We were in a room full of people. Everyone listening intently as Mary pulled a few What’s Next statements from the chalkboard to discuss. We went through a few… and as soon as Mary was about move onto the next section, a few words caught her eye in the upper right corner of the chalkboard. They read, Make Others *SPARKLE*! As her face lit up, Mary looked out into the crowd and said, “Whoa… wait. Who said “Make Others Sparkle”?
In the front row, one of our most favorite people ever raised her hand, Natalie Franke. Natalie went on to describe that she wants to lift people up. This year she wants to focus on spreading her bright personality while making a difference in the lives of others! And in that moment… our smiles got as big as they can get and our hearts were literally beaming (well, actually my smile may not have been that big because I was actually doing everything I could to hold back the happy tears… haha! As you can imagine, the tears flowed anyway!) In that moment, as Natalie thanked us for bringing out her Sparkle and pledged to pass it on… Natalie touched our hearts in a special way and that moment we will never forget!
Natalie is one of those people who is always thinking of others! Always!! ;) That is just one of the many reasons she sparkles! And we are so excited that this year she sees herself spreading that sparkle all over (even more than normal)!!! How exciting to think of what this world will look like full of Natalie Sparkles?!?! ;) So MAGICAL!!! :)
I am super excited to say that Natalie is well on her way to spreading that sparkle this year! She, along with the 3 other fabulous ladies behind Bayside Bride and Charm City Wed have created the Chesapeake Bridal Awards in hopes to spread the shine and recognize wedding professionals in the area! AMAZING, right? They had thousands of nominations… that means hundreds of people took the time to nominate thousands of their favorite businesses! They created the opportunity for thousands of happy thoughts and sparkle to shine!
We are beyond honored to be one of the nominations and even more honored to have been selected as a finalist and named one of the top 10 wedding photographers in the Chesapeake Bay area. Wow!! Seriously, wow! We are so humbled and so inspired to be among so many incredible wedding professionals in the area! Thank you Natalie, Krista, Serena and Rochelle for spreading your magical sparkles!!!
We would love love love for you to jump on over to the Bayside Bride site and the Charm City Wed site to vote (1 vote on each Facebook Page per person). Of course we would be honored if you vote for Liz and Ryan under Photographer, but what we are even more excited about is for you to vote for your favorite vendors in every category!!! Spread the love! If your favorite wedding professionals aren’t on the lists… please take a moment and send them a note to let them know how much you love them! Everyone loves a sweet love note here and there! ;)
Ohh Happy Day!!! It’s Monday! We hope you had an AMAZING weekend! This week we are starting with a little juggling for our AMAZING Life Manifesto Video! :) Often times we let our to do lists get so large that we forget about the most important to do: Having Fun! So this week, be sure to schedule in a little extra time to Play! Whether it’