you so much for letting me photograph your beautiful daughter Kelsy & J! It was so much fun!

Ashley

Little bit of this... Little bit of that....

So its been a little while since I updated. Time is flying by! I cannot believe its March already. Erin and Jack's wedding is coming up then we have another month off until our big season starts! I've been ordering proof books, parent albums and designing albums like its nobody's business! I actually passed up a trip to H&M with my mom so I could finish up some things. You know its serious when you pass up the oppurtunity to bat your eyes at your mom and have her buy you things you don't need! So I've been promising our new website... although I feel like its been put on hold. I feel like most of the pictures are already in the places they need to be and ready to go but I'm not ready yet! I haven't really had time to just work on it and give my whole heart to it. So until then... it'll just have to wait.

I did have some information about booking with us this year! Once May hits, we're literally going to be off the map for a while. We have at least 1 to 3 weddings every weekend until November! Speaking of November, we loved only having 2 weddings in November in 2008. It gave us the chance to open our studio, catch up on work, and spend time with family during the holiday... not to mention going out on black friday to get our extremely too large t.v.!! So as of right now we do not have any weddings in November and we're only going to book 2 or 3. Since it is the month of thanksgiving, and we have so much to be thankful for, we've decided to give the first 3 couples to book with us a nice discount on all our albums, coffee table books, guest books, and parent albums! So if you're looking for a photographer and your wedding is in November, give us a call and take advantage of our little discount we're offering!!

As for the rest of year, our availability is very little. June we still have a friday or two available. July is more than booked, its over the top! We will be flying to Utah to shoot Jeremy & Kristin's wedding so that adds to how booked the month is! Its like a little vacation right in the middle of the chaos! We have a couple Friday's & Sunday's still available for August but our Saturdays are booked. I'm really looking forward to August because we'll get to go back to Taylor Mansion (one my FAVORITE spots) and we're shooting my good friend and wedding planner Meleka Murphy's wedding! September is another busy month for us, and it seems like the 19th is going to be a HUGE wedding blowout this year in Columbus. I can't tell you how many inquiries I received for this date, so I know Jackie & Tommy are glad they booked us so far in advance! Again with September we still have Friday's & Sunday's free! October is one of my favorite months during the wedding season. I always feel like the colors are gorgeous and here in Ohio during the fall, you can't go wrong! We're available to book one more wedding on the 10th, and only one friday wedding on the 2nd! Coty's cousin is getting married in Indiana on the 17th and we're so excited to be GUESTS at their wedding. When she first told us she wanted us to do their engagement session and not their wedding, I was somewhat excited that I was going to get to do the fun stuff! We shot their e-session here in Ohio at a pumpkin patch and it was so fun! I know Coty and I are so excited to be guests for once, to be able to drink champagne, wear something other than black and dance the night away!! Cannot wait Kayla & Matt!!! We also are shooting a wedding at Miami University! We shot a wedding at O.U. last October and it was amazing! So we're looking forward to Alicia & Sean's wedding, we already know its going to be gorgeous in Oxford that time of year!

As for December... this is where I get torn! We booked 5 weddings in December and it was like Christmas didn't even happen! We've made it a point to figure out what we're doing this year because I think my mother-in-law was going to kill me if we didn't make plans to come again! So we're only available for one or two more weddings in December! We will not be booking a wedding on the 26th because we'll be in Indiana with Coty's family! It'll be the first time that we split the day up between the two families. So we'll spend Christmas Even with my family, along with Christmas morning, then leave around noon to get to Indiana by dinnertime! You'll learn this very quickly how to make both sides happy! I knew Christmas morning was my family's thing and when I asked Coty's mom what she'd rather have and she said dinner so it was perfect. Both our Mom's get their way! You'll also learn that as husband and wife, when the Momma's are happy... you're happy! I can't tell you how many arguments Coty and I have had over things like this. When it comes down to it, we just love our Mom's and want to make them happy!

