Every time I have something special to buy, I put a ton of research into it.  Looking at reviews, weighing all of my options, checking things out.  I also have learned that I have very specific taste.  I don’t love most purses, so when it comes time to find one, I have a hard time.  When the process started however, I wanted the JCrew Brompton bag.  I good friend of mine has the discontinued JCrew Marlow bag and I have always admired it.  So, after a couple of weeks of scouting the outlet stores and every TJMaxx from here to Lancaster County, I have come back to this very same purse.  Beautiful, functional, durable and it’s JCrew.  You just can’t go wrong.

I think the lesson I have learned is that when it comes to something artistic, I have to go with my gut feeling.  If the reviews are good and the product is beautiful, than all of the looking for other (possibly cheaper) alternatives is just a waste of time.

Now I can’t wait to bring this little beauty home to live with me!

A couple of months later, I got to meet Seana for real when she arrived in town the week of their wedding.  All of their dating had been done long distance, as Seana not only lived in Atlanta, but travels extensively for work.  They were so excited to see each other, it was hard to get them to keep their hands to themselves.  Which I did not mind, because that is never a bad thing when it comes to engagement sessions.

They wanted to have their photography done on the Penn State campus at University Park.  Since Adam lives in State College and went to Penn State, a special date had happened there and ended with their first kiss.  We decided to meet at the Nittany Lion Shrine next to Rec Hall since that is where the big moment had happened.  I walked over and found them standing by their car near the statue.  We exchanged hugs and talked for a few minutes before I said, “Alright, let’s get started!”  I grabbed my camera and started to walk over to the shrine to wait in line.  That is when they corrected me that the kiss had not happened there, but over here by the Lion Shrine.  At their car.

That was when they started to retell the moments leading up to the kiss.  How they were standing.  What they had just been doing. Recanting their conversation.  Re-enacting the whole thing.  It felt so special.  As my heart swelled up like a big red balloon, I carefully composed pictures.  What we have now, is a story told in photographs.  A beautiful, unique and quaint love story.

The stacks were next.  What Penn State grad has not dreamed of taking their true love up to the stacks for a little make out session?  I think it is super sweet that Adam had exactly that in mind.  His mother is a librarian, so he thought that getting some photographs in the Paterno Library during their engagement session would make her happy.  

One of the reasons that we offer engagement sessions with our packages is that they allow us to really get to know our clients.  How they interact with the camera, how they fit together and most of all, I do my best to translate their personalities into their pictures.  The more I shot Adam and Seana, the more I laughed.  I like to think of my work as a collaboration.  A collaboration between me and my subjects.  These two had all kinds of fun and crazy ideas they wanted to try.  ”Get us peaking around the book shelves,” they yelled.  As I clicked away, Adam made the funniest faces (see below right).  We had a really great time!

The artist in me could not resist sneaking in a little Frida Kahlo into the session.   We headed outside and walked to all of the special places Adam had planned for us to go.  The original Arboretum (located right outside the building where Steve and I first met), Alumni Hall gardens, the lawn outside of Old Main.  It was a wonderful evening spent getting to know each other, sharing Penn State stories and getting excited for their wedding that was happening the following weekend up in Troy, PA.  I could do about four blog posts with all of the gorgeous photographs we created this evening, but I will leave you with a few more highlights.I love how the trees make a kind of heart behind them (above) and then around their heads in the photo below!

At the end of the session, they invited me to the Allen Street Grill for dinner.  We sipped wine and ate amazing food.  As I listened to them share about their families, their backgrounds and more about their relationship I soaked in every word.  Two beautiful people that I am so thankful to have met.  The best part was that they wedding was yet to come!

Steve and I fell in love while creating art and listening to music together.  One of the things that I liked about Steve early on was that he listened to bands that I had never heard of.  Styles of music I had never listened to.  Back then, in State College, there was a bar called the Crowbar that would get great bands coming in every week.  We saw so many amazing groups play there.  Ryan Adams and Fastball was one of our first dates.  Whiskeytown, Marah, Wilco, the Jayhawks.  We saw bands together all of the time.  Anyhow, something about the Head and the Heart reminds me of the music Steve and I used to listen to while we were dating.  I love it!

We woke up to a world blanketed in white on Saturday.  The children pressed their faces against their windows and squealed with delight. They could not wait until the day’s soccer tournament was over so that they could return home to play in the snow.  This was the first big snow we have had on our new property and it was breathtaking.  Watching the boys sled on the side of the house this afternoon made me fall even more in love with our new home.  We are so blessed, not only by our children, but to have such an incredible place to raise them!

