The eagles, beer and true love.

"And even if there was a king-size bed
Where I can stretch my legs and lie my head
All by myself, in the darkest room
Just know, that no matter what the options are
I choose . . .
The air mattress with you"
(the air mattress with you- Conor Oberst and The Mystic Valley Band)

Ellen and Dan can be summed up in one word:  Fun.

They are the kind of couple that everyone wants to go on a double date with.  At their consult I knew we were going to have a blast shooting them when they told us funny stories about their first few dates.  And Dan gives hope to all the guys out there who meet cute girls at a bar who, at first, pretends to be dating the girl friend she is with to get you to leave her alone. And luckily for Dan his persistence paid off and he got to take Ellen out on a first date, to his tree farm where they drank beers and talked until the sun came up in the back of his truck under the stars.

Dan decided to proposed to Ellen on the day that he did because they are huge eagles fans, and the eagles were losing, and he said to himself “f they win, I am going to ask her to marry me” and as you can guess the eagles came back from a huge set back and won the game, and Dan won her heart.

And Ellen found out love doesn’t have a type.  And even though she was a city girl she fell for a boy who rides a John Deere and loves her like crazy.

what the water gave me...

We love trash the dress sessions.  The dress is the Holy Grail on the day of your wedding so its not often you are able to roll around in it, and get it dirty. I can completely understand the desire to hold on to such an important dress but on the flip side I love when brides make something beautiful and artistic with their dress afterwards. After all Its not so much the dress that’s important as the memories of marrying the one you love.  Sometimes its nice to be reminded of that.

Kristina is a photographers dream to shoot, not only is she stunning but on top of that she is willing to trust us when we say “how about we put you in a waterfall, on this really chilly day, while wearing your wedding dress” A photographer couldn’t ask for a better subject when they trust your vision that whole heartedly. We absolutely love her (and Anthony for humoring us and rolling up his jeans for a few photos.)  After the shoot Kristina was near pneumonia and when Erin saw here weeks later, we felt awful that we were partially to blame for her getting sick, and Kristina just said “its ok the photos are going to be amazing!” How lucky are we to have gotten to be her photographers.

Thanks so much for your dedication and enthusiasm Kristina. You are truly beautiful. Inside and out.

Shannon and Ken

We got a little bit backed on the blog here at F/stop but we wanted to take the time to write about how much we loved Shannon and Ken.
I knew I was going to like Shannon the moment she told me she brought her Steelers Jersey to take photos in. That made my day.
Ken is a pro-golfer and Shannon works with kids with behavior problem at  juvenile detention center. When she told me this I almost fell out of my seat because I couldn’t believe someone as tiny and sweet as her had such a tough job, it gave me a whole new respect for her. Ken and Shannon were such good hearted people, you would have to be, to spend your days giving encouragement and help to kids who may have never experienced that before or being patient giving golf lessons to people who cant swing to save their lives.
I read a quote this week that I loved it said: Love consists in this, that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other. (Rainer Maria Rilke)
I think Ken and Shannon were such a good example of that, two people with two different passions and drives and yet they encourage and root for one another. I have these two friends that are married and one is a huge Greenbay packers fan and the other loves the bears. This has resulted in many of quarrels as you can guess, but Shannon and Ken wore their separate Jerseys and never made a comment about the other person’s teams. That is love.

And finally you have found yourself…

"All I want is for you to be happy
And take this woman and make you my family
And finally you have found someone perfect
And finally you have found…
Yourself"
- The Red Hot Chilli Peppers "Hard to Concetrate."

I read somewhere probably that love is patient and selfless and kind. Often times when we think of why we love people it’s because of the way they make us feel. When photographing Ben and Roselyn I was struck by how much they liked the other person for who they were. True love wants the other person to be happy, even if it costs you something, and when two people love each other that selflessly, well then the sky is the limit for them. Ben and Roz talked about how they have spent ten years of their lives together and decided to get married and start their own little family. Just them and George a  family based on this mutual sense of what makes them happy, each other.  And that is such a beautiful thing to find yourself in the happiness of someone else.  Congrats Ben and Roz! We are so excited to photograph your wedding and I am hoping I will get to hang out with George more too J

Anthony and Kristinas Wedding

Love that will not betray you,
Dismay, or enslave you
It will set you free
And be more like the man
You were made to be

There is a design
An alignment to cry
Of my heart to see
The beauty of love
As it was made to be
- "sign no more" Mumford and sons.



If you ever met Anthony and Kristina, you know that you never leave them feeling unhappy. They are so fun to be around. Kristina goes out of her way to make you feel included and Anthony makes you laugh. And together the two of them are the kind of couple who always encourage each other, who legitimately thinks the other person is super cool but isn’t super mushy about it so that you feel awkward. They are the perfect mix of down to earth, fun people, and ridiculously cute couple. That’s refreshing. Erin and I had so much fun being in their wedding, and I saying “being in their wedding” because that’s how Kristina made us feel. She sent us a letter months before their wedding, asking us what kind of meal we would like at their reception. That is how considerate she is of everyone around her. Anthony, during a shoot, warmed the car up all of us, because it was so unseasonably chilly that day. They both were such amazingly warm and kind people, Erin and I gushed at how much we liked them on the way home from their wedding. Its couples like Anthony and Kristina that make our job so rewarding. It’s being able to see couples who make each other better, because they are together that make us happy to be in the business of documenting love.

I can see your new awake
Let me assure you friend:
Every day is ice cream and chocolate cake
And what you make of it, let me say
You get what you take from it so be amazed
And never stop, never stop, never stop
You gotta be brave

'Cause all this beauty
You might have to close your eyes
- the weepies "all this beauty"

Andrew walked to the pub on the corner one night to grab a drink, while he was walking I highly doubt that he was considering fate, or destiny, or meeting your soul mate, and yet he did.  That's the way life works sometimes, without thinking about it, your whole life is changed forever when a beautiful bartender says "can I get you a drink." And before you know it you are marrying her at your favorite restaurant, walking distance from where you met. It's a beautiful thing to wake up and not know if today is going to be touched by those unexpected surprises those life changing moments,  that make all the ones after it, that much better.

Congrats Andrew and Bridgette! We couldn't be happier for you two and we were so honored to be a part of your beautiful day!

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years...

"Sometimes I’m tempted to believe life doesn’t mean any-thing at all. I’ve read philosophers who say meaningful experiences are purely subjective, and I understand why they believe that, because you can’t prove life and love and death are anything more than random happenings. But then you start thinking about some of the scenes you’ve lived, and if you've had a couple of drinks, they have a sentimental quality that gets you believing we are all poems coming out of the mud."

I have been re-reading "A million Miles in a thousand years" by Donald Miller while on the train.The book is about living a good story by living with purpose. Its beautifully written and funny.

In one chapter he says usually people who say "life has no meaning"  really mean "my life has no meaning." And I liked that. I like that we can choose to wake up every day and some days fail, and some days crawl into bed defeated to go back to sleep, but deep down we know that, that one day doesn't define us.  That we are the sum of all of our days and we keep going. we keep pushing, keep hoping, keep exploring, keep making mistakes, and keep fighting, and come out of the mud, poems- dedicated to the things and people we love.