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They Still Do- Megan and Conor

a quaint late summer anniversary session in dayton, ohio

Have I mentioned that I love capturing two people in love?? It will ALWAYS be my favorite thing.

But anniversary sessions might be my ALL TIME FAVORITE. Don’t get me wrong, I love a wedding day full of excitement and anticipation. The details and the tears of joy. A wedding day will always be up at the top of my life. But recently, anniversary session have really stolen my heart.

To see how love has grown, sustained, changed, deepened…it makes my heart leap. To see a husband and wife who have weathered the mountains and the valleys, and still smile at each other from ear to ear is one of the greatest things to celebrate.

Enter, my dear friends, Megan and Conor! They have been husband and wife for 2 years (and a couple weeks). It was so fun to celebrate that with them last weekend.

I love doing life with these two. They bring such joy and strength with them wherever they go. I love that Titus has them to look up to. I love the different perspectives they bring. I can’t wait to see where life and the Lord is going to lead them next. But I’ll be cheering it on!!

Enjoy a little peak into the celebration of their continued love.

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They Still Do- Mary and Stephen

A Downtown Dayton Summer Anniversary Session

Oh my goodness!! (Do I start every blog with those words?!? I feel like maybe I do..anyway!!) The Saturday night I got to spend with Mary and Stephen was such a joy. It was my first time back behind the camera since Titus was born and it felt good (and strange) to be shooting again.

These two lovebirds were so gracious to me while I got back into the groove. And oh goodness are the results something amazing!!

I had the great honor of capturing Mary and Stephen’s wedding last July! It was the BEST day filled with so much love and joy. You can read and see all about it here.

I loved getting to catch up with this wonderful couple and meet their fur babies!! Bowen and Dwight made my dog mom heart so full. From full-time vet school for Mary to a new job in a new city for Stephen, they are leaning on the Lord and each other through the first year of marriage. I can’t wait to see what the next 50 has in store for you two!!

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Best of 2018- A Recap

Oh 2018. I can’t believe you are over! But oh my goodness, WHAT. A. YEAR!!

It wasn’t exactly the year, I had planned. But dang, was it far better than any of my expectations. From the amazing wedding clients turned friends, to friends turned family clients, to repeat clients, to younger child senior sessions and oh so much.

The only word that I can come up with to describe this year…blessed.

Because that is 1000% how I feel about this year. Each and every client left me feeling blessed by them in some way, left me over-joyed that I get to call this my job. So to all your amazing clients, thanks for a great year. I can’t wait to see what 2019 has in store. I have a feeling, if it is anything like 2018, I’ll be left speechless all over again.

Let’s take a look back at this year, a section at a time.

First up,

Engagement Sessions

From a surprise engagement, traveling to Port Huron, Michigan, and some amazing sun-soaked sessions, this year brought so much love and laughter through engagement sessions. If you are a client of mine, you know I sorta force these on you, but they are 1000%  worth it!!

Senior and Portrait Sessions

This was my year for repeat family customers. I had the great honor of shooting a lot of these seniors’ older brothers or sisters. To get the honor to photograph a second sibling…leaves me without words.

Family Sessions

In the intro, I said that a lot of these families are friends, and that’s totally true. Some are friends that turned into clients, others are clients that have turned into friends. All of these families made my heart overflow with joy and I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face!

Styled Shoot of My Dreams

This needs no introduction. If you missed it earlier this year, this shoot was featured on Whimsically Wed earlier this year. You can see the feature here.

Oh so many AMAZING Weddings and Pop Up Weddings

Oh this wedding season!! It started early in the year in February and didn’t end until the last day of 2018, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. All of these couples and their love stories stole my heart!

If you have stuck it out to this point, God Bless you!! Your reward for making it this far…

The 2018 Behind the Scenes!!

From watching me fluff dress, make funny faces and stand strangely while I give directions, to watching my amazing assistants (my husband and mom) toss veils and seeing how gorgeous we all look while testing light!! Enjoy this peak into what it looks like for AMHP at a wedding. We usually only show you the pretty side, not this side ;)!

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Experiencing Hilton Head Island- Resting and Relaxing

So if you follow me on social media, you probably noticed some radio silence (or pretty close to radio silence) all of last week. And that was for good reason.

My sweet husband and I were resting and relaxing on the beaches of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina with my mom and dad and my grandparents.

Every year for the past 3 years my parents have blessed us with a family vacation as our Christmas present. This year it was to Andrew and I’s favorite domestic vacation destination.

We were beyond excited to share it with our family. The sad part was that my whole family didn’t get to come because you know, adulting is hard and work sometimes doesn’t let you go!!

Dinners out at some of our favorite restaurants, days spent soaking up the sun and resting in the beautiful creation of our Lord, time at the pool and a day trip to Charleston, this trip was one for the family history book.

We all can’t wait to go back again and we are praying that everyone can join next time!

We are also praying for everyone in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Virginia as Hurricane Florence makes it way onto land. Praying for safety, wisdom and strength for everyone!! Love and hugs from big fans of all those states and their people!)

(if you couldn’t tell, I’m a BIG fan of sunrises over the water…I just wish they weren’t so early in the morning!!)

Please give me some grace for all of the iPhone pictures that are intermixed in here. Sometimes you don’t want to carry your heavy equipment every day. But the camera quality on the iPhone 8 Plus is pretty amazing!

