There are no words to describe the love that these two have for each other. This day could not have been any more perfect and Brandon and I were blessed to be apart of it. Ben and Liz had an eventful day on June 4th in Denver. Liz and her bridesmaids got ready at the beautiful Brown Palace. After that she rode in style with her dad to Alamo Placita Park where Ben got to see his beautiful bride for the first time. After taking as many photos as we could possibly squeeze in, we headed to Denver Community Church for their "I-do's". Their ceremony was both elegant and simple full of tears of joy and laughter. After the ceremony, we headed to the most beautifully decorated reception location, The Mercury Cafe. This place was magical and was the perfect spot to celebrate the night away. Instead of cutting a traditional wedding cake, Ben & Liz cut the ribbon off their Oreo cake that sat underneath two superhero Corgi cake-toppers. Why you ask? Because why NOT!? For those of you who don't know Ben and Liz, while they don't have a dog YET, they are obsessed. So much so that Liz joined Instagram purely for the puppy pictures. The fact that they love Remi the Berner as much as I do makes me love Ben and Liz even more than words can say. I've never been to a reception that was filled with SO, SO many home-baked with love-cookies. Liz's mom and dear friends from all around the U.S. made and brought cookies all the way to Colorado to make this reception absolutely perfect. And to top it all off, they even had ice cream from the one and only Sweet Action Ice Cream. Now this was a wedding after my own heart :) Liz's mom also made the beautiful bouquets and the day ran smoothly thanks to the wonderful Cherry Bomb Events. The love that this bride and groom have is contagious ... I don't think I've laughed as hard as I have on both the day I took Ben & Liz's engagement photos and on their wedding day, and they made my job E-A-S-Y! Ben and Liz, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for letting us capture the beginning of your marriage. Wishing you all the best and lots of laughter ahead!
Life Lately & Snow Day Fun - Colorado Spring Blizzard 2016
Let me just start this post by showing you a picture of what it looked like here in Colorado on Tuesday.
Yup, that's right. On Tuesday it was nearing the 70's ... sunny and beautiful. The grass was green and spring was in the air. During work, I actually went outside to warm-up during my plan time because I was cold inside! Brandon and I took Remi on a walk in short sleeves after I got home from work. Remi rolled around in the grass and played fetch and it was a perfect Spring day.
Now, I shouldn't be shocked by any means because blizzards in Colorado can happen without any warning and it's not uncommon to get a spring blizzard, but when the news informed us that we were on a "blizzard watch" for Wednesday, I said "Yeah right, there is no way". Being a Colorado native, I should have known better, but even Tuesday night and early Wednesday it was WARM! We actually slept with the windows OPEN all night!
Wednesday morning my phone rang at 5:30 waking us up and when I saw the number I knew that we either had a delayed start or a snow day! The later came true upon answering so I immediately turned off my alarm and tried to fall back asleep, but Remington wasn't having it. When we got down stairs and let Remi out, there was only about an inch or two of snow on the ground. In fact, we thought "what the heck" and proceeded to take the pup on a walk around the block!
Side note: Remington is getting spayed on Monday so we had her pre-surgery appointment scheduled for Wednesday morning at 8:00 a.m. Since I now had the day off, I decided to tag along and only after getting in the car did we realize that we couldn't drive anywhere! For the first time ever my Rav4 was stuck and on our street of all places! Without us even realizing it, it had dumped at least 8 inches of snow or maybe even more in the two hours since we had been up and it was still coming down pretty heavily! So we called the vet, rescheduled her appointment, and hopped back into our PJ's! Brandon was supposed to continue building our neighbor's fence which he started earlier this week, but due to the storm, he decided to take the day off as well. It was so nice to have the day off when my handsome hubby was around!
Brandon had made us breakfast burritos first thing in the morning so by nine we were hungry again. Given the gift of time, I whipped up some home-made pancakes. Brandon thought it would be fun to make giant pancakes so that's what we did. We put both giant pancakes on top of one another, smothered them with butter and syrup, and topped them with fresh blueberries. While the giant pancakes were cooking on our new gas stove, I sat in our new breakfast nook, watched the snow fall outside, and sipped on a warm cup of coffee. Oh, how I love a forced day off to relax and enjoy the little things! Two forks, one plate, a mound of scrumptious pancakes and I was one happy lady!