Anyways, I hope all is going with everyone! I'll be featuring my friend Meleka on here shortly with some new trends for the season! Right about now is when I was going over little details for our June wedding. Trends change every so often and I totally changed my flowers a couple months before, but it was okay, they turned out amazing! Anyways, we love you all! Hope you're enjoying the sunshine we've had the last couple days!

Ashley*

New Trend Alert!

I always love it when I find new trends that are going on in the wedding world. Lately I've been hearing a buzz about asking friends to be bridesmaids. I was boring and just called them up and asked. Most of them new it was coming, so nothing fancy. So I think us girls have caught onto the idea that if a guy can come up with some extravagant plan to ask us to marry them, why not come up with a plan of our own to ask our girls to stand by our side as we say "I Do" to our prince charming?! I was just on facebook and saw a girl from my college get asked to be a bridesmaid in such a fun way. She had all the girls over and they each had a sand pale in front of them full of stuff with a card on top. In the card she asked each girl to be her bridesmaid and not to worry the dress was already taken care of. This is where it got funny, instead of them pulling out some cute dress from victoria secret catalog for a beach wedding, each girl pulled out a dress you only have nightmares of... think thrift store meets the 80's! It was hilarious. Of course every girl decided to put them on, whether it looked like a tent or it was crushed velvet, it was hilarous.

So if you're trying to think of fun ways to ask your girls to join you on the biggest day of your life, make a memorable day for them too! Do something they'll never forget!

Ash*

Boxers & Updates

I know some of you have had the fortunate opportunity to meet our dog Gracie Luu. She is more than a pet, she is our baby... and she's incredibly spoiled. When we shoot a wedding, we drop her off at my parents or my Grandma's house to stay for the day. She loves it because at my parents she torments my old dog Tyson, runs free on their 1.5 acres and chases squirrels up trees. When she goes to my grandma's house she brings each stuffed animal out of the "kite room" down to the living room... it gives my Grandma and her husband Randy a good laugh! When we went to Pennsylvania to shoot a wedding Grandma and Randy were supposed to keep her for 2 days then give her over to my parents. Each day that we called Grandma would say "Oh.. we're going to keep her another day, she's so fun" So there is a reason for me blogging all this, I promise! Tonight our breeder, Cindy Dyer, emailed me about their unfortunate situation that they are in and they are needing someone to take their two boxers. One is Gracie's age, she'll be 2 in June, the other is 7 months old. I'm not sure if she's updated her site yet so I don't know if the prices on there are correct, so check it out here!

We have two weddings to finish up then we're all caught up on the editing... then its onto the album design, dvd slide shows and much more! We are heading off to Indiana on Friday and we'll be there until Tuesday! We've got an engagement shoot, family shoot and a client meeting all while we're there. We are shooting Kristin and Jeremy's engagement shoot on Saturday at Grace College, where we all went to school. Jeremy and Kristin are our destination wedding this year, in Salt Lake City Utah! I couldn't begin to tell you how excited we are to be a part of their big day. Jeremy was one of Coty's groomsmen and good friend on the baseball team. I've heard one too many stories of those two... like sneaking out and putting all the bikes around campus safety's car so then they saw them running away they couldn't catch them. I can't share all the stories because... well lets face it... the things guys do in the dorm should stay in the dorm haha. Anyways, so that's where we'll be for a couple days then its back to work!

I almost forgot, on February 22nd we'll be participating in our first bridal expo, and we are so thrilled to be doing it! To top it off, our booth will be next to my very good friend and wedding planner Meleka Murphy! I think her site is still under construction but she's amazing! I can finally add commercial work to my portfolio, after next week! The woman who made my wedding cake, Kim Lawson, has hired me to be their little company's photographer. She makes everything from tote bags, baby blankets, towel wraps and much more. I love crafts and scrapbooking, so this is so fun for me. Don't get me wrong, taking pictures of Brides is my passion, and I love it. But you don't have to tell a bag to tilt its head to the left a little and follow it around haha. I love the research that goes with the new shoot too. When their site is up and running (after I take the pictures) I'll post it because she makes some very cute tote bags for bridesmaid gifts!

Okay, well I should be getting back to work! Gracie is whining to go sniff around and I need to finish editing! Love you all!

Ashley*