all you need is love.

There's nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you
in time - It's easy.
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.

the beatles

Tim and Annie separately are about the nicest people you could ever hope to meet.  in fact Annie's friends joked while helping her tie her corset dress that all the pain was for all the times Annie said "sorry" when there was no reason to be sorry or all the times she said "wooo" while driving around a corner.  They are the type of friends that you can count on to help you move when everyone else says they are "busy" and they will never complain that it is your fifth time moving this year.  The two of them apart are so sweet and kind hearted but together they make the most ridiculously cute and sweet couple that everyone feels welcomed around.

I was so glad I had the pleasure of shooting their wedding, because it was as unique and thoughtful as the two of them. One of my favorite parts about the wedding was that Annie bought Tim a pair of purple addidas to wear at the wedding, and whenever everyone saw they would say "Annie let you wear those?!" and Tim would say "Annie bought them!" they are a couple that totally gets one another, and supports their differences, which I think is beautiful.

Annie is Chinese and Tim is Jewish so there were so many interesting and cool traditions that they incorporated into their ceremony from both sides of their heritage. Tim had to "bribe" his way into the house to meet Annie before the wedding by answering a series of questions the brides maids gave him. They did not go easy on him, but he made it through. They also had a tea ceremony in which the bride and groom served the parents tea and the parents gave them a wedding gift. Along with the breaking of the glass and the chair dance, all the traditions made the wedding really personal and fun. I loved being able to be a part of them and photograph them.

the cake topper has been in Tim's family for a few generations. Just another thoughtful part of their wedding.

Tim and Annie met online and talked through emails until they decided to meet face to face. Tim says that the first date they had they got kicked out of every place they went because they were closing and Tim and Annie couldn't stop talking, so they would have to leave to find another place that was open. Tim said he drove home from their first date and was elated to find that Annie had called him. And that was it. They both knew from the very first date that they were made for each other. They both agree they fell on love on that very first date and despite them living in different countries (him in the states and her in Canada) they didn't let the distance keep them apart. because even with miles between them, they held onto what's important. and in the end, all you need is love...

Josh & Becka

I have known Becka and her family for as long as I can remember, so needless to say, I was honored that they chose me to photograph their wedding.

The day started at Becka’s parents house where her and the bridesmaids were busy getting ready.  This is always one of my most favorite parts of the day.  The anxiety is usually pretty high but there always comes that moment of clarity for each bride, for Becka it was when we realized she wouldn’t be nervous when she saw Josh at the end of the aisle waiting to become her husband.

I love the excitement in Becka's face

Beautiful Bride

I loved catching Becka and Josh in the little moments when they thought I wasn’t paying attention.  I love how they make each other laugh, how Josh kisses Becka on her forehead, how they are a young and playful couple.  They love to have fun with each other and I think anyone can see that.

Cute flower girls

First Dance

Becka and Josh, I wish you nothing but the best!  Congratulations.

love can mend your life...

A year has passed since I wrote my note

But I should have known this right from the start

Only hope can keep me together

Love can mend your life

But love can break your heart

I'll send an SOS to the world

I'll send an SOS to the world

I hope that someone gets my

Message in a bottle

- Sting.

I think we all have been there. wondering if we will ever meet someone who makes you feel at home.

and we are all just throwing out hearts out there like messages in bottles. but sometimes, you get lucky and someone find someone who keeps it.

For Anthony that was Jenny.

Celebrate Love!

Summer is a time for Romance.

picnics at outdoors concerts, snuggling under the stars, road trips, days at the beach. Summer was made for lovers.

So we decided to soak up the last month before school starts and fall begins and we all go inside to hibernate by offering our couples portraits sessions at a discounted price for the month of august.

It can be any kind of portrait session! if you have an anniversary coming up and want to celebrate with pictures now is the time, or even if you got married but feel like throwing the dress back on and getting some romantic photos to remember your wedding.  Any portrait session as long as it's a couple is $200 and that includes a disc with 20 images with printing rights and online ordering!  

so get one last hurrah!  enjoy the last month of summer and get Romantic with F/stop poetry!

email us at fstoppoetry@yahoo.com to book your appointment.

revisiting.