Another side note: Brandon and I moved into our house last July and since then we have been living in a kitchen that was straight of the 60's with minimal cabinet and/or countertop space. The cabinets were small, a gross shade of brown, and STICKY beyond belief. We were so thankful to have even bought our first house and we had absolutely no right to ever complain about the kitchen, but we knew it was on our very long list of homeowner's to-do's. So, near the end of January we decided to gut the whole kitchen, tear down a few walls and the ceiling, add on a small breakfast nook, and two months later, it is finally resembling a kitchen again! While it's not finished completely, we have brand new cabinets, beautiful marble countertops, a vaulted ceiling, a cute and bright breakfast nook, and incredibly nice new hardwood floors. We have all new appliances (except for the fridge) and we are so in love with our new kitchen. We (and when I say "we" I really mean "Brandon") are now putting the finishing touches on (backsplash, toe kicks, window sills, baseboards, a final coat of paint, etc.) and are waiting for our greenish/blue/dark teal island to arrive. When it's completely finished, I will post some before and after pictures. I am so blessed to have a husband who did and is still doing all the handy work, a mom who has helped us design the kitchen, and a cousin who installs beyond-gorgeous hard wood floors. I am a happy chef over here ... oh wait, I don't cook, that's Brandon's specialty. :)
After our delicious 2nd breakfast, we headed out in the snow to play with the Remperson (AKA, Remington Estelle Gayle). Oh man, she LOVES the snow. We couldn't get her to come in all day and by the time she did come in, she was soaking wet and her fur was filled with tons of little snow balls matted within every millimeter of her.
Brandon kept measuring our snow fall throughout the day ... in the evening we had 15". He also had to keep knocking off the trees and the Comcast cables.
After so much playing, we came inside, lounged on the couch, and took a nap. What else is there to do on such a lovely day off while the weather is frightful outside?
At 4:00 Remi had a playdate with Harvey from next door. They are best buds. To see a couple of pictures of Harvey when he was an itty bitty pup click here!
While the fur babies were playing, the neighbors and us discovered that we both made crock pot meals for dinner so we decided to have a crock pot feast for dinner at their house. We headed over with our spaghetti squash pasta and they provided delicious french dip. It was all yummy to say the least. We are SO lucky to have neighbors that we like, get along with, and have dinners with. Can I get an Amen!?
After that we headed home and snuggled into bed. I was already sleeping with my kindle in my hands when my phone woke me up yet again, but this time at 9:30 p.m. last night. Same number as this morning. Ummm what?! "This is a call from the Cherry Creek School District to inform you that all schools will be closed tomorrow, Thursday, due to inclement weather." Hallelujah! I turned off my alarm and drifted off to sleep now knowing that I had another day off.
This morning, Brandon, being as sweet as he, got up with the pup and let me sleep in until 7! Seven! That never happens! It was a miracle! While yesterday was more eventful, today was such a nice day catching up on things I normally only get around to on the weekends (laundry, cleaning, sweeping the floors). We shoveled the driveway with the help of my dad and hung a new blind in our nook with the help of my mom. Brandon finished building a fence, I worked on my blog. We took Remington to the vet and we played outside in the sunshine and snow. Now Brandon is at Easter practice at church and I'm just hanging at home. I think I'll read my book, finish my laundry, and reply to some emails.
Needless to say, it's been a wonderful two days off. Now it's back to work tomorrow (which I'm glad about because my first graders and I need to change out the apples in our mealworm habitats and make sure our milkweed bugs have enough water to make it through spring break ... good ol' life science for ya), and then off for a week for Spring break. Not a bad couple of weeks if I do say so myself.
There you have it. That's been life lately, and I wouldn't have it any other way!
IMG_2749 from Emily Ann Photography on Vimeo.
P.S. if you think this post was long, just imagine how lengthy they will become when I have actual human kids, not just fur-kids. Yikes ... you still have a few years [at least], but you may want to brace yourself for them now!
Remington
Meet Remington the Bernese Mountain Dog, the newest addition to our family! After waiting 8 long weeks, Brandon and I finally got to meet and bring home this sweet girl last Saturday. We have now spent a little over a week with her, and we are completely in love. I've been meaning to post some pictures of her and with the surprise snow day today, I am finally able to! So far, Remington (Remi) spends the majority of the day sleeping and thinks she is a lap dog. She's going to be in for a reality check once she gets bigger. She's gained 4 pounds in one week and now weighs a whopping 21 lbs at 9 weeks old. She was the biggest in her litter and her breeder said that she will be at least 100 pounds when she is full grown ... I mean, just look at those paws!
Last weekend, we set up the tripod to take our first official family photo ... Remi wasn't thrilled, but we got one!
