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She’s grown a lot since our first session that’s for sure! Ashlynn’s Mommy, Kara, is the older sister of one of my long time best friends. I’m so happy that she planned her One Sweet Year session with me for Ashlynn first year. This is our third session and I think it might be my favorite…..what do you think?!

While Ashlynn finished her nap in her car seat, I accidentally got this shot, I hate it when that happens!

This was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! Passersby thought Ashlynn was the sweetest thing so they wanted to help out with the photo session to get her to smile. It most certainly worked! Look at these grown men cooing!

I love her smile!

This will be the last little thing that I say about Disney World until our next visit. The photo to the left was taken in March 2008 when Madyson was just 6 months old. Most people thought I was crazy for daring to bring a baby to the Magic Kingdom, but really it was easier than this last trip! She’s just as precious as she was then, just a tad more active to say the least (:

I thought I would start a little tradition of taking pictures with her in front of the castle as she grows into a little girl, teenager then young woman. What have I gotten myself into?

If you’ve ever visited Disney, it’s most recognizable how friendly everyone is. From the people welcoming you to the park to the guys cleaning the streets….everyone is so happy to be there! They must pay them really well or have great benefits because it seems like the place to be! Of course it’s hard to have a bad attitude in Disney (:

The Guests seem to be having a good time too…..

Come on, you would do it too!

After the street parade we watched the show in the front of the caste.

Disney has an in/out policy so we played hard at the Magic Kingdom from 8am until about 1pm, then headed back to the resort for a nap. And I mean everyone took nap, even the big kids! We returned right after dinner and stayed until the parked closed…..this is perfect so no one gets grumpy!

Here we go into the park…..

Funny thing, Tigger and Pooh were waiting for us right when we walked in!

This park is so wonderful! There’s fun things to do around every corner.

Look they make the big kids play too!

We are missing two brother’s and Olivia’s Mommy, Ann, to complete this picture, but it’s still lovely (:

Another thing about Disney is it’s really beautiful and VERY clean.

Yea, face painting!

Almost time for the parade and fireworks!

I thought I was yelling at first in this picture, but actually I think I’m yawning. Second, and more important, why is that girl looking at my kid that way?! I thoght we said no bad attitudes at Disney World!

Disney puts on the most amazing fireworks show that plays along with your favorite and most recognizable Disney movie lines. This is the beginning of the fireworks with Jimini Cricket’s voice saying, “I wish I may, I wish I might…..”

We were so close, it was pretty loud, so Madyson didn’t quite know what to think for a few minutes…..

But she got over it and had a blast!

Now that’s a finale!

Wow where do I begin?! Oh yes, princesses, stepsisters, go……let’s first start off by saying that a 3 year old with a little cold at the Magic Kingdom in 100 degree heat can test any parent, but we’ve always had one rule. “No bad attitudes in Disney World!” Sure enough, the moment we rode the ferry up to the Disney entrance, Madyson slowly started to feel better. All we’ve talked about for weeks is seeing THE castle, meeting the princesses, etc, etc. When she falls asleep at night she says she’s going to the castle to fly away with Tinkerbell and to see the princesses, come on, we knew she would be excited!

This trip to Disney this year was actually the location of “Camp Honey”. You see, my Mom, aka Honey, aka Cathy, plans Camp Honey every year. What better place than Disney World right?! Camp Honey’s attendants consisted of her granddaughters, Olivia and of course Madyson. She had a few helpers too, me, Eric, Melissa (my sister) and my Dad, John (aka Granddaddy). I think we had more fun just watching to see Olivia and Madyson’s reaction to everything, it was amazing, beautiful, all of the above.

Enjoy!

These girls are ready for the Magic Kingdom!

I think Olivia is about to pass out she’s so excited! Madyson was pointing saying, “Is that my castle?” And yes, to confirm your suspicions, those are Cinderella dresses and crowns. How else are you to meet princesses?!

The first time she really got a good look at the castle.

We were on our way to Mickey’s ToonTown to meet the princesses, but it was a little early to get in. Funny thing that the Cinderella’s were walking by and ran into Anastasia, Lady Tremaine and Drizella.

They were asking which one of them were going to do the cooking and which one was going to do the cleaning. Olivia pointed to Madyson and said, “Oh she is, she loves to clean!”

The costumes and the makeup were the real deal!

Madyson was having some issues with her dress so Drizella was trying to help her out. Anastasia’s reaction to that was, “Oh can you fix mine too?”

Olivia ran right into the Rabbit’s arms! I love how Madyson’s leg is kicked up, too cute!

Waiting patiently for her turn.

Olivia meeting Princess Aurora.

Madyson was talking about her “pretty pink nails” in the left image, awesome! Of all to say to Sleeping Beauty, guess she thought that was most important!

Little Cinderella meeting big Cinderella was so sweet.

Madyson was overly excited that Cinderella noticed her “glass” slippers.

And finally….Princess Belle. Madyson thought she would plop right down on the ground, after all, Belle was doing it!

Olivia was perfectly poised for this one!

