Our Anniversary Session: Norfolk Botanical Garden

I squealed when I saw the email in my inbox. Ryan and I were sitting on the couch watching TV when I announced, "Chelsea sent us our photos already!" A few moments passed and Ryan asked, "Do you want to go upstairs and look at them?" Guiltily, I turned my cell phone to face him. I was already scrolling through them. He lunged to tickle me and then pulled me off the couch so we could go see them together.

And they were perfect. The elegance of Renaissance Court, the dreaminess of my flowy dress, the sweetness between us. Chelsea captured it all perfectly.

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A couple people have asked me if our anniversary photos were intended for 'baby announcement' photos. And the honest answer is no. As you'll see, my sweet belly is poking out in a couple of shots, but for the most part we tried to minimize it. We'll take maternity photos in a few months, but we wanted this session to be a celebration of us. Of who we were 5 years ago, who we are now, and who we will be this winter when a baby changes our worlds forever.

Chelsea LaVere took our anniversary photos three years ago and we knew right away that we wanted her to take these 5 year photos for us too. She knows us well, makes us laugh easily, and can recognize our fake smiles. And boy, do Ryan and I have good fake smiles! I've actually started to make myself laugh every time I smile for a photo now to get a more natural smile. And as great as Chelsea was at making us laugh, the best way to get a natural smile for our individual shots was for the other one of us to stand next to Chelsea. (Yes, like moms and dads do for pictures of their toddlers!) The way I smile when I look at Ryan and the way he smiles when he looks at me... those smiles are our best.

Photography: Chelsea LaVere
Makeup: Dhalia Edwards
Dress: Sew Trendy Accessories
Location: Norfolk Botanical Garden

A Note to My Husband on Our 4th Anniversary

Today is our 4th anniversary! It's hard to believe that Ryan and I have been married for 4 years already and at the same time it feels like we've been married forever. I've been saying that since we got married and I still don't understand it.

And today I wanted to take a minute to thank Ryan publicly for everything he does for me. I get a lot of credit for things that were really a team effort... and sometimes even more him than me.

Ryan,

Thank you for encouraging me to attend that event, schedule that session, or go send that email right now even though it means spending a little less time with you. Thank you for meeting me at the door when I come home from a wedding at midnight and for carrying my heavy bags upstairs to my office. 

Thank you for working so hard at your job and then coming home and helping with mine. Thank you for building my website, taking care of my accounting, and helping me with the technical stuff. Thank you for teaching me new features in InDesign and Quickbooks and then patiently telling me about them again next week, because you know I have to practice something before I really learn it.

Thank you for dreaming and planning with me how we can make #ourlittleyellowhouseinva into our dream home and then putting those plans into action, even when it means doing most of the work yourself.

Thank you most of all for being on my team. I know that owning a small business is complicated and not something either of us had planned on happening, but you jumped in with both feet. Not because you love weddings. Not because you enjoyed photography (although it's definitely growing on you). And certainly not because you loved the idea of me being gone all weekend. But because you support my dreams. Dumb little dreams like when I asked you a year ago if we could find room in the budget for me to join a gym. And bigger dreams like when I told you I didn't want to wait anymore before buying a house.

I know that whatever God brings our way in the coming years, we're going to face it together. Hand in hand. And I know that you'll probably carry most of the load. Because even on day one, when it was just a fluffy bubble hem dress, you were doing what you could to make my load easier to carry.

Always,

Caitlin

The Importance of the "Stupid" Wedding Decisions

I know this blog post title is an oxymoron, so let me explain. Over the years that Ryan and I have been married, I've noticed that some of the most insignificant details of our wedding day are the most meaningful to me.

Don't get me wrong. Choosing our wedding vendors was a big deal and we were very happy with all of those "big" decisions. But it's those little things that jog your memory and put a smile on your face.

One detail that I took plenty of time to decide was my wedding day perfume. Someone had suggested buying a new perfume to wear for the wedding and honeymoon, because memories connected to scents are some of the strongest memories! So I did. (And as you can see, I was a little more concerned about how the perfume smelled than the personality of the bottle. Although Ryan wears Ed Hardy cologne so it seemed appropriate.) Every once in a while I'll wear the perfume again for a date night or when we go on vacation, and it always makes me smile.

I walked down the aisle to Canon in D, which also has a popular Christmas version, so I get to listen to it over and over every year and I always turn the radio up when it comes on. We used purple tulips in the bridesmaids bouquets and centerpieces, and it's still one of my favorite flowers. Ryan and I chose You Raise Me Up as our recessional song, so it's meaningful whenever I hear it now. Our cake was red velvet, which is always our choice when presented with a table of cupcakes. Ryan also often wears the tie he wore on the wedding day.

I'm not saying you have to stress out about choosing the perfect detail for every aspect of your wedding day. But choosing songs and other little details that you can reuse or rewear thoughtfully will turn out to be really meaningful in the future.