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I am completely obsessed with her spotted nose ... it will eventually turn all black so I had to pull out the macro lens before that happened! (I know, somehow overnight I turned into a crazy dog lady)
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Remington loves the snow ... running in the snow, burying her head in the snow, chewing on all the sticks she can find...
And while I baked cookies today, she did what she does best. The entire time she didn't move. Playing in the snow wiped her out!
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And last but not least, since my dear friends requested a video, here you go, Ben & Liz!
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Ben & Liz - A Fall Engagement
It was so much fun to capture the love that these two have for one another. This session was filled with a lot of laughter, goofiness, and pure love. They even came prepared with hot chocolate, shooters, blankets, and "snuggle clothes"! Congrats to Ben & Liz ... we can't wait to be apart of your wedding!
Alex & Jared - A Red Rocks Chapel & Molly Brown Summer House Wedding
These pictures are all the words I need ... a gorgeous wedding for a beautiful couple. Blessed to be apart of it! Congrats Alex and Jared! Best wishes to the two of you!
Hilary & Taylor: An October Proposal
I could not be more honored to be apart of Hilary and Taylor's beyond cute proposal! Hilary had already scheduled her annual "Christmas Card" photo session with me when Taylor called and told me that he wanted to propose to Hilary during our session. Hilary kept making things complicated by changing the date of the photos more than once, but Taylor thought of everything -- having their puppy be apart of it, the sign and the cute saying on the sign, the plot to get Hilary away for a minute so that he could put the sign around Oly's neck, everything. All I did was help make the sign (with the help of a friend ... thanks Molly!) and showed up to capture the moment. After we took a couple of photos like normal, I asked Hilary if it would be alright I took a couple of "head shots" of her because "I've recently had an inquiry for business head shots and I don't have very many to show this potential client". Of course she agreed so I pulled Hilary away to take her business picture (I've included it below). Taylor and Brandon pretended to be playing with Oly when really they were getting out the sign, making sure the ring was ready to go, etc. After a couple of minutes, Hilary and I walked around the tree to see Taylor and Oly standing there waiting for her. Needless to say, what came next was magical. I was so unbelievably blessed to be apart of this. Wishing Hilary and Taylor all the best as they enjoy their engagement (they are celebrating in Thailand right now!) and while they plan their wedding. What a special time in their lives!
Megan's Senior Portraits - Class of 2016
Congratulations to this darling senior! It was so fun to photograph Megan ... what an amazing, fun, and gorgeous girl. We took these at Cheeseman Park on a beautiful morning a couple of weeks ago ... the lighting, the flowers, the greenery, and that smile could not have been any more perfect. I wish you all the best finishing up your senior year!
Erica & Trey - Hudson Garden's Wedding
Erica and I were close friends all through elementary school ... I remember constantly having sleep overs with her, spying on her brothers (yes, we were Harriet the Spy fans), and doing everything together. Because of this I was so honored when she asked me to photograph her wedding. This wedding was so much fun to photograph because not only did it bring back so many good memories, but I was able to catch up with many old friends that I have not seen in years! Erica is now a flight attendant who travels the world and lives in Virginia where she met her husband. I did not get to meet Trey until the wedding day, but as soon as I did, it was clear that they were perfect for each other. They decided to do a first look (which always makes me cry) and the pure laughter, tears, and joy made it so clear that they belong together. Erica and Trey got married at Hudson Garden's surrounded by friends and family, and they sure did throw quite the celebration! Didn't Erica make a stunning bride? Erica and Trey, I wish you nothing but the best. Congratulations and thank you so much for letting Brandon and me be apart of your special day!
Paul's Senior Portraits - Class of 2016
It's that time of the year again! Senior portrait sessions are filling up, and I couldn't be more thrilled with how Paul's turned out! We took these photos at Three Pond Park on a beautiful afternoon last weekend. Paul and his parents were so wonderful to work with, and made our job a piece of cake! Wishing Paul the best of luck as he finishes his last year of high school ... congratulations to the class of 2016!
Congratulations Chelsie & Chase - Sweet Baby Boy Is Almost Here!
You might remember Chelsie and Chase from their wedding that I photographed in October of 2013. Well, now they are awaiting the day when they get to welcome a sweet baby boy and grow their family to a family of three! I couldn't be more excited for them! Chelsie is one stunning mama, wouldn't you say?! Stay tuned for new born photos after they are home from the hospital!
