We began the day with the girls getting ready at Lindsay’s childhood home in Plymouth. Whenever I am discussing the timeline with my brides, I always push for 90 minutes with the bride while she gets ready for her day. This allows me to capture the details, her donning her gown and some portraits prior to embarking on the craziness of the day. Plus, it is so much fun for me to get to know the girls during this time, as we’ll be spending the next 10 hours together. This bridal party certainly did not disappoint. The were SO much fun and I wanted to say thank you on behalf of the entire {kgP} team, as we felt truly welcomed.

So, without further ado, let’s get to it. I have a bazillion images to show you! Luckily Lindsay trusted me enough to transport her gown outside of her house (thank you!). I LOVE this image and her blue pumps. :) Congrats, again you two! xo

While the girls were getting ready, there was a delivery. Alan purchased bottles of wine for them to share on their milestone anniversaries. Truly LOVE this idea — nice job, Alan. :)

Absolute FAVE image of the day.

Meanwhile, Wayne was over with the boys.

The girls were cracking me up. With every individual picture, they did one funny pose. It was hard to keep the camera still as I was giggling. Anyone who has a sister will get the pic on the right below. :)

We then walked around downtown Northville for some portraits. Linds rocked this in full sun — not an easy accomplishment.

Okay! Let’s go get married!

Lindsay & Alan got hitched at the awesome and truly unique Marquis Theater in downtown Northville. Nice to see that we were on schedule … ceremony begins at 4p!

Making it official!

My FAVE!

The bridal party took the shuttle into downtown Plymouth for the reception at the Mayflower Meeting House. But first, we stopped by Kellogg Park for a few more portraits.

Oooh, girlll. Let’s do dis!

Now brides. I KNOW that planning a wedding is expensive. I KNOW you will always end up over budget by the time your big day arrives. But I cannot recommend uplighting enough. Unfortunately, it is one of the first items to get cut when trying to reduce the overall cost, but it can truly make or break your reception images! Lindsay and Alan chose to alternate the colors and I LOVE the variety in these photos!

Props to the bridal party for the hilarious intros!

Alright, let’s party! Time for the first dance.

After I saw this, I then knew where Alan got his sense of humor. :) One of my faves of the day!

Some pretty sweet groomsmen gifts. GO GREEN! GO WHITE! {and apparently LTU.}

I also loved when the entire reception rode the train {led by Alan with the horse that originated at Lindsay’s bachelorette party in Nashville}!

Thank you both SO much for trusting me with something so special. The entire {kgP} team had a fabulous time with your friends and family and I hope you love these images as much as I do. Congrats, again!

Let me begin by saying that Christine’s gown is SO elegant; I LOVE the gorgeous neckline. We began the day with the girls getting ready at their home, whist the gents prepared for the day at the hotel.

Seesters!

LOVE these etched mason jars that they purchased for their bridal party!

Serious favorite!

Dad’s first look. :) It doesn’t get sweeter than this.

And another fave! Gah!

Lookin’ good there, James.

Ahh. Here we are. :)

Time to get married! Always love these shots.

My favorite part of their ceremony is when Christine and James put letters that they wrote to each other {that they have not yet shared with the other} into this box with a bottle of wine to open and celebrate with on their one year anniversary. SUCH an AHmazing idea!

Yay! We’re married!

I love when we catch these sweet moments.

And I told you they were an uber fab bridal party. LOVE these!

Okay, seriously?? I have no words.

I warn you:  there are a lot of these. {gorgeous couple + heavenly light = out of my control}

And now let the par-tay begin!

Too cute!

Introducing, for the first time, Mr. & Mrs!

There was a lot of laughter … and  a lot of tears.

I had the honor of working with her last December when she hired {kgP} to update her design portfolio. We traveled to various homes within Oakland county and I was lucky enough to see her designs first-hand, including custom furniture pieces. To add to the cool factor: her pieces are all hand-made in Michigan.

Even though the rooms she designed for her customers were nothing short of fabulous, my favorite part of our tour was when we made it to her 1934 Cape-Cod style home in Birmingham and I was able to see her personality truly shine through in her own little oasis.

Anne, I’m still planning on borrowing your desk design. :) Congratualtions, girl. You deserve it! xo

As my {kgP} readers know, my business began because I wanted to be able to document the moments of my own life through my camera lens. I loveloveLOVE having my camera with me when I travel to AHmazing places … but truth be told, it can be quite inconvenient. I traveled with 8 others to Puerto Vallarta and along with doing normal beachy things like catch some rays, read a good book and drink some Coronas, we also did an excursion or two. The highlight of our trip was riding ATVs through the residential part of PV and into the jungle for some off-roading. Could I take my mkIII with me? Um, no. So the saviors of the day were the good old point&shoots. However, four of us did walk the Malecon {Paseo Diaz Ordaz}, which is essentially the PV boardwalk, the day before we left and I took some snapshots of the area.