Erin and I pride ourselves in our devotion to our clients.

The reason we both shoot people is because of how endlessly fascinated and amazed we are by the people we meet and are blessed to shoot. we both say landscape photography has never been our passion for this very reason.

We often times will meet up with our couples months later to just get drinks and see how they are because truth be told, we start to miss them when we think back to their wedding day and see the photos, and have become friends with a lot of our "clients" because of how attached we get to them in the process of getting to know them during their wedding planning.  

Yesterday I invited a couple we shot last summer to see a band play, because it wasn't far from where they lived, and I knew from being friends on facebook they had both just returned from a strenuous and hard training trip with the US army, and I wanted to hear about that and their tarantula stories from being in Texas.

Jeremy said people in his group were still talking about their wedding photos a year later and that they referred to Erin and I specifically as "their" photographers as if we only ever shoot them.

as the night wore on, we were sitting outside on a balmy summer night sharing drinks and talking about how they had first met and Jeremy couldn't help but gush about how he knew autumn was the one from the very first day they spent together, and that even though it took quite a bit longer for autumn to be sold on the idea he never wavered on his love for her, and he knew he would give up everything to be with her after having the worst day at work he came home and she was waiting with a plate of buffalo chicken wings and a movie, and he forgot all about his no good, rotten day, because he was with her.

They talked about having babies, and taking risks, and being willing to do whatever it took to make sure they were always together and it made my heart swell with happiness. and I sat there on that hot summer night, so proud of my role in their wedding, and feeling renewed on how incredibly lucky I am to get to be a part of our brides and grooms lives, not only on their wedding day, but years later when they look at their photos and see the painstaking care we took in recording their memories accurately and artistically.  Getting to hang out with them from time to time, well that's just the icing on the cake.

two people in love...

"Today is a day you will always remember

The greatest in anyone's life

You'll start off the day just two people in love

And end it as Husband and Wife"

author unkown

Sara and Russ are the all American couple. we decided this in the car on the way to their reception. He is a police officer and she is a teacher, and if there was an award for it, we would have nominated them after seeing how incredibly adorable they were with each other. and one may think everyone is adorable together on their wedding day and that may be mostly true but Sara and Russ had a unique and unmistakable closeness that can only be described as two best friends who are in love. Sara said that one time their power went out and with nothing to do Sara and Russ sat in the dark and made up their own games to entertain themselves. This is the kind of couple that could be stranded on a desert island and have the time of their lives because they are together. getting to be a part of their wedding was so fun because we felt like we were a part of that close knit circle. Upon meeting Sara we felt like she was instantly an old friend. She is the kind of girl who you feel like lets you in on a secret when she talks to you, and by the end of the day we were sad the wedding was over because we knew we wouldn't get to hang out with Sara and Russ and be in on all the jokes and laughs any more. But we couldn't be happier that they chose us for this day. and we were thrilled to be able to share the moments that made us both go "awwww they were so cute!" the whole ride home.

I am to see to it that I do not lose you.

To a Stranger

PASSING stranger! you do not know how longingly I look upon you,
You must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking, (it comes to me, as of a dream,)
I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you,
All is recall’d as we flit by each other, fluid, affectionate, chaste, matured,

...
You give me the pleasure of your eyes, face, flesh, as we pass—you take of my beard,
hands, in return,
I am not to speak to you—I am to think of you when I sit alone, or wake at night alone,
I am to wait—I do not doubt I am to meet you again,
I am to see to it that I do not lose you.

. by Walt Whitman

Kristina  said "I hope you guys gets some good stuff we aren't very photogenic."We walked out into tall grass on a hot and buggy Thursday night. Kristina in heels and a dress and Anthony held her hand and the sun was setting.  it was beautiful.  A perk of the job is getting to see things like this often.

Anthony pulled her close and they laughed.

we didn't even have to try.  

Anyone can see it when you see the way she looks at him. eyes full of joy and respect.

Kristina thinks Anthony hung the moon.

and Anthony looks back happy, and at home.

it's so obvious that they  are in love. They didn't even have to try to be "photogenic"