The Matthews & Reilly Family - Cheeseman Park
It was so much fun photographing this lovely family again! I photographed them about a year and a half ago at when Quincy was just a little guy. Now he's two and half, and has the biggest vocabulary of any two year old I have ever met! It is so much fun to get to photograph multiple generations in a photo session, and it is so much fun to get to photograph a family that you've photographed before! Thank you so much to the Matthews family for a wonderful shoot!
Alex Morrision Real Estate
A couple of months ago I had the privilege to photograph this beautiful lady's head shots. Alex recently received her real estate license, and has joined SPX Real Estate. Whether you are looking to buy your first home, move into a larger home, or sell your current home, Alex is your girl! You can get in touch with her and find more information about her through her website.
Furthermore, many of my clients do not know that I provide head shots so if you are wanting to update your current headshot for your website, business card, or just to have a professional photo of yourself, let me know!
The Goldammer Family: Backyard Portrait Session
So much thanks to this darling family for a fun, laid back photo shoot! So fun to be able to capture the entire family together!
Jose & Angelique - Holy Ghost Church & Terrace Gardens
Jose and Angelique were such a joy to work with ... I am so honored to have been apart of their special day! The first time I met them, it was clear that they are perfect for each other, and I knew I would be capturing something amazing. They got married at Holy Ghost Church in downtown Denver, and a fun reception followed at the Terrace Gardens in Ken Caryl. Thank you so much for having me, Jose & Angelique!
Kayla & Cameron - Denver Engagement
You might remember when my sister got engaged last December ... If you don't, you can read about and see her engagement here. Well, we got around to taking their engagement photos in June, and since we FINALLY got their Save the Dates sent out this week, I can finally post their gorgeous pictures! Their pictures turned out just darling, but I am a little bias. :)
Here are some of my favorites from that beautiful June day!
Even though we didn't end up using these for the Save the Dates, we took a handful of "Save-the-Date" pictures that I thought turned out cute so I just had to share!
Here is Kayla and Cameron with their cute pups.
Isn't my nephew so dang cute?
Erin & Michael's Gorgeous Crested Butte Wedding!
Where to begin? I was so, so blessed to be apart of this extraordinarily perfect wedding. From the location, to the people, to the details, to the lawn games, to the celebration and the dancing ... simply perfect. Did I mention the location?! This wedding was on top of Crested Butte Mountain and was GORGEOUS! The rain held out, the sun was shining, and the stunning mountain peaks in the background were breathtaking.
Here is the gorgeous bride and handsome groom ... stunning!
And without further ado, I will let the rest of the photos do the talking. Enjoy!
This couple sure knows how to throw a FUN party!! It was such a fun reception, and I always love a good sparkler send-off to end a wonderful day!
Congratulations Erin & Michael! Thank you so much for having me be apart of your special day!
Kristin & Allen - A Beautiful Downtown Denver Wedding - First Baptist Church of Denver & The Tivoli
Words cannot even begin to describe how beautiful and perfect this wedding was! I am so happy for Kristin and Allen, and I am so thankful that I got to be apart of this blessed day! Capturing your wedding day was so much fun, and the love you both have for each other is contagious! I think we can all agree that this was one GIANT celebration!
Here are the beautiful and handsome bride and groom! Kristin's gorgeous dress was from BHLDN and designed by Catherine Deanne. So stunning! Ladybird Poppy did all of the floral, and these bouquets were to die for! They did such an incredible job!
The ceremony took place at the First Baptist Church of Denver ... a stunning church in the heart of Denver right across from the State Capital building!
Kristin and Allen have a LOT of people that love them! They had such a fabulous wedding party, and tons of family and friends that came from all over to celebrate with them!
The reception was in the Turnhalle ballroom at The Tivoli. It was gorgeous to say the least! All of the food was catered by Relish Catering, and it was delicious! They had ice-cream and cupcakes instead of cake ... so fun!!
The dancing and celebrating could have gone on all night ... everyone had such a fabulous time!
Congratulations to Kristin and Allen! I wish you all the best in the years to come and forever after ... Thank you for having me capture your perfect day!