OH and let me explain these images. When I was meal planning for this trip (yes I even do that on vacation, it just makes life WAY easier!) my sweet nana asked if we could have Indian food one night. Her wish was Andrew and I’s command. We had so much fun cooking for everyone and watching them all enjoy!! So it had to get included in the recap of our trip.

Sweetest coffee shop in the WORLD. Everyone should go check them out at their website here! If you are a softy like everyone in my family you might just cry.

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2017 in Review- Dayton Ohio Wedding Photographer

Oh, 2017!! What a year you were. You were hard, you were joyful, you were sorrowful, you were tiring, you were sweaty, you were rainy, you were overwhelming and you were just what you were supposed to be. The Lord always knows our days, He always knows what we need before we do. So this year was just the year it was supposed to be.

This year was full of gorgeous weddings, adorable and handsome senior sessions, amazingly in love engagement sessions (can’t wait for this year’s weddings!!), beyond my wildest dreams styled sessions, times of growth, WAAAYYYY too much laughter, tears of sadness and frustration, hugs (those always happen because I’m a hugger), new friends, moments of insane courage and oh so much fun.It brought first moments (shot not only my 1st but 2 additional styled shoots!), traveling to Florida, Michigan, Arizona, New York, India, and Hilton Head South Carolina (as always!!), snuggles from Augie doggie and so many memories with Andrew.

I can’t believe another year has come and gone.

Here is a small look back into 2017. Enjoy!!  

Oh and just for fun…here are some behind the scenes from this year!! Thank goodness for second shooters, for dresses with pockets and finally getting my Holdfast harness!!

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After I Do: Monica and Drew

Dayton Ohio The Honey Farm Anniversary Photographer

You guys, you GUYS, YOU GUYS!!!

This post, this thought, this new venture has been on my heart for a really long time. So pull up a chair, grab a cup of coffee, and enjoy!

As most of you know, I have been married to my wonderful husband for almost 3 years. We were madly in love on September 26, 2014, when we got married. Like I didn’t know that you could love a person so much until I met him. Lord knit our hearts together way before that day. But that’s the funny thing. After the wedding day, your love grows and changes. It grows stronger for sure, but it’s a much different. You get to know your spouse in a new and different way when you share not just life but also space together. You see them when they get up in the morning looking all kinds of rough (or is that just me….I mean I’m a mess when I get up in the morning! God bless my husband!), you smell when they burn dinner, you listen to the good and the bad about their day, you have to share the space in the bathroom….it’s more than just dates, dinners and romance. Don’t get me wrong that’s still there, but marriage is SOOOO much more than that. It’s actually indescribable. But the other thing is that marriage is different for every couple…just like every person is different, so is every marriage. Each wife has a different role, each husband a different way of encouraging, each couple different ways of sharing their love. I have grown up with a seriously awesome legacy of marriage. My sweet parents have been married for almost 30 years and just last year we celebrated my amazing grandparents 55th wedding anniversary. Not to mention that my dad’s parents were married for 50 plus years before they both went to be with the Lord. Marriage isn’t an easy undertaking but you guys…it’s totally worth it!!

That leads me to my big exciting announcement for today. I want to help you celebrate your growing and changing love.

Every year since we got married, my husband and I get new pictures taken around our anniversary. We love to see not only how we change physically but how the interaction between us changes, how we grow closer and more genuine.

So I am now offering ANNIVERSARY sessions. If you were one of my brides and groom or you weren’t, I want to tell your ever growing and changing love story. Your journey just begins on your wedding day and for most couples that is the last time you will get professional pictures taken. You can get all dressed up with hair, makeup, flowers and fancy outfits or you can do the more casual everyday look or heck EVEN BOTH!!

That leads me to this sweet couple!!!

Monica is a sweet friend of mine and also a fellow (and AMAZING) photographer. She and Drew are literally the cutest things ever!! They met in college and got married one month after graduating with their undergrad degrees. (heart melted into a tiny little puddle already!!) They recently celebrated their first anniversary at the beginning of June.  When I pitched the idea to her about an anniversary session she leaped at the idea and then they went and just crushed this session!!

The way Drew looks at Monica!! The way he encourages her! The way Monica laughs with Drew! The way they walk through life and not to mention starting a thriving photography business together!  The way they share the duties and tasks of life! The way they play to strengths of each person and let those shine through!! The way they honor and serve the Lord with their marriage! Y’all….I left The Honey Farm on Saturday morning with a heart full of love and joy that just exploded out of them!!

And you know what…they left feeling just as encouraged. After the session I got this sweet message, “That was literally so encouraging & we are so thankful that you guys gave up your morning for us! Drew said ‘it felt like we finally got to have some us time. We didn’t have to think or do anything. I’m glad we did this.'”  Now, I don’t say that to say that I’m so awesome or anything like that, I say that taking the time for pictures, taking the time to just be together is so valuable!! Not to mention you are left with images to remember your life at one year married, 5 years married or heck even 55 years married. Be on the lookout for more anniversary and celebrating your marriage sessions!

 

Vendor shout outs-

Venue- The Honey Farm

Sofa- Lost and Found Vintage Rentals

Flowers- Poppy Faye Floral

Hair and Makeup- Erin Johnson