As we run around making the final preparations for our family and friends to arrive, (you know, cleaning the bathrooms, finishing the laundry, placing fresh flowers around the house, ohh and cooking the turkey too!) we wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU!
This past weekend, Ryan and I were eating our first Thanksgiving dinner of the year at MeMe’s house in PA. We were surrounded by our family and definitely in our happy place! Even though it is often completely crazy… seriously at one point I just stopped to listen and realized that there were about 30 conversations going on at once all in the same room and the volume level was over the top… it is definitely happy and I would not want it any other way!
I was chatting with my Uncle and at one point he said, you sure do meet a whole lot of great people doing what you do, don’t you?! Without hesitation, I said absolutely! We often talk about our Liz and Ryan family that has been created since the start of our business, but I am not sure I have honestly taken the moment to really think about that completely! When we started our business, we were excited about the idea of meeting other couples who were in the same life stage as us. However, we have been blessed beyond imagineable with a whole community of people who make our hearts happy on a daily basis!
This year in particular, I feel like our Liz and Ryan family has grown incredibly and has become closer than ever! Between our couples, their parents, their siblings, their friends, our fellow photographers, our blog readers, our fellow wedding professionals and inspirers… and everyone who has come into our lives through our business, we have one AMAZINGly beautiful Liz and Ryan family! You all have been there to support us in every way and we are so incredibly grateful for you!!
So today, on one of my favorite days of the year… we want to say Thank You to ALL of our family and friends… including ALL OF YOU whom we consider a part of the Liz and Ryan family! As you think about what you are thankful for today, please take a moment and recognize that you are one the many blessings in our lives that we are thanking God for today and everyday! Thank you for making our hearts smile!
Happy Thanksgiving (AND Happy Thanksgivukkah to all of our Jewish friends!) from our hearts to yours!!!
This St. Mary’s Waterfront engagement session is gorgeous. I am just going to put it out there. ;) Liz and Jordan are two incredibly beautiful people… and as AMAZING as this is, we can confidently say they are even more beautiful on the inside than they are on the outside! That says a lot considering Ryan and I both agree Liz looks just like Emily Maynard from the Bachelorette and Jordan looks like the perfect mix between Billy Bush and Channing Tatum. Haha. No, we don’t typically compare the looks of our brides and grooms to famous people, but it was hard not to for these two! ;) Maybe it was because they shared their love story with us and it definitely sounded like the best possible episode of the Bachelorette.
Liz was visiting Florida for a girl’s weekend and Jordan just happened to stay in town (when he actually had plans to be elsewhere). They found themselves at the same bar and it was pretty much love at first site! But wait- it gets even better. Their proposal… they had been doing the long distance thing for quite some time. And then one day Jordan decided to quit his job (without telling Liz this was happening) and surprise her with a visit that would quickly turn into forever! ;) He schemed a plan with Liz’s sister and friends to convince Liz to join her girls for a night out on the town in a limo (the story was that one of her friend’s won this as a reward perk for her job. The limo would swing by her place to pick her up on the way.) When the limo arrived to pick Liz up, Jordan was in the backseat with a ring in hand! Ahhh! I have goosebumps just thinking about it! How AMAZING is that?!?
Liz and Jordan have this absolutely beautiful romance and it is such an honor to be able to capture it! We photographed their engagement session on Liz’s grandparent’s property in St. Mary’s, MD. We could not think of a more perfect place to capture this special time in their lives. The beauty that surrounded them is a beauty that is incredibly familiar to them. It is one of Liz’s favorite places to escape to in the summer and she is so excited because now she gets to share this special place with Jordan too!
While we were photographing Liz and Jordan, we had the honor of meeting Liz’s grandparents, who will be sharing their Anniversary on Liz and Jordan’s wedding day! They are so incredibly sweet and this photo below on an antique couch their family brought over from Norway might just be my favorite from Liz and Jordan’s session. I know that this photo will be one that they will always hold close to their hearts. That beautiful example of love is one that we are all blessed to be in the presence of! And we are grateful to have experienced it… both with Liz’s grandparents and with Liz and Jordan too! So grateful for you all! Liz and Jordan, you make our hearts happy! ;)
We were in the middle of Portland at a restaurant called Duckfat. Yes, it is as AMAZING as it sounds. Their fries are pretty much out of this world. The tables were full inside, but we didn’t mind taking the opportunity to soak in the Maine air just a little bit longer. We had just completed the AMAZING Life Escape and said our fairwells to the AMAZING couples who surrounded us all week.