Ellen & Robert's Wedding - The Sanctuary
Ellen and I lived right next door to each other when we were little, and we grew up being great friends so when she contacted me about photographing her wedding I couldn't have been more happy! It was so much fun to get to be apart of her special day! Ellen and Robert's wedding was PERFECT in every way. They got married at The Sanctuary golf course in Castle Pines, which is an absolutely beautiful venue! It had been a gloomy morning, and it poured down rain while Ellen and Robert were getting ready for the ceremony. BUT, right before the ceremony started, the rain cleared up, and it ended up being a bright, sunny gorgeous afternoon! Ellen and Robert met in college at the Colorado School of Mines and they are perfect for each other! I knew that we would all get along great when they invited me over for pizza to go over all of the last minute details before the wedding! They were both SO easy to work with and they were so laid back and relaxed about the whole thing. Ellen was probably the calmest bride I've ever photographed ... nothing could have happened that would have stressed this bride out!
The wedding was PERFECT (did I already mention that?!) down to the very last detail. Look at how stunning all of these details were!
Everybody was so relaxed while getting ready. The bride and her bridesmaids took their time, chatted, and munched on chips and salsa and quesadillas while sipping on some wine. The groom and his groomsmen had to get cleaned up after spending the morning skeet shooting.
Here is the handsome groom and beautiful bride all ready for the celebration to get started! Don't they both look so good?! Ellen wore her mom's wedding dress ... isn't it beautiful?
The ceremony was both elegant and romantic...
It was so obvious that both Ellen and Robert had GREAT people standing by their sides on this special day ... they are SO loved!
I just can't get enough of this bride and groom ... simply stunning!
The reception was filled with great speeches, an amazing dinner, a delicious cake, and lots of dancing! The perfect end to a perfect day of celebrating!
Thank you to the Verkler and Wright family for having me! I am blessed to have been the one to photograph this amazing day!
The Brown Family - A Backyard Portrait Session
This past winter, I donated a family portrait package to Greenwood Elementary School's silent auction. The mom of the girls I babysit for helps put it on every year, and I always love an opportunity to support a good cause. All of the money earned went directly to the school, which as a teacher myself, I am in HUGE support of that no matter what! I am looking forward to continuing to do this for years to come, especially because it allows me to meet families I may never have otherwise gotten to meet! It was SO much fun photographing the darling Brown family! Aren't these boys just as cute as can be?! They were SUCH troopers, and made my job a piece of cake! I was so impressed with their incredible attitudes, fun personalities, and charming smiles! Not to mention, how awesome is their yard?! Yes, you got that right ... we did these photos at their house! Can you say BEAUTIFUL!? It was such a pleasure to meet this family ... Thank you SO much for buying my auction item!
Punta Mita, Mexico - Spring 2014
Let me start by saying how thankful I am to the O'Donnell family ... I am so blessed by everything you do for me already, and getting to go to Mexico with you guys was absolutely incredible! I was so, so blessed to get to travel to Punta Mita (a BEAUTIFUL little town just north of Puerta Vallarta) with the family that I babysit for. I've been watching these kiddos for just about 8 years, and getting to spend the week with them on the beach was such a treat! The six of us along with two other families spent the week swimming, surfing, exploring, building sandmen (yes, the movie Frozen was our inspiration, and lots of singing, "...do you want to build a snowman..." was involved), and soaking up the warm sun! We couldn't have asked for better weather or for a better trip! Everything about it was perfect including the nights that I got to spend watching Disney movies with six adorable kids!
Here is me with the girls ... now that is the LIFE!
It was only natural that I would become the photographer for the week, and upon returning, I realized that I may have taken TOO many pictures, if that is even possible! I tried to be "choosy" for this blog post, but it was hard to decide what to include so bear with me! Here we are traveling to Punta Mita! We had to get up at 5 a.m. on the morning we left, but boy, were we excited and anxious to get there! I sat with Emmy and Cece on the plane ride there ... we passed the time by coloring, playing games on the iPad, and reading stories
Our first day there was spent by swimming in our villa's pool followed by meeting the other two families for dinner on the water!
We spent a lot of time on the beach and swimming in the pool!
One day we went to the town of Sayulita where we went surfing, ate the best fish tacos, and went shopping on the streets
We spent many evenings watching the sunset on the beach ... can you spot the whale in a few these?
Just another day on the beach! (These are some of my absolute favorite pictures!)
This is how I spent my nights when I was babysitting while there ... CUTE!
Our last full day there, Anna took me exploring in the tide pools ... we collected snails and hermit crabs, but we set them free a little while later! Brady, Emily, and Cece joined us :)
And we had a LOT of fun with my under water camera!
Of course we took some good ol' family portraits while there too!
This girl didn't put a book down the entire trip except to go surfing :) She even read by candle light or by the light of a friend's iPad during dinners!
And FINALLY ... my absolute FAVORITE picture of the ENTIRE trip!
Drum roll please...