First, here is the view from our room at the Hilton overlooking Bandaras Bay. If you’re looking for a recommendation for an inexpensive all-inclusive place to stay, I highly recommend it. All the rooms have recently been renovated and we were able to score a deal for airfare + 6 days/5 nights for $1k.

Taking a self portrait with my new 24mm. :)

This was sunrise on our first morning there. Anddd, this is the only time I was able to catch this for the remainder of the trip. Ha.

Ahh, and now onto the Malecon we go.

Since the 80s, the Malecon has become a long promenade with a sculpture on almost every block.  Here we have the ‘Good Luck Unicorn’ and the ‘Slick Stone Eater’.

There are also life-sized sand sculptures that adorn the beach.

‘The Rotunda of the Sea’

Get used to being my subject, Lawrence.

‘In Search of Reason’. Not gonna lie, these dudes were kinda creepy.

This locale was a rock bar that we enjoyed one night with live rock music in both english and spanish. The best part is that each rocker is a chubby version of themselves!

Gotta hit up Senor Frogs. The American staple of Mexico.

2×1 Margaritas. :)

Ha. #truth

Continuing down the Malecon we find balancing stones.

LW with the twins, Brandon && Brett. Much appreciate their tolerance of me stopping to take pictures at every turn.

My fave statue: The Folkloric Dancers

Our excursion turned into a search for all the 2×1 margs on the strip. :) If you know me you know I’m in LOVE with all the fab color on the old buildings.

Not a bad view.

There were also street performers; every few hours you’d hear a musical instrument {perhaps a piccolo or a recorder} and five men would climb to the top of this five story pole. They would begin to make the top spin, one man would stay atop the pole playing music and spinning the base while the other four would lower themselves upside down on a rope while it continued to spin. Pretty BA. Good thing we were drinking our margs on the balcony at this opportune time or I wouldn’t have been able to get these shots. :)

And not to mention, grab this last shot of the sunset. Adios, PV. It’s been real up in this piece. xo

Jen is a lawyer, so I’m not quite sure where she got her design aesthetic. :) Kidding. TRULY. Us left-brained people do have our creative outlets, you know. I couldn’t help but sneak details of their home in between shots of the fam.

When I arrived, not everyone was quite ready. :) I had to snap this shot of the girls sleeping in their king size bed. Too adorbs!

The color palette through the home is soft and ethereal. We can begin with Katherine’s room.

Could she be any more adorable? Seriously.

FAVE!

See??

Mom went upstairs to get sweet Elizabeth; so now it was Katherine’s turn with Dad.

Having a little pep talk. :) Hey, I hate getting woken up from my nap, too.

Aww. LOVE this image.

Ahh, there we go. :)

The fall light is absolutely GORGeous.

Anddd so are you, Jen!

Other FAVE. Ohmigosh. That face!

What should we do now?

As always, a few shots of mom & dad. {♥}

I am honored that I had the opportunity to shoot the absolutely drop-dead gorgeous Sabrina. It’s as though the gods bestowed upon me a gift for one of my first senior shoots: a tall, dark haired, genuine beauty and I am oh.so.grateful! After talking to Sabrina and her mom, we decided to do the shoot in downtown Birmingham. This would give us a mix of a natural setting as well as a downtown urban vibe. As soon as I started clicking, I knew Sabrina was going to rock the shoot. It’s intimidating to have someone in your face while you’re supposed to look natural and flawless, but she did it. It took all of a few minutes before she relaxed and her images are STUNNING.

Sabrina (and Trish!), thank you so much for trusting me with such an important event! I had an incredibly fun time with the both of you and hope you love these as much as I do. Here’s to the class of 2013! xo

Ohmigosh. The way the light hits her eyes here … I die.

My FAVE!

I love Sabrina’s wrist tat in honor of her brother. {♥}

LOVE!

Girl, seriously. You are INsane and photograph flawlessly!

Gah! This light!!

Another favorite!

Seriously? Seriously.