Our baby is an outdoorsman at heart.  He would chose to be outdoors over being inside any day.  His delight over the deep snow was so charming that his older brother, who does not share the same passion for the cold, stayed out for hours with him.  As the sun set, they came inside with beautiful rosy red cheeks and cried for “hot cocoa” – with marshmallows.

There are 7 and a half years between our two boys and it warms my heart to see how much they truly love each other.  For that reason, I am thankful for the ability and opportunity to photograph my family.  These are sweet memories that we want to remember forever, but I know our youngest will probably not recall these times with his older brother without the aid of photographs.

I love to do first looks!  Since we get asked about them often, I thought I would answer the most common questions.

Why do one?

First looks are wonderful if you want to spend some special time together before the wedding.  If you want to see your fiance’s reaction to your dress first hand or if the two of you would like to share the excitement of pre-ceremony gitters together.  They are also nice if you have a shorter time between your ceremony and reception, but still want to have special portraits taken on your wedding day.  A first look still allows for you to have portraits together after the ceremony (when you both are glowing), but relieves any time pressure that may have been created by a tight schedule or long receiving line.

How does it work?

During your pre-wedding consultation, we will schedule a time to do your first look and, if you like, a portrait session to follow right afterwards.  I delight in finding a location to do the first look that will provide gorgeous photos.  We get the groom into position and then shoot from a far.  Simple, yet magical.

Did I mention how much I love first looks?

I fell in love with the art and science of photography at the age of 15.  I bought my dad’s old Sears camera – without a working light meter – and took a photography class in high school.  The entire process seemed like magic to me. From looking at the world through a tiny viewfinder to keeping photographs of the people and things that meant a lot to me.  To be able to document my life and the things around me.  To stop time and relive the moment later.  It was beautiful.

20 years later, I rarely go anywhere without my camera.  I see things to capture all the time and my heart breaks when I can not record it.  The light playing across my baby’s hair or how his expression looks just like his Pappy.  The way the sun melted all of the frost from the blades of grass except those that are in the shade of the tree.  The perfect catchlights in my daughter’s eyes.  Or steam from the paper mill billowing across the sky.

Beautiful moments that capture my heart.  I am thankful for the vision that God has given me and that I will be able to enjoy it my entire life.

After getting to know Stacey and John on a more personal level during their consultations and engagement session, we were very excited to see them get married.  Each step of the day held more wonderful surprises which we thoroughly enjoyed documenting.

Stacey and John were married by John’s uncle at St. John Gualbert cathedral in Johnstown, PA.  Stacey’s sister stood next to her and John’s brother stood next to him.

Did I mention that these sisters are trouble?

After the wedding ceremony at Saint John’s church in Johnstown, Stacey and John walked next door to a favorite hot dog joint to grab a bite to eat before heading back to Ebensburg for their portrait session …

… where they ate more fast food – this time from McDonalds!

Stacey’s family runs and owns a lumber yard and saw mill.  She did an incredible job of incorporating her family history into the theme of her wedding.  She had canning jars filled with saw dust, candles in white birch logs, a tree inspired cake and gorgeous tall branches as table center pieces.  Their favors for their guests were so clever.  Each guest was given a small tree to plant.  We thought that was such a wonderful and fun idea considering their family business!  We closed on our new house the week of their wedding and planted the tree that her father gave me on our new property.

The evening was spent in a room full of wonderful people.  The friends and family that surrounded Stacey and John radiated love and support.  John did not stop smiling the entire evening and his joy was reflected in the faces of everyone around him.

How cute are these two?!?  I just love the way he loves her.

The expressions on everyone’s faces in this next one just kills me.

At the end of the night, John scooped up his bride and carried her away as their friends and family clapped and cheered.  It was a perfect ending to a perfect day.  

What happens when two perfectionists decide to renovate a house?  They take forever.

That said, we have finally finished moving out of our old house!!!  I thought the day would never come.  The only thing left there of ours is a refrigerator that we are selling.  It feels amazing to be done with the move and know that all of our efforts can now be made here.  At the new house.

I think we could have spent an entire year making the new place perfect before fully moving in.  Torturing ourselves over every detail of the renovation process and dealing with the stress of telling everyone that “no, we have not finished moving yet.”  Fortunately & unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, we were not given that opportunity.  So now we have some boxes in the garage until we get things finished inside.  I just keep telling myself that it’s not a big deal. Maybe if I say it enough, I’ll actually start to believe it.

In the meantime, I am enjoying the gray and yellow color scheme we picked for our home.  We agonized for months over our choice of carpet, wood flooring and the colors we would paint on the walls.  Again, two perfectionists wanting everything to be perfect.  The end result?  Well, I think it’s pretty darn close to perfection.  We absolutely love it.

