Happy Anniversary!

Today is the third anniversary of our wedding, 1 day after our dating anniversary. That worked out pretty conveniently for us when we were wedding planning. Even though Matt and I were living in Los Angeles when we got engaged, we decided to have the wedding in Tallahassee so that more of our family and friends would be able to attend. We picked the Retreat at Bradley's Pond for both the ceremony and reception. And we chose  Laura Ciociola as our photojournalist wedding photographer, who surprised us on the day of the wedding by bringing her then-assistant Meredith Russell. So we ended up with two great photographers when we were only expecting one, and we ended up with Laura's film shots and Meredith's digital shots, which was cool to have both. 

I've looked through these photos a million times as I was making prints for guests, putting together albums, and just reliving the day over and over again. Not only did Laura and Meredith do an amazing job of capturing all the happiness and all the wonderful people there at our wedding, but the emotion and beauty of the photos is what inspired me to take up photography myself, and for that I will always be grateful.

Thanks to everyone who attended our wedding, and everyone who celebrated with us in LA after the fact, for making it such a memorable and special occasion.

Happy Anniversary, Matthew! I love you with all my heart.

Decade of Awesome

Today marks the 10 year anniversary of when Matt and I started dating. It is hard to believe that it's been that long, but it has been a decade of happiness and fun all around. In that time, we've lived on both sides of the country, had a wedding, gone through multiple career changes, traveled the world, adopted a cat, and watched a lot of movies. Hard to imagine that all of this came out of what was supposed to be a summer fling, but luckily we were both smart enough to realize what a good thing we'd stumbled into.

The night it all began, New College Graduation PCP May 26th, 2000. Matt, Gabe, and James Ponder came down to visit and I was officially smitten. Later on we ended up calling this our anniversary.

My graduation from New College, May 25th, 2001.

Matt and Sidney hanging out in Tallahassee. Summer of 2001.

Crazy hair-dying days. Pretty sure this was at the photo booth at Movies at Governor's Square. Likely during the film school years, so either 2002 or 2003.

Halloween 2004, after we moved to LA. I was a space cowgirl. Matt was allegedly Balki from the Thanksgiving episode of "Perfect Strangers."

May 2005, the Getty Center and Venice Beach. Julia took these photos while she, my mom, and my aunt Maureen were visiting us.

Halloween 2005. I'm a generic ancient Roman. Matt is Dignan from Bottle Rocket. In an amazing coincidence, our friend Dennis shows up as Anthony from Bottle Rocket. Perfect.

March 2006, at the Getty Center.

At Drew & Becca's wedding, Buffalo, NY June 23, 2006.

One of my all-time favorite pictures of us, taken by our very talented friend Derek Bell. We commissioned Derek to take photos at the Japanese Gardens in Van Nuys to have some pictures of the two of us to put on our wedding website. Taken in November 2006

This one is really cool, a reflection in the pond as we were standing on a small plank bridge.

DIY postcards we made and sent out for our wedding.

Coachella, April 2007

Our wedding, May 27, 2007. (More wedding photos tomorrow!)

Honeymoon in the Bahamas.

Zombie Matt, sometime in the fall of 2007.

Me with Emma Goldman, May 2008. The perfect addition to our little family.

These two are from a trip we took to Catalina Island in August, 2008. We got engaged in Catalina over Memorial Day weekend 2005, so it was fun and sweet to go back. In these photos we're perfecting Matt's patented "Look to the Future" pose.

Our trip to Ireland and the Oxygen Music festival, July 2009.

In Mexico celebrating Ivette's birthday, September 2009

Snowball fight at the Waldens' in Virginia over Christmas 2009.

Because we can never have enough photo booth pictures!

Happy Anniversary, Matt! Thanks for making the last 10 years so awesome and giving me lots to look forward to in all the coming years. I love you so incredibly much.

Blogiversary.

I'm a little late in remembering, but October 13th was the one year anniversary of when I started this blog. In the course of that year, I've bought a new digital SLR camera, learned and experimented more with photo editing programs, and opened up an etsy shop. I've also been commissioned to photograph a handful of weddings and events. So several photography goals have been met in that relatively short time frame. I'd like to think my skills have improved a little as well. So here's some champagne and confetti to celebrate, and with hopes that the next year will bring even more experience, accomplishment, and success. Cheers!