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"

Greg & Colleen

I’ve known the Sankowski family for a very long time.  Colleen and I were on the same baseball team when we were younger.  I think I was always jealous of how she always got to play the good positions but I am pretty sure that had something to do with her mom being our coach and nothing to do with that I am the most uncoordinated person in the world.  

Beautiful Bride - Colleen

Colleen and her mom

Colleen and her dad - this photo makes me cry every time I see it

I was so honored to be asked to photograph Colleen and Greg’s wedding because the Sankowski family has been a big part of my life.  I can’t think about high school without memories of being at their house hanging out in the bonus room.

I love how cute they are.

During high school we would visit Sankowski’s at their home every Wednesday.  While, the guys would play cards with Mr and Mrs, the girls would be in the bonus room watching Dawnson’s Creek, secretly hoping that we would one day find a boy that loved us as much as Dawson loved Joey. 

Colleen found her Dawson.  

I love Colleen and Greg together.  They always seem to be laughing at some inside joke that no one else would understand.  I love how happy they make each other.  I love how they can look at each other and start laughing.  I love how Greg always kisses Colleen on the forehead.  

This was my favorite part of the whole ceremony.  It was at the  'peace be with you' part of the ceremony and Colleen and Greg couldn't share their first kiss as husband and wife yet.  They hugged, Greg kissed her head, and Colleen said 'I just want to kiss you'  I thought it was so cute that she couldn't wait any longer.

Colleen and Greg’s wedding started out as a beautiful sunny day but just after the ceremony there was a torrential downpour waiting for us and our outdoor photo session.  Alicia and I had to quickly come up with plan B and put it into action.  We went to the bowling alley, which for a lot of people, probably seems like a strange idea but Alicia and I knew how amazing the photos would look against the cosmic lights of Thunder bowl.  Colleen didn’t let the enormous amount of rain ruin her wedding day and by the time we got to the reception the sun was shinning again.  

We had so much fun with this crazy bridal party

They are so cute!

Colleen and Greg, I am so happy for you.  I wish you nothing but happiness together for the rest of your lives.  Congratulations!!

To view Colleen and Greg's wedding Photos go here... 

To view Colleen and  Greg's slideshow find us on facebook here