Danny & Ali in NJ

Here is the abbreviated version of the love story of Danny and Ali: unattached tech geek with sports obsession meets not-exactly-single design student at a party. It's not a "love at first sight" kind of  thing... more of a "hey you're pretty awesome...ok see ya later" kinda thing.  But coincidentally at a later date when designer Ali has conveniently become "detached" from her former love interest, they meet again at another party and find out that they have all the most important things in life in common: a love for Seinfeld, a deep life-long commitment to the Yankees - and they're in the same field of work. I mean.. really... match made in heaven right? Well anyway... that's how they saw it. And clearly when you look at them together... they really are just made for one another.  Usually when I put a blog post together I have a handful of photos of the couple amongst everything else going on during the wedding festivities... but with these two there are just dozens and dozens of photos of them staring at each other and they trumped the other pictures. And not because I told them to either. Ok... some are.. :) ... but many are not.

This makes me so happy because I've known Danny for a long time. I worked remotely from Arizona for graphicd-signs.com in New Jersey till last year. I was a web designer. Danny was the programmer.  So i got to know about this sweet, humble, selfless, talented man via messaging, emails and phone calls. And I always wondered when he talked so highly of Ali, whether she was awesome as him. Turns out she was. So much so that when I finally met her after she started working at the same company, I told them if they ever got married I would fly out to do their wedding photos. And that probably was highly inappropriate to say at that stage of the dating game.. but thankfully last weekend I got to make good on that promise. And the bonus? My sister flew out with me for the weekend to be my AMAZING second shooter (many of these photos are hers!). Thank God she was there. For a week I researched ways to make the impending stormy day into creative and moody rain clad occasion. Through the week prior to the wedding the chance of showers climbed 10% every day until it hit 90% the night before the wedding.  When I saw Danny that morning he had optimistically declined to buy umbrellas and hadn't looked out the window at the rain. He (and my sister) were both faithfully proclaiming that the skies would open up, the sun would shine down on us and everything would turn out ok. I'll let the photos tell you the rest of the story. :) I was so very thankful to God for helping us out!

I will pause here to say that the reception venue was "The Palace at Somerset"... and I could probably point out many highlights about the venue but the thing I will compliment them on above all was the most phenomenal food I've had at any wedding - it was outstanding. Ok... moving on...

Thanks Danny and Ali for giving us an excuse to take a mini vacation to NYC. I got to hang with my cousin and brother AND sister in the big apple. I feel SO blessed to have been given the chance. I pray your life is blessed abundantly... and that all the storms on your horizon turn into a beautiful day like your wedding!

Dustin & Hannah at The Wright House

Hannah's Grandfather said it best. Hannha is shy and introverted. But behind her quiet eyes is a great thinker and observer... a great sense of humor...and a free and joyful nature that few are let in on. Dustin saw it. And he took no chances. Young though they may be... he found his "one" and she found hers. They were married, and I was honored to be there to document it. At a beautiful old Victorian style house in Mesa - the Wright House -they said their vows under giant trees that looked like they belonged in the South-East instead of the South-West. After the wedding we went to do the formal photographs in a nearby garden and after the nerves of the wedding were gone, and the day was almost completely finished.. Hannah walked across the lawns and without being prompted twirled around and around and around in her dress. "Look what this dress can do!" she said. And in that moment I also got to see the other side of Hanna. In that sense I'm so lucky at weddings... if I do my job properly, people start to forget I'm there - and they are just their uninhibited self. And I get to see couples as they really are together... and I can tell that these two adore one another. They are great examples of humility and grace and christianity. Congratulations Hanna and Dustin - glad I got to meet you and I look forward to seeing how you bloom in life. P.S. I'm working on trying to compile posts into one page. Sorry for the length. One of my 2015 goals is to be more selective and brief.. didn't succeed on this one!

Shelby and Trent: Portraits and Reception

Sometimes the clouds that hang over us threatening rain and ruin ... are the ones we end up looking back at in reverence and appreciation for how they changed us and what they added to our characters. The above is a photograph of the clouds that spat at us and threatened to wreak havoc all day on Sunday... and I guarantee you Shelby and Trent will gasp with delight when they see how much they added to their pictures. Such a great metaphor for life! Thanks to Caitlin Wilson who was responsible helping me with these pics. Enjoy a few of my favorites of their portait session and their beautiful reception at Flagstaff Ranch.