Our emotions were all over the place. We were excited, refreshed and feeling more in love than ever! However, at the same time, we were feeling physically exhausted and not quite ready to jump into the swing of things! We had just spent a few days unplugged and could only imagine how many emails were facing us in our inbox. I was literally avoiding my phone and trying to extend our escape as long as possible! ;) However, Ryan was a little quicker to jump into things. I had just gotten done telling Ryan how much I was not looking forward to even opening our inbox. And then we heard the buzz. An email came in and Ryan decided to take a look. It was as if he knew what was coming and knew I needed to read it.
It was an email from one of our grooms and it literally made me cry. As I sat there eating my duckfat fries, I cried. Lol. The email came in at the exact time I needed to hear it. Seriously, the words that our groom had shared hit me hard. When it is becoming more and more common for us to hear, “ohh my friend with a camera is taking our photos…” or “my uncle is just going to take some shots for us” it is so easy to lose site of just how meaningful our jobs really are.
As I shared in my Note to Engaged Couples a few weeks ago, it breaks our heart knowing that not every couple is going to have photos that they truly love and appreciate. The thought that our groom’s friend has blurry photos and probably won’t be hanging them in their home, makes me sad. However knowing that we are able to provide a service that our couples truly enjoy and appreciate now and will enjoy and appreciate for so many years to come is incredibly heart warming! Receiving incredibly thoughtful emails from our AMAZING couples who appreciate us and our work mean so so so much to us.
We decided to remove our groom’s name from the email so that he doesn’t face any awkwardness with his friends… lol. But to this special groom and all of our couples who have shared their love and appreciation with us… you make our hearts smile. (And sometimes bring us to tears… but I promise they are happy tears!) We are so grateful for all of our couples for believing in us and truly valuing and appreciating our services that we are blessed to be able to share!
A few months ago we had the incredible honor of photographing the moment Samij proposed to Stephanie. You may remember it… at Sherwood Gardens when the tulips were in full bloom! It was magical and if you are new to the blog (or even if not! ;) ), you should definitely go check it out and relive their super special day! ;)
A few days ago we met up with Stephanie and Samij during the wee hours of the morning for a Baltimore Federal Hill Engagement Session. An evening full of rain the night before made for some foggy skies that were dreamy! It was so much fun to start our day off exploring Federal Hill with Stephanie and Samij! Hearing all about their upcoming wedding was so much fun!!
Their wedding day is quickly approaching and with two very busy work and med school schedules, Stephanie and Samij don’t get much time to just be and explore new places together! Since Stephanie goes to school in the city, they rarely come in just to hang out! So it was super fun to walk around Federal Hill with them and just have a fun morning on the town! ;) We may have even finished off the morning with breakfast at our favorite cafe, Spoons! ;) What a special treat!
Stephanie and Samij, what a perfect way to start off our Saturday morning! We loved hanging out and sharing this precious time with you! Thank you for the opportunity to capture this AMAZING time in your lives! We are so happy for you two!
Yesterday we wrote a blog post over on the AMAZING Life Together website to recap our first ever AMAZING Life Escape! Definitely hop on over there to see all of the fun and hear all about the emotions that lead us towards hosting the Life Escape. It is so incredible what a few days away can do for our hearts and our relationship!
We are so grateful for the absolutely incredible week in Maine surrounded by couples who radiate so much love! It was inspiring to be in the room with all of them and just feel the comfort and the warmth around us. Yes, the fireplaces were AMAZING… lol… but the love seriously just radiated the warmth!
The Life Escape was a dream come true and more than anything we could have imagined. At one point during the Escape during one of the activities a question was brought up that went something like this, “when was the last time you felt incredibly passionate and most alive.” I can honestly say there were multiple moments throughout the escape where I felt like I was right where I was suppose to be, so passionate and so alive. Ryan and I were hand-in-hand surrounded by AMAZING couples who were committed and excited to live an AMAZING life together. We were there to encourage and inspire these couples… and at the same time they encouraged and inspired us in so many ways!! It felt so right and I never want to forget that feeling!
We are so grateful for all of the couples who joined us for the first ever Life Escape. Karey and Mike, Ashley and Jeremy, Sarah and Kenny, Justin and Mary, and Alicia and Andrew… we are better people because of you! Thank you so much for helping to make our dreams come true! Last week is certainly one we will never forget!
We shared a few recap photos yesterday on the AMAZING Life Together site… and a few of the photos we took of each couple during the escape can be found on the AMAZING Life Together site from Friday. Definitely check them out because the couple’s photos are some of our favorites ever! ;) We will likely be sharing more of them over here in the next few weeks! In the meantime, we wanted to share just a few more of the photos that will always help us remember just how special last week really was! ;)
We are currently making plans for next year’s Life Escape(s)!! Wahooo! If you have ideas of where to host an Escape- or even where you dream of getting away with your significant other, please let us know! We would love to hear your ideas!!