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Our Williamsburg Anniversary Session

It's been two years since Ryan and I had been professionally photographed, so needless to say we were so excited to have an anniversary session with my dear friend Chelsea of Bit of Ivory Photography. She's a fellow old soul with two of the sweetest kitties in the whole world! And special thanks to my new friend Dawn Shane for my gorgeous makeup!

We set up a little picnic at Freedom Park in Williamsburg, nibbled on goodies, wandered around holding hands, laughed, hugged, kissed, and finished the night at a new favorite restaurant: Noodles & Co. It was one of the best date nights we've had in a long time!

I'm so excited to share a few.... ok maybe a bunch... of the images with you today. And let me just say that I totally feel you now! I know what it's like to receive a bunch of beautiful images and find yourself instantly overwhelmed and not sure what to do with them all! I actually had to import the images into the software I use for my viewing and ordering sessions so I could compare similar images side by side and help narrow down my favorites. And I'm definitely going to need help narrowing the images down to a collection of canvases.

So thank you, Chelsea, for these beautiful images. The way you captured us together was just perfection!

 ~ There's a certain smile only he gives me ~

Our Best Wedding Decisions ~ A Photo Booth

I've already covered why we chose to have a small wedding and to do a first look, and today I wanted to talk about another great wedding decision we made: having a photo booth. There are a bunch of amazing reasons to have a photo booth, but here are my top reasons:

Photo booths are fun. Duh! You get amazing pictures like this!

 I think this one was a light testing shot. That might explain why weren't not in the middle.

Having a photo booth allowed us to get pictures of almost all of our guests. Our photographers were fabulous, but there were only two of them, so obviously they couldn't be everywhere at once. And the photographer's job on the wedding day is to focus on the bride and groom. But having one photographer run the photo booth allowed for memorable pictures of many of our guests.

Recognize these cuties? I just shot their wedding!

A photo booth is something for your guests to get excited about! Not everyone likes to dance and there are some weird people who don't like cake, but just about everybody likes a photo booth! So when there's a bit of a lull in the reception or they're waiting for the cake to be served, they can hop in the photo booth with their friends.

Photo booths don't have to be super expensive. Obviously renting an actual booth that prints out photo strips is an amazing option and the photo strips make great favors for your guests. But the 2nd shooter at my wedding did an awesome job with an umbrella light and a backdrop. And we shared the link to the pictures with all of our guests, so they could get a copy of their photos.

I may have gone a little overboard with the timeline and the little yellow books I gave everyone.

Yeah, just a little. But if you can move past everyone's loving reactions to my careful planning, you'll see that we just snagged a corner to set up the backdrop. Obviously a huge group like this doesn't fit, but it's perfect for a group of 6 or less.

All that to say, if you have the option to add a photo booth, do it! It will be a great addition to your wedding photography collection.

And again, photo credit to the amazing Rebecca Franklin Photography.

Our Best Wedding Decisions ~ A First Look

I'm not sure when I first heard about first looks. But when I was engaged (and yes, for a few months before), I was ALL OVER wedding forums. It was a bit of an obsession. But I certainly feel like all those hours were helpful, because I learned a lot about timelines, and wedding budgets, and all those little details that people don't think about. And it's better than hours of TV, so no judging!

Anyway, as traditional and classic as I wanted to be, I knew that I wanted to do a first look. And Ryan was on board right away too. I knew that both of us would be nervous about standing up in front of everyone to say our vows (even if it was only 80 people) and I knew that seeing him would keep me calm.

And after shooting a few weddings that didn't have first looks, I've seen that nervousness first hand. The bride just wants to see her man. She's super excited to marry him, but the flowers aren't quite right or Aunt Susan got lost and is going to miss the ceremony. Whatever little drama pops up while she's hiding away in her room. All she can do is dwell on it and fret and send someone to try to fix it. And all of that makes her even more nervous.

But with a first look, I got to see my groom almost right away. As soon as I was dressed and ready, I could see him. And we got to spend the next few hours together before the ceremony. So when our groomsmen realized they had parked in the wrong garage and one of them was getting towed, I didn't have to worry about it from my little hideaway. I was right there to make sure everyone's cars were in the right spot. I didn't have to worry about the reception decor or if the photographer had time to set up the photo booth backdrop or if the cake had arrived. I was right there in the reception room with my bridal party (another perk of having the whole wedding at one location).

But more than avoiding nervousness, the first look to me was the opportunity for us to really enjoy that first moment of seeing each other. You can't really do that at the end of the aisle while the pastor is speaking and everyone is staring at you. I got to show Ryan my dress and hug and kiss him right away, not when the pastor pronounced us husband and wife (although I kissed him then too!)

And we got way more portraits in that 45 minutes than we would have if we had tried to cram all of our pictures in after the ceremony. And that was the most important part to me, because that's the part that lasts.

All our wedding photos courtesy of my dear friend Rebecca Franklin.