Paul and Melissa are Married!...and they asked me to photograph their wedding...

I still remember the day Paul asked me to shoot his wedding.

I gave him a funny look, like, really?

you see, Paul is a photographer himself.

a REALLY good one at that.

not only was I intimidated to shoot his wedding because of that fact,

I have never ever done one or even shadowed one...

AND, I had never met the bride...

it was intimidating as it gets!

but, Paul's charm kicked in, and next thing I knew I was clearing my calendar for October 9th, 2010.

***

I remember kissing my family good-bye as I headed south towards Sandy that day.

I turned up my radio and jammed out to try to forget about what I was about to do.

I felt like I got there in record time...even if there was no record set to begin with.

I got to their house...

made it up to the door...

and BAM!

I met some of the nicest people I have ever met!

Melissa, the bride, was so warm and friendly...

after a few minutes I felt like she had been my friend for the past 7 years.

all the little girls were so sweet and ready to smile for me.

I felt like I belonged there, even though I was shaking in my flats!

shortly after I got there, it was time to head up to American Fork Canyon.

I road along with Paul, Tom (the officiant) and Paul's two girls, Brenna and Loryn.

we made it all the way to where we were supposed to be without a snag.

nevermind the fact that when we left the house, the gas gage wasn't exactly pointed up...

it was more so pointed in a downward like fashion.

but! we made it.

we walked to where the ceremony was going to take place.

it was beautiful.

the air was clean.

the trees were bright and vivid.

it was beautiful!

I wasn't sure what to expect...

but even if I tried,

I don't think I could have even came close...

mom putting on Paul's corsage.

some daddy loves...

we were there for about 7 minutes before Melissa and the rest of the entourage got there.

her daughters, Alex and Riley, started trekking up the trail, closely followed by grandma and grandpa.

I then headed back to the trail head to meet Melissa.

again, I didn't know what to expect.

and then she stepped out of the car looking all kinds of beautiful.

and sporting a smile that hits you like a brick wall (in a good way).

I snapped some pictures of her and her daddy... 

and then it was game time...

they were off and headed up the trail...

this is where my heart realized that this was something so much more special that I could have ever have thought up.

Paul told me it was just going to be a little ceremony.

nothing big.

just a small joining of two families.

ha. he was lying.

this is easily one of the biggest events I have ever been apart of.

no matter the size of the place or the amount of people attending...

this was one of those things that was so intense and so real.

 the union of these two families will stay apart of me forever.

they wrote their own vows.

they made you smile.

they made you laugh.

they made you cry.

they made you feel the love that they have for one another.

to symbolize the union of two families,

they included a unity candle.

a very large unity candle.

it was a very special moment for all who were there.

six flames.  one family.

sealed with a kiss and a blessing...

 and good wishes from all...

meet Mr & Mrs Coleman!

i couldn't stop taking pictures of melissa...
she's just ridiculously beautiful...

and her smile is ridiculously contagious.

I couldn't leave the following pictures out.

these girls were so sweet and so loving.

flower girls. bridesmaids. sisters.

Paul and Melissa,

thanks for letting me be a part of your day.

I can't count the times I cried and laughed that day.

your love is inspiring.

and your kindness is out of this world.

I wish you two the very best life has to offer you.

*****

Jeanne + Jesse = 1 year of wedded bliss

meet Jeanne & Jesse.

she loves him.

he loves her.

its a pretty easy equation.

although the results of the shoot look a lot like an engagement shoot,

they recently celebrated their one year anniversary.

who needs engagements when you can have anniveryments?

yes! I just made up that word. :)

Happy Anniversary you two!

thanks for letting me play with you two on the salty lake ;)

sorry about the sand Jesse...   :)

*****

Ashley's Ink... :)

meet Ashley.

she is my dear friend and much like a sister.

as I sit here trying to come up with words to describe her,

all I can come up with is how amazing she is.

she is one of the most loving and loyal people I have ever met.

she will practically do just about anything for nearly just about anyone.

and I mean that whole-heart-idly.

so, when she told me her plans for a tattoo, I can't say I was surprised... 

I knew Ashley wanted a tattoo for a long time.

if I'm not mistaken, she originally wanted a tattoo of a volleyball?

luckily, she waited and grew older and then made her decision :)

I have seen her struggle for the past year, emotionally.

her grandmother has been fighting cancer for at least that long.

in and out of chemo.

cancer free to cancerous stage four,  again.

its been hard on the whole family...

to honor and give tribute to her grandmother,

Ashley decided to have her grandmother's signature tattooed to her wrist.

she also added a little dragonfly next to her signature

because, who doesn't love a cute dragonfly? :)

Ash checkin' out her fresh ink.

a 'love' shout out to grandma :)

so, obviously, asking her grandma to write her signature on a piece of paper for no good reason would raise an eyebrow or two...

however, although her grandma kind of knew what was going on,

she lives in Idaho and Ash lives in Utah.

so, a couple weeks after the ink dried, 

the Snowball family headed up to Idaho to celebrate grandma's birthday.

her present?

a wrist wrapped in a bow :) 

notice the bow :)
picture courtesy of the snowball fam. 

grandma checking out the goods :)
picture courtesy of the snowball fam.

awh. Grandma and Ash.
picture courtesy of the snowball fam.

I was honored to show up last minute and take pictures of Ashley's tattoo.

a tattoo is forever.

kind of like the love between and granddaughter and her grandma.

Love you girl.

xoxoxo

*****

BrookLynn Elizabeth is 6?!?!?

its official.

BrookLynn is six!

I wasn't ready for that...

I still remember swaddling her every night...

and now...

she has homework and thinks Dora is for babies.

my little baby girl...

isn't a little baby girl anymore...

when we did the first shoot...

it was cold and windy...

and BrookLynn is not a fan of cold and windy...

so, we had to re-shoot...

here are the others we got last Sunday up in Ogden.

*****