Until we finish the last of the big projects, we are finding time to work on them with the help of our temporary babysitter – the ipad.  If you have a little one in your life, you might enjoy a cool site that we found that allows you to read lots of great books online for free.  Our children have really enjoyed reading these to the baby while we are painting, hammering, cleaning and organizing.  Click on the photo of Cami above to read the book shown below.

It was a sincere pleasure to get to know Joe and Heather in the months leading up to their wedding.  I appreciate Joe’s creativity and Heather’s attention to detail.  The way that their personalities compliment one another and the ease in which their hands fit together.  We had a wonderful time exploring the Penn State campus with them on three separate occasions.  We photographed their engagement session under their favorite tree from their dating years and in the Stacks in the library.  We shot their Day Before session at the Lion Shrine, Beaver stadium and inside a lecture hall.  Finally, we photographed their wedding near Innovation Park and their portrait session at the Arboretum and alumni gardens.  I hope that you enjoy the collaborative work that we created for these two as we tell the story of their love.

The wedding of Heather and Joe united together two beautiful people from two beautiful families.  Two fantastic sets of parents One set of Joe’s grandparents have been married for over 60 years.  What an example and testimony to set forth for your grandchildren!

Their blue and white wedding ceremony was performed outdoors in the courtyard of The Penn Stater on the University Park Campus in State College.  The reception was held in a beautiful banquet hall at the same location.  Heather and Joe were married by Elizabeth Goreham, the mayor of State College.  How cool is that?

We did a really fun “day before” session on Friday with the entire bridal party, hitting some of the more popular spots on campus.  Having met as students at Penn State, Heather and Joe had a dream of getting some of the photos done in one of the lecture halls.  Though most of the buildings are locked when school is not in session, I remembered a nice one that is usually open over by the art buildings.  Low and behold it was unlocked, so we took some cool and crazy pictures in the hall as well (see their slideshow).

We try to work with couples who click with us.  People who love our work and our style of creativity.  When that happens, I find myself in love with everything at their wedding.  This was exactly the case at today.  Their rings – gorgeous.  Loved her shoes and dress.  Simple and classic.  But when I saw their letterpress wedding invitations complete with a silhouette of a tree, my heart skipped a beat.  Exactly what I would pick if we were getting married again!

Something that struck me over the course of the day is how much Heather’s father loves her.  Watching him come into the room to see his daughter for the first time in her dress was spectacular.  The look on his face when he first saw her, coupled with the way he just kept staring was beyond heart warming.  He did not look at my camera when I asked them to stand together for a photograph.  I took the shot just as I saw it – her looking at me and him fixed on his daughter.

Steve and I spend a large part of a wedding day apart.  We coordinate so that we capture different things at the same time.  Before the wedding, I go with the girls and he goes with the guys.  We usually do not see each other until the ceremony is starting.  Steve was with Heather and her parents as the music started.  He captured a beautiful photo of Heather waiting for her entrance with a huge smile on her face as she looked out the window into the courtyard.  As I processed the photographs, I wondered what it was that saw.  After culling both Steve’s and my photographs, I put them together in chronological order.  It was then that I saw what caused her reaction.  At the same moment as Steve was photographing Heather, I was photographing Joe as he walked down the aisle.

One of the three things Heather and Joe requested that we photograph was Joe’s grandfather dancing.  At the reception, I kept my eye on him, but never saw him leave his table.  As the night wore on, I casually approached his table and explained that Joe and Heather wanted very much to have some pictures of him dancing.  He laughed and explained that he could not dance to fast music anymore.  I spoke with the DJ and arranged for a slower song to work its way into the playlist.  When the song played, their grandfather and I made eye contact and he winked as he stood up.  But instead of asking his wife to dance, which I had expected, he walked across the room and grabbed Heather.  Tears immediately came to my eyes.  I know how much he means to Joe and Heather and then learning about his battle with cancer, it was so moving.  As they danced, I just kept shooting.  Hiding the tears streaming down my cheeks with my camera.  At the end of the dance, he kissed Heather on the cheek before returning to his seat.  Absolutely beautiful.

As a side note: I have lots of kisses to share in this post.  Why?  Because that’s what Heather and Joe like to do!  :)

There are simply too many photographs that I want to share to fit into this post.  Click here to see Heather and Joe’s slideshow from their fabulous Penn State Wedding.

Stacey and John were married at the St. John Gaulbert Cathedral in Johnstown this August.  We had the pleasure and honor of being there to photograph the whole day.  While we are blogging just a sneak peak of their wedding, you can check out the “Featured Couples” tab above to see the slideshow of their wedding day.  The entire ceremony and reception exuded love and we could not be happier for the two of them.  Check out their slideshow here!