I did not have the opportunity to shoot Lindsay && Randy’s engagement session, as Lindsay’s cousin, Niki, is also a photographer. Niki photographed their engagement photos and referred Lindsay to me with regard to her wedding, as I had the prior honor of capturing Niki’s maternity and newborn sessions. My point in telling you this is that the first time I actually met Randy was at our wrap-up meeting a couple of weeks prior to the wedding. I love.love.LOVE. shooting engagement photos with my couples as it gives me a good 90 minutes to not only get to know who they are as a couple, but also it serves as a dress rehearsal for their big day. I am very particular :) and this gives us all the opportunity to communicate as we would on their wedding day with regard to posing during their portraits.

With all of this said, Lindsay and Randy could not have been more easy going and were a delight to work alongside throughout the day. Randy has a genuine smile that warms your heart and lights up a room; Lindsay is soft spoken and is simply breathtaking. They were married at the Inn at St. John’s in Plymouth with their reception in the ultra fab atrium. Their bridal party was an absolute blast (!) and I LOVED the bridesmaids gowns. But truly, Lindsay was stunning in her demure  Maggie Sottero gown that was as unique as she is.

L&R, thank you so very much for trusting me to capture this day as beautifully as it unfolded. I hope you love these images as much as I do. :) xo

This sweet portrait of Lindsay’s late father was wrapped to her gorgeous bouquet.

Linday’s sister and MOH, Stacie, walked her down the aisle. I love their matching tats. :)

This is just a glimpse of how stunningly Lindsay photographs. INsane.

Meanwhile, Randy was doing the same.

With a little help from his Dad.

And Mom. :)

Ahh! The first look. I’m totally biased. You just don’t get this raw emotion standing at the front of the altar.

Girl, seriously?

You’d never know it was in the 20s and quite windy. thankyou.thankyou.THANKYOU both so much for braving the frigid temps. You don’t get light like this indoors, gah!

Well, we’re tricky, so I guess you sorta do. :)

Couldn’t love this image more. :)

And now we wait.

It’s time.

Yay! We’re married! Too adorbs.

Making it official.

I’ve had a lot of support along the way. Of course by family and friends, but you can only give so much weight to your mom and bff telling you you’re doing a great job. It just doesn’t count. But then something different started to happen. People who I didn’t know well, or know at all, started reaching out to me with words of encouragement and even for guidance. Having people ask me for my advice or ask if I would mentor them blew me away. When I got my first session inquiry via this blogsite from a Google search is really when things started to snowball. I was ecstatic. That’s when I knew that things were going to be different. What really hit home was when other photographers began asking me if I would capture moments of their own families. There truly is no bigger honor. Finally, being nominated as a Detroit maternity && newborn photographer for Metro Parent Magazine’s Pink + Blue issue made it real. Thank you to my clients who dropped my name — I am eternally grateful!

Taking this a step further, I entered the wedding arena this summer. When I first launched my blogsite, I specifically did not mention weddings as part of my repertoire. This does not mean I wasn’t asked, but for a long time, I declined. I knew I had so much to learn and I was not about to mess up a beautiful bride’s big day because I did not know how to manipulate my camera to get the results I wanted. That is what 2012 was about for me: practice, practice, practice. Then my wedding world shifted this summer once I began second shooting for the absolutely AHmazing Kristen of Kristen Taylor Photography. The amount of knowledge I have gained from working with her is insane. INSANE. I cannot tell you how incredible it was to be able to step aside when we had a moment to tell her I’m having trouble with x and have her show me how to work through the problem to get to the solution. Being able to make these modifications in real life situations is unparalleled to any knowledge you can read in a book or fumble through on your own. Kristen is who put me on the fast track and I’m SUPER excited to make a wedding photography related announcement next Spring. But for now, Kristen, all I can really say is thank you. From the bottom of my heart. Thank you.

I’m super excited for all my beautiful {kgP} 2013 brides: Lindsay H, Lindsay Y, Christine, Michelle, Meghan, Christina, Sara, and Amanda. As I mentioned, I do not advertise that I shoot weddings, so these ladies reached out to me, generally as a referral from someone who worked with me on a lifestyle session. I’m beyond excited and am so honored that I will be alongside them on such a big day. :)

So, naturally this brings me to 2013. I feel there is always an overwhelming list of things I want to accomplish with {kgP} and never enough time, but that’s a lame excuse. Everyone feels that way. So, here are my main focuses for 2013:

• blog more consistently!
• finish up my {kgP} welcome packet to send to newly booked clients, which includes a contract for lifestyle sessions (!)
• book 10 more weddings; this is related to a future announcement :)
• turn around lifestyle galleries in 2 weeks in lieu of 4
• cull images upon import; to me, this is the most daunting task when it comes to editing! I’m already excited to see my images for the first time as I sift through them to find my faves for the sneak peeks! I’ve found that if I just suck it up and spend the time to do it upon import, it’s less of a task when I go to actually edit the sesh.
• generate sample lifestyle albums as a primary product focus for lifestyle sessions; including a discount when purchased up front upon booking
• find that whole work/life balance thing

There are a bazillion others (yes, that is a word) that I want to add to this list, but I’m going to cap it there and wrap this up. BUT, I shall leave you with this little gift that I bought for myself after a very accomplished 2012: my coveted David Yurman prasiolite albion ring. I’ve been eyeing this puppy for years now and decided it was time to reward myself. Gah! I love her. Thanks, ajy, for coming with! {♥}

I’ve gotten to know Sarah + Tony rather well over the past year. In addition to shooting their baby shower and their wedding, I also had the honor of capturing their beautiful daughter Giuliana’s newborn session. Hard to believe we’ll be shooting her 1 year sesh in two weeks! She is just adorable and I cannot wait!

One of the things I love most about Sarah is her quick wit. Sarcastic humor bodes well with me and I always enjoy being around the Brown sisters; I’m always giggling. But, yesterday she was different. She was … softer. Her hair and makeup looked absolutely GORGeous and as she was getting ready she had whispered that she had wanted to look pretty on her wedding day. Sarah, you weren’t pretty, darling. You were simply stunning!

Sarah + Tony, thank you so very much for allowing me to be apart of such a special day for the three of you. I love you all and hope you love these images as much as I do. Again, without further ado.

Wedding day Toms.

Giuliana’s attire for the day. :)

Doing what mothers do. :)

The passing down of the handkerchief. I love this series!

Girl. There are no words.

MOH, Susan, pinning on the bout before the first look!

Tony, you look quite dapper, my friend.

Waiting to see his bride ever so patiently.

I love that he cannot stop staring at her!

Okay. Time to go get married!

We’re married!

Making it official.

Thank you to the entire fam for dealing with me moving everyone around so I can see your faces! :) It was worth it.

I LOVE getting holiday cards from my family && friends, but when I see the images I was able to produce put on something so beautiful, it truly warms my heart! Many of these sessions are not yet blogged, as I did not want to ruin the surprise … okay, ya right. Mostly I just did not yet have time to blog them, but not ruining anything was def a part of it! But they are coming. As you can see, they are so beautiful it would be sacrilegious if I didn’t. :)

So, without further ado, first is the lovely Taite family. Niki is also a photographer and it meant so.so.SO much to me when she asked me to capture their family photos of their new addition this past fall.

I love the next hybrid card from the Moore family! I may be biased, as this is my gorgeous Godson, but I love that it’s both their announcement as well as their holiday card.

The next is SUPER special as it is a holiday card featuring some of the maternity photos from the Labadie family! Truly one of my faves with the simple belly shot on the front covered in Christmas lights. Too adorable!

And, my goodness. The LaMarre family! I love seeing which images are chosen to grace the card and Leighanne did an incredible job. Love how sassy Jack is on the back! Work it.

This is the back of the holiday card I received from the Graves family, as we shot our session during the summer. Sarah is also a photographer (again, my heart soars when I’m contacted by other photogs!) and the front didn’t contain my images, so I did not showcase them here. But they are SO adorable and she’s incredibly talented! :)

And my beautiful Marshall family. These were sweet Jonathan’s 4 month photos and the card is just FAB! Steff always does a great job putting design elements together!

How adorable are these pjs with ‘reese’ on the back of them?? LOVE this card from the Waggoner family and the many expressions from Reese! The W ornament I chose from their tree on the back is the perfect final touch. I love how creative my clients are!

Again, I LOVE being surprised by what images are chosen. This was one of my faves from the session as everyone was just having FUN! The twins are smiling and I remember laughing behind the lens as I snapped this shot! Beautiful card from the Welch family!

This card seriously looks like it came straight out of a magazine! It is absolutely stunning! How Jen found a card with a banner and snowflake the match the color of their front door is beyond me! Plus, it’s another hybrid announcing their gorgeous daughter! Fantastic job, Green family! And THANK YOU for the super thoughtful gift card to Caribou! That’ll be gone in no time! :)

And, my own little holiday gift to you. Warm holiday wishes from Frisco and Swink! If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve already had the pleasure of this iPhone photo. Thank you all for an incredible year and bring on 2013! {♥}