Several years ago I photographed Rob and Alisha’s wedding and they haven’t been able to get rid of me since! For this session we quickly gathered for a quick family session, then switched gears to concentrate on Riley and his best friend Ayden. I also photographed Ayden’s parent’s wedding (Laura and Brad) shortly after Alisha and Rob’s, how fun is that!? Anyways, the boys had a blast running around and getting into everything like little boys do. Riley did everything he could to try and jump into the fountains at the Choo Choo, dive out of the train to give me a kiss or run from me of course….but those made for the best pictures (:

Thank you Alisha, Rob, Brad & Laura for having me as your friend and photographer all these years!

Mommy and Daddy’s turn!

Sweet Ayden.

I had to add this image even though Laura’s head is in the bottom of it. She was playing crowd control because they were trying to dive over the top!!

WAIT!!!

I love this little guy.

You can see Alisha’s loving hand holding onto her son to make sure he doesn’t jump!

This is Elizabeth. Isn’t she the cutest thing?! I can’t get over how she cuts her eyes over at me in almost every single picture. Her Daddy, Matt, says that she’s very good at that. I think it means she’s super smart and very curious! Elizabeth gave her parents a scare when she was born. She has a rare lung disease, but her Mommy, Sheila, says she’s getting better and better every day. But Elizabeth being sick is not what this session was about. It’s about how these two wonderfully strong parents love this amazing little girl. It’s about a family that’s made it through so much and has everything to show for it. It’s about Elizabeth and how she’s growing, laughing and becoming everything her parents dreamed she would be.

Thank you so much, Matt and Sheila, for allowing me into your lives to document your beautiful family. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for the three of you.

More curious “eye-cutting”.

My favorite on the left (:

No wait, maybe this one’s my fav!

I love that Sheila’s hand slipped into this image…..she’s a very caring, watchful mother, always making sure that her sweet girl is safe and comfy (:

Two of my favorite people, Tim and Pamela were married back in June and Eric and I were thrilled to be there to celebrate their amazing wedding day. We were also lucky enough to photograph them prior to their wedding and even a “Day After” session similar to Esala and Lena’s a few posts back. Enough talking, on with the photos!

Let’s start with the pre-wedding session…..these were taken a few weeks prior to their wedding in Pamela’s first wedding dress. She had two beautiful dresses to wear, she wanted to make it count!!

And now for their Day After session a few weeks later….the first one with their babies Prissy and Dolly!

This morning we are heading to Orlando to take her to Disney World. I’m quite positive she’s going to lose her mind….and I’ll be there to document the whole thing (:

After their engagement session, I knew Brandon and Meg would be so fun to photograph on their wedding day….well it finally arrived last Saturday and I was thrilled to be their wedding photographer! Brandon and Meg were married at Patten Chapel surrounded by their family and friends. After the ceremony we headed up to the fabulous Fairlyland Club on Lookout Mountain where everyone danced the night away until it was time to send the couple off to St. Lucia!

Thanks so much to both families for making sure their wedding day was memorable! I hope you two have a wonderful time on your honeymoon in St. Lucia, LUCKY!!

Click HERE for a slideshow.

Vendors:

Florals: Amanda from Divine Designs
Cake: Cake Boutique
Reception and Caterer: Fairyland Club
Band: Michelle Jons from East Coast Entertainment
Dress: Ever After Bridal - Cleveland, Tennessee
Makeup: Olivia Clark at MAC Cosmetics
Hair: Amy Brandon – Hair Benders International
Ceremony: Patton Chapel UTC
Wedding Planner: Kathy Sumerall

I love the look of calm, apprehension on Brandon’s face.

I’ve never seen flower girls be so happy to run down the aisle!

I’ve wanted to blog about this session for a while and I’m finally catching up! You may remember Esala and Lena’s southern wedding in Natchez, Mississppi earlier this year. They were married at the historic(and haunted!) Dunleith Plantation on May 22, 2010. Lena planned her destination wedding to be in Natchez, which is near and dear to my heart….it’s where I was born and it’s also where Eric and I met! She found me online by searching for all things “Natchez” and hired me as her wedding photographer. Needless to say I was thrilled to come back to Natchez for another amazing wedding. We love photographing weddings in Natchez, there’s something so sweet and southern about it and reminiscent of older times.

Esala and Lena are amazing. They’ve practically kept their beautiful relationship alive via their cell phones. Lena’s in North Carolina finishing up her residency while Esala in working in Chicago. Due to all of us being spread out around the country, we weren’t able to meet for an engagement session. Knowing this, Lena scheduled a Day After session to make certain she would have more than enough images of her and her husband. For those that aren’t familiar with a Day After session (although the name is pretty self-explanatory), it’s a session just for a couple either the day after or weeks after their wedding to get additional photos in their wedding finery. And oh how fine Lena and Esala were right?! (check out photos below)

Although Lena and Esala saw each other prior to the ceremony, I highly recommend a Day After session for couples that chose not to see each other. There’s so much pressure and a potential to feel rushed when you push your couple alone portraits to the end of the ceremony and this is the perfect remedy to an otherwise stressful situation. A Day After session is more relaxed and couples seem to be more relaxed too without all the business of a wedding going on at the same time. If you’re planning to not see each other before the ceremony, definitely consider this option….what have you got to lose?!

Everyone was up rather late the night before dancing the night away at their reception. We met at about 7:45am the morning after…..how did they end up looking this fab? 

I love the wedding clothes that Lena and Esala chose. It fit so perfectly with their beautiful, southern wedding theme.

Hello awesome, random courtyard.