Congratulations Jon and Dawn!

Jon and Dawn were married on May 25th on the Nautica Queen in Cleveland, OH. It was a very touching day and we had a great time with them both! They had such great senses of humor and were up for any of our ideas. We did pictures in The Old Arcade, at Rock Bottom Brewery, at Voinovich Park and at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Public Square.

Thank you both for choosing us to capture your day. We had so much fun and can't wait for the After Session!

Steph

Congratulations Matt and Brandi!

Matt and Brandi were married on May 24th at Old North Church in Canfield, OH. We spent the entire day with Matt and Brandi and were welcomed like members of the family. You could tell that this couple are very much in love and have truly grown together throughout their relationship.

After the ceremony, we went to Fellows Riverside Gardens in the Mill Creek MetroParks for pictures. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time with Brandi, Matt and their bridal party. We then stopped at the Cinderella Bridge, also in the Mill Creek MetroParks for a couple pictures of just the newlyweds.

The reception was at the Holiday Inn - Metroplex in Girard, OH. It was beautifully decorated and everyone partied with Brandi and Matt late into the night.

Thank you so much for choosing me to capture your day!
Steph

Congratulations Doug and Valerie!

Doug and Valerie were married on May 3rd at St. Bernard's Church in Akron, OH. The ceremony was beautiful and we had a great time with them. They had their reception at Todaro's Party Center in the Valley. It was decorated beautifully and everyone had a great time!

Congrats Guys!
Steph

Festival and Christening

We had a very busy day on May 10th with events for both our boys that day.

In the morning, we had the last event for Ian's school this year. The International Festival was very interesting as every kid was to dress in clothing from the country of their choice. They had a program where the kids introduced themselves and told what country they were from and then they sang songs. Afterwards, we enjoyed food from around the world that each family brought in.

Ian was from Germany and so he was dressed in really cute little Lederhosen, a Trachten shirt, an Alpine hat and knit knee socks. He looked really cute. My Mom decided that Christian should have some lederhosen as well, so they both matched. Here is a picture of them together.


Then in the afternoon, we had Christian christened at St. Paul's. We had requested a special Christening because we just weren't able to work the traditional 4 Christening days in the year into our calendar. He did really well, although he wasn't certain about the water being poured over his head.

Here is a picture of him right after he was Christened.


And here is the entire group that was there for his Christening. In the back row (left to right): Shan's Dad, John and Billy (my best friend from high school and one of Christian's Godparents). Middle row: My Dad, David, My Mom, Bonnie, Shan's Mom, Vicky, Shan's Aunt, Iva, and My Grandma, Patricia. Front: Me holding Christian and Shan holding Ian.


Callie was nice enough to come to the Christening and take pictures for us. They look fantastic and I am blessed to have her in our lives to help us document special moments with our boys!

So that summed up that weekend. Very busy. On the go a lot, but lots of fun too!

Steph

Behind on Blogging

I will be blogging a few different things today. My cousin was kind enough to drop me an e-mail and remind me that I had fallen off the blog wagon. (Thanks Tim!) So I have been working to put some stuff together to catch up today.

With our new system of processing, we are still trying to figure out how to get the images on our blogs quickly after the weddings. I have decided to pull some of my favorites and do my own finishing on them to get them on the blog faster. I will let my editing artist do the rest of the work! LOL

So I'm back...and so is my blogging!

Steph

MPix Midwest Conference

Shan and I are very active on the forum at MPix. MPix is one of our favorite labs and we love the friends that we have made in their community forum.

Since we love to teach so much, we organized a conference for photographers from MPix to get together and learn some photography techniques, practice with some models and learn some of the business side of photography as well.

We had about a dozen photographers that met for the weekend and we had an absolutely amazing time. Our friend Chris Baldwin from Graham River Productions came up for 2 days of the conference and video taped us teaching and put together a little video with some highlights of the weekend.




Here are some images that I captured of our models!





It was an amazing weekend (although it was exhausting! LOL). I had a great time with everyone and loved getting to share what I have learned in this business. If you are looking for a great place to learn photography, the MPix forums are great! (I am the Nerd Husband's Wife on there and we are affectionately called "The Nerds" by the group! LOL) I am proud to call my MPix friends my family!

Steph

Claire - Day 2

When I do my Prelude to a Life sessions, I almost always throw in a Day 2 session at no charge. I like to give the parents a chance to rest. Everyone can get showered and the baby is nice and clean on Day 2. I think it is great to be able to give them some images with the brand new baby after they have had a chance to settle in a bit.

Here are the images from Claire's Day 2 session. She is such a doll baby!










Here is the link for the slideshow for Claire's Day 2 Session:

Claire Elizabeth - Day 2

Hope you enjoyed them! I absolutely love doing the Prelude to a Life sessions. They are definitely a passion of mine.

Thanks Jen and Brian for inviting me into your family for this very special event!

Steph

Welcome to the World Claire!

I had the privilege to do another Prelude to a Life session a couple of weeks ago. Jen and Brian were due to have their 1st child on April 8th, but Claire (the baby) had other plans. She was very content to remain where she was! Jen, Brian and the Dr decided that it would be best to induce Jen on April 14th.

I joined them at Marymount Hospital in Garfield Heights on April 15th in the morning once Jen's labor had started to progress some. Jen held out for a very long time without getting the epidural, but eventually the contractions weren't giving her any breaks and the pain was too much to bear. After the epidural, Jen was much more comfortable and was able to rest some.






After many hours of labor, Jen developed a fever and they decided at that point that they needed to go ahead and deliver the baby via c-section. It was very hard for Jen and Brian, but they both knew that they wanted the best for Claire.


At 10:34pm, Miss Claire Elizabeth made her entrance into our world. Jen and Claire were both in great shape and came through the c-section very well.



I stayed at the hospital until the wee hours of April 16th, but I had vowed that I would not leave that hospital without seeing that little angel!

If you want to see the Prelude to a Life slideshow of Jen and Brian's birth story, here is the link:

Claire Elizabeth Pearson

Congratulations Jen and Brian and welcome to our world Claire!

Steph