Happy 80th Birthday Grandma!

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Happy 80th Birthday Grandma! I know you’ll still be skiing and playing tennis and bike riding and traveling the world on your 90th. I can only hope I’m living such a full life when I hit my 80th birthday :)

Here are some old classic ones… what a heart-breaker!

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I’m so glad you guys always had a camera with you… I love these old black and whites so much!

* my grandpa Ken passed away from Alzheimer’s 3 years ago yesterday. He loved to take pictures – this group is all from the 1950′s – I’m so glad we have them to look back on now! My Grandma’s new boyfriend Bill (above) is almost 96 and in amazing shape – I took this shot of them in Arizona last month. They stopped to see us in Phoenix before heading to Sedona for vacation. In the past year they’ve traveled to Norway and Hawaii and purchased an RV to explore with…. pretty incredible!

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3 Easy Ways to Improve your Wedding Photos

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*Image by Abby Jiu Photography from Southern Weddings Magazine

Improving your wedding photographs is easy if you pay attention to the design choices you make for your celebration and think about how they’ll affect your images. Here are my three quick recommendations to help your photographer get images that really POP!

1) Dress up your dance floor

You’d be surprised how easy it is to rent a dance floor for your wedding reception for relatively inexpensive cost. Choosing a black and white checkerboard or a bright white dance floor will add instant drama to your photos and make your dance floor really stand out against the table area of your party. If you’re in a ballroom that includes the standard parquet floor, ask your rental company about covering it with a fancier tile.

2) Don’t be afraid to use color in your bouquet

Although white bouquets for brides are classic and traditional… the truth is, they don’t photograph as well against a white gown because they tend to blend into the dress. There just isn’t as much contrast and dimension between the two. I love when a bride carries a bright bouquet herself but lets her maids carry the white blooms instead against their colored gowns. Everyone looks sharp and the images are crisp and colorful! If you decide to carry a bridal bouquet of white blooms, add greenery to the base of the stems to create dimension and texture to offset the bouquet from your dress in the photographs.

3) Pay attention to your chairs

Make sure when you book your reception venue, you ask in advance what chairs are included for your guest tables. Some venues have beautiful chairs included in their package but most are standard ballroom chairs from who knows when. It doesn’t make sense to invest heavily in flowers and other decor if your room is stuffed with 200 ugly looking chairs. They will overwhelm all your other designs. Instead, allocate your budget to rent chivari chairs or another simple chair for your dinner tables for a clean look to your wedding reception photographs.

Hope these tips help your wedding planning get off to the right start!

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Monday Musings | Weekend Recap

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You can tell summer is just around the corner when you start to feel like you need another weekend to recover from your weekend! I had so much going on over the last couple of days that I hit the pillow hard when I finally got to bed last night!

1 / The National Stationery Show in New York City started yesterday! As a former stationer and alum of the very first Stationery Academy, I had to swing by the booth and see the girls at the Stationery Academy booth showing off their new lines. Julie Goette of Ten Four Paper just launched her clever card collection and it is gorgeous – here she is in the booth!

2 / I spent Friday night having dinner with Lisa Roberts who is also in town for stationery show to shop for new products for her adorable shop Rock Paper Scissors in Ann Arbor, Michigan. After dinner I met up with other friends who were in town at the rooftop bar, 230 5th Avenue, with incredible views of the city skyline and the Empire State Building.

3 / Cam’s first visit to the National Stationery Show! Did you know they don’t allow strollers at the Javits Center?!? So we didn’t make it to as many booths as we would have liked… he’s getting quite heavy to carry around with a purse but he had fun meeting all the girls and hopefully was a good mascot for the booth.

4 / My little man is almost mobile – yikes! Life is about to change big time!

5 / I second shot a gorgeous wedding at Windows on the Water in Sea Bright, New Jersey yesterday with Colleen Putman Photography. The rain forced the ceremony indoors but the ballroom was stunning despite the change of plans. Congrats Candace and Michael! Your wedding was amazing!

6 / Cam had a play date with baby Dillon while his mama and I attended a baby shower in the neighborhood. Isn’t learning to share fun?

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American Idol or The Voice?

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American Idol… I just can’t quit you… After 10 years of religiously watching the top 10 contend for the coveted title… I just can’t stop watching. Even though the judges have come and gone and the contestants now are too young to know the difference between a Beatles song and a Bon Jovi song, it’s like a habit I just can’t quit. In college my roommates and I created AI “bracketology” alongside our March Madness picks… now I set my DVR and skim through to hear the songs when I have time. It’s just not the same.

Other singing competition shows are cannibalizing American Idol’s ratings… NBC’s powerhouse ‘The Voice’ is the hottest at the moment. Although I love watching ‘The Voice’ and the singers are incredibly talented… the knockouts and battles and spinning chairs and all of the crazy ways they whittle down the talent… it’s too much to keep track of. The singers are eliminated so quickly, I barely know their names and then they’re gone. On American Idol… not only do I know their names… I know their hometowns, their high school sweethearts, their favorite artists.. the one by one elimination format really allows the audience to become invested in the artists beyond their appearance on the show.

And then there’s the money… American Idol winners receive a $1 million recording contract. The Voice winners a mere $250,000. Nothing to laugh at but it’s clear that NBC just isn’t as concerned with the careers of the artists they’re discovering. The judges are the stars of the show… and it just bugs me a little bit. I was glad to see Christina Aguiliera leave, the incessant bickering between her and Adam Levine drove me nuts. Shakira and Usher have been great additions to the lineup but I just wish I could get to know the singers a little better before they get the ax! This year’s contestants are incredibly talented and I’m rooting for them to become big stars after the show concludes like so many AI alums have done.

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I’m hoping Simon Cowell’s “X Factor” finally takes off in the fall. He’s awarding winners $5 million in a recording contract – a huge investment in the singer’s future! These contestants have a lot more on the line and we’re more likely to actually hear from them once the show ends. I can barely remember who has appeared on the Voice much less seen any albums hit the market.

American Idol led the way but it’s sad to see it decline. If it were up to me… I’d go on a 10 year hiatus… reinvigorate the fan base and a new crop of talent and make a big splashy return to television down the road. I’m crossing my fingers for Kree in the big finale tonight but I think Candace may be too much for her! What do you think?

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Red Rock Bridal Shoot | Mike Colon Workshop

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I’m so excited to finally share my photos from the Mike Colon wedding photography shooting workshop I participated in during my trip to Las Vegas for WPPI in March. Mike added a second workshop to his schedule at the last minute and I jumped at the chance to add it to my workshop lineup after attending the J&M Lighting Intensive and The Experience in the days prior. It was a jam packed weekend but an amazing opportunity to learn from super talented photographers and shoot in gorgeous locations.

After meeting the small group of photographers at the MGM Grand, Mike drove us all out into the Red Rocks of the Las Vegas desert to meet the models and start photographing. Heather Cassady from Wish Social Events in San Francisco styled both looks for our bride and groom for the day. I love how she embraced the rustic elegance of the red rocks with the lace gown and copper colored sash for the first look. The lace appliques wrapping the shoulders of the dress and around the back are so romantic!

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Who says you need blooming flowers to create a stunning bouquet? Love this!
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For the last part of the day, the couple changed from traditional wedding attire to a more modern look. The geometric gown with the bold silver jewelry was offset beautifully with the bouquet of delicate baby’s breath.

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Heather did an amazing job styling both looks for the shoot.

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