But who cares?

Neil and Jess braved 12 degree temps and a snow storm for their session.  I wore jeans (WHAT was I thinking) and got completely soaked.

Dana and Mike were fearless on their wedding day and we did ALL their photographs outside!  I was so into it I forgot to put on my coat!  Yeah.  The whole day outside in a shirt.  Go Tam.  ::laughing shaking head.::

My favorite thing is hearing their story.  What makes them amazing.  What they are passionate about.  All the fun stuff! 

So, part of a conversation yesterday resonated with me — enough so that I felt compelled to blog about it — because, as always — to ME — SEEING what I’m trying to talk about is as important as the words…

Todays Composition Title:

First Looks.

First Looks are misunderstood.

First Looks break tradition.

First Looks are scary (and exciting, and intimate…and…wait.  I’ll get there.  ::grin::).

A lot of brides come to me and when the subject comes up — they say — “oh no.  I want my fiance’s first view of me to be when I am coming down the aisle”.

Yup.  I TOTALLY get that.  And respect that.  and LOVE it if that’s what you want and choose to do…

But…if you are at all open to this — I want you to think about the advantages of a first look:

It’s yours.

You are not sharing it.  It is your day with your man (or woman).  It’s a moment that you DON’T share, except with each other.  You don’t have to think about your dad, or your mom, or all those people who love you who try to catch your eye as you walk down the aisle.

Nope.  It’s just you two.  Alone.

And it is breath-taking.  And quiet.  And soft.  And romantic.

THEN!

You have TIME.  For photographs…for time to breathe and laugh and play a little bit.

And here’s the biggest secret that no one really understands until you go through it –

When you come down the aisle and the music plays and everyone is crying…

You Forget the First Look Ever Happened.

You are IN THE MOMENT.

It’s Magical.

Then the OTHER magical part?  ALL YOUR PICTURES ARE ALREADY DONE.  You don’t have to make family and friends wait for you to go off somewhere — you’ve ALREADY DONE IT.

It’s efficient.  Which, really, is not a romantic word…but I can tell you that it makes your day smoother, less stressful, and fun.  And it gives your photographer time to do what you are PAYING THEM TO DO — which is take beautiful photographs of important people who love you and who you love.

I am a big supporter of First Looks.

But it’s, ultimately up to you.  I just wanted to give you something else to think about (and look at.)

…

So … Elyse and Josh had their First Look at…wait for it…the EXACT place they had their first kiss.

Perfection!

And then?  We had time to play and take cool pics.

Maybe just…think about it?

xoxo T

Then let me TELL you:

Jillian and Kevin are getting married in October.  In Hilton Head, SC.  Think that’s going to be amazing?!  yeah.  me too.  ::grin::

Kevin recently opened this super cool performance and repair shop called The Little Speed Shop — and it was the COOLEST location to shoot in…let’s see…I had a BMW…a Maserati…a workshop…yeah.  I was TOTALLY feelin’ it!  So we played.  And played.  And then the sun set in this amazing burst of color…

I felt like I was in a movie.  Right?

And it lends itself to the conversation about sessions.  Jillian and Kevin had a strong point of view from which they wanted the session to go — and that was unbelievably fun!  The more thought you put into a session (with me, fo course, never alone!) — the more personal it becomes.  It really is about you.  About what’s important to you.  And if the MOST important thing is that you are TOGETHER — then we’ll just wander around and find cool spots to shoot in.  That’s equally as fun too.  Just bring cool clothes.  And a Maserati.

I’m kidding about the Maserati.  I just like typing Maserati.  It’s even more fun to say…  (you know you just said it in your mind.  bonus if you said it outloud!)

Yeah.  It’s alllll good!

xo T

Suzanne — you are AMAZING and I had so much fun yesterday!  xo T

It makes me want to blog — I’ve been working and working and working and realized that I’m posting a lot of recent work on facebook — but the blog is getting a little sparse of recent cool work.  Some stuff I have to wait to share, some stuff I can’t share (yet) and some stuff I haven’t — so…I have a rich opportunity here!

One of my favorite things is to be plopped down into a location that I’ve never been before and forced to “figure it out”.  Kim and Matt gave me this opportunity by taking me out into the middle of god knows where — Apulia anyone?  — where we saw a YAK (I swear).  I was totally like…WHERE.  AM.  I?!  ::laughing::

One of the things that I love about engagement sessions is that they are about things that are important to my couples.  I don’t have a set of locations I always go to — that’s boring!  I want my couples to look at their pictures when they are 80 and remember that location and story and the love that is in it.

Kim and Matt took me to their favorite hiking place where they can climb under the falls, rock climb and really get away from the hustle and bustle of urban living.  It was GORGEOUS.  We got there late — the light was fading, it was kinda sorta raining…in other words — PERFECT!

I so love the images we took together.  We climbed, we slid, we challenged ourselves…Kim even climbed into a very ridiculous place in HIGH HEELS.  YOU GO GIRL!!

Kim and Matt — you did AMAZINGLY AWESOME!!  xoxoxo T

But that’s not the important part of the story.  The most important part was the ENTHUSIASM Colleen and Mark displayed for Sugar Mountain Bake Shoppe (on Alexandar St).  They insisted it was amazing and could not believe I hadn’t been there.  Colleen even went so far to post today’s special cupcake on my facebook!

So I had to go.

I brought my mother.

And guess who was sitting on the porch eating cupcakes?!  Yup.  Sugar Mountain’s BIGGEST FANS IN THE WORLD! ::laughing::  Here’s what they look like without cupcakes:

So.  Then I had to try them myself.  One of the owners approached us with a sample of their vanilla cupcake…

Oh.  Em.  Geee.

So…SIX cupcakes were purchased.  And they are so beautiful I had to drive straight home and document them for all time…

Say hello to today’s dessert:    Rootbeer Float.  Very Vanilla.  Caramel Apple.  Lemon Raspberry.  Pink Lemonade.

They are sweet.  yummy and Colleen and Mark were absolutely right.  They are DELISH.

Here is my unbiased foody review:  They.  Are.  Yummy.

(My mother likes them too.  Her opinion is worth more than mine.  She cooks.  I don’t.)

Also — I didn’t tell anyone I was writing this.  I wasn’t paid to promote Sugar Mountain.  I just liked them.

Now I have to go walk around the block 158 times.  Cuz.  That’s. a lot. of.  sugar.

Wait. What? You mean you don’t know what this is?! ‘Cause you got to open it, Silly!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  You still don’t know what it is? Let’s open it a little more!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!! And along with images and other sundry necessities, there are also a few little surprises. No. I’m not telling you what they are. You’ll just have to wait to find out. ::wink wink::

And I just wanted to tell someone.

Thanks for listening.  I can sleep now.  ::grin::