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Hello, wedding planners! I know that lots of you are busy putting together the final touches for your weddings, so I thought it was a great time for me to return to my regular Wedding Ideas posts. I have such a huge collection of photos of wedding details that I love to use them to help inspire people for their own wedding planning.
Here are some helpful links for wedding ideas:
My favorite wedding details of 2010
My full collection of wedding details
The big color of the moment is purple. I saw tons of purple last year, which of course I loved, because it’s one of my two favorite colors. (My own wedding’s color theme was blue and purple.) Here are some photos of purple weddings, with great ideas for dresses, flowers, decorations, and favors. Enjoy!
More photos of purple weddings
Heather
Fields of Flowers
Purcellville, Virginia
April 29, 2011
My friend Heather is having a baby this week! Heather has been one of my closest friends for 23 years, and together we’ve gone through high school color guard, college parties, post-college poverty, and professional accomplishments. And now she is having a baby boy just a couple months after I did. Now that I’ve moved back to Virginia, she and I are looking forward to our little boys’ second generation of friendship.
Heather’s adorable daughter will be turning three later this year, and I photographed her family back in 2008:
Maternity portraits
Baby Eve portraits
Last Friday I photographed Heather with her second baby bump. She looks so beautiful at 39 weeks!
More of her maternity portraits…
Mike and me
Wells, England
July 30, 2005
I’ve been up since 5am, watching William and Kate’s royal wedding. All morning I’ve been reliving my own fairy tale English wedding. Such happy memories.
Sophie, BJ, and April
Cameron Station
Alexandria, Virginia
April 26, 2011
My photo shoot with this adorable family was my first client session since my baby was born earlier this year. It felt great to be back! I’m still choosing to spend most of my time at home with the baby, but I am starting to schedule occasional sessions as I return to work gradually.
I absolutely wanted to make time for April and BJ’s family. They are preparing for BJ’s deployment to Iraq in May. It always breaks my heart to see families separated by deployment, and it’s especially sad that BJ has to leave only five months after their daughter Sophie joined the family. I took their portraits in their home in Alexandria, and then we walked around Cameron Station. April mentioned that she particularly loves black and white photography, which is a great format for the mood of several of their photos.
April and BJ, thank you for asking me to photograph your family during such an important time for the three of you. I hope these photos will help to bridge the distance over the coming year.
More of their family portraits
Daniel and me
Reston, VA
Spring 2011
Wow, I haven’t blogged in ages! I think this is the longest that I’ve neglected my blog since I started it back in 2000. When Danny was six weeks old, I wrote that I was going to start posting regularly again, and now two months have passed and I’m finally getting around to it. Sorry about that!
Danny is now three and a half months old, and he is still a happy, easy-going little guy. He is so much more fun now that he’s old enough to start interacting with us. He smiles a huge, open-mouth grin throughout the day, and giggles when his dad makes funny faces. He has even started smiling at the dog, which is sweet, because Ally loves her little human brother. She is always trying to give him little licks on the head and feet. Janie the cat barely notices that he exists.
Daniel at Three Months:
Likes:
Riding in his stroller
Meeting new people
Cuddling
Listening to nursery rhymes
Dancing around the living room
Grabbing at the danging animals on his play gym
Watching his dad be silly
Looking at leaves, flowers, children, and birds
Dislikes:
Sleeping through the night
We’ve been sleep-deprived around here lately. Starting at 2 months, Danny starting waking up three times a night to eat. He’s a slender little guy, at only the 26th percentile in weight (70th in height), so when he’s hungry, he really needs to eat. Night weaning just isn’t happening, unfortunately. I’ve deepened my love of coffee over the last few months.
It helps a lot that when we wake up in the middle of the night, we have a gorgeous view of a lake outside our window. Mike and I couldn’t be happier with our new house and neighborhood in Reston. It’s absolutely gorgeous here, especially with all the springtime dogwoods and cherry blossoms. April in Virginia is sublime. Every day we take Danny and Ally for walks around the lake, and often we stroll to Reston Town Center for coffee or dinner. Reston has a wonderful trail system. We almost never use our cars anymore.
I owe Danny a three-month portrait session, but for now, here are some snapshots of our family over the last two months.
More photos of Danny and our family
Daniel’s first cry
January 9, 2011
Mike took some beautiful photos of our son’s first moments, and I’m excited to share them with you. Here is Daniel’s birth story.
We finally moved into our new house last weekend, and we’re absolutely loving it. With a three-week-old baby and a house full of unpacked boxes, I will continue to take time away from the office for a while. I will be needing extra time to respond to emails and voice messages over the next several weeks. In the meanwhile, I’m loving this time with my family as we settle into our new home and continue to fall in love with little Daniel. Thanks for all your support, everyone!
Stay tuned for baby photos – I promise that they’re coming! I just haven’t had time to process them yet, but I hope to have several to share very soon.
Our new neighborhood
Reston, Virginia
If having a baby wasn’t enough excitement for one week, we also bought a house last week! We left Colorado on November 1st, and it has taken us all this time to find a house that is perfect for us. My wonderful parents invited us to stay with them during the months that we were house hunting. We had a hard time finding houses that we liked within our budget in neighborhoods that appeal to us, so we took our time.
Finally we discovered a gorgeous, mid-century modern house in Reston, Virginia. This house was beautiful indoors, but we also fell in love with the lake scenery and walkable community. The house is just a few minutes’ walk away from restaurants, shops, salons, art galleries, a coffee shop, a post office, a pool, and offices. The lake itself surrounds us with the natural beauty that we loved about our Colorado home. In short, it’s our dream house. We didn’t think we’d find a house that we love even half as much.
We’ll be spending the next few weeks moving in. Having a new baby and a new house at the same time is going to keep us BUSY. I’m taking maternity leave right now, but I understand that wedding planning can’t always wait for new mothers. I apologize for the extra time I need right now for responding to emails and phone calls, and I hope you understand. Email is the best way to reach me in the next couple weeks.
After we get settled in the new house, I’ll be meeting with clients there. I can’t wait! I’m especially excited to have friends and family over in the warmer months for drinks on the patio and canoe trips on the lake. I’m so excited that I can’t believe it’s not too good to be true.
Daniel, age one week
Dreaming of milk and cuddles
Here’s our beautiful little boy! Daniel is one week old now, and is the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen. He’s quiet, content, and very cuddly. I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had a chance to process or post his pictures yet, so here are a few quick ones from the weekend. Soon I’ll share the photos of his first week, including some from his birth. Mike and I are so happy and completely infatuated with the little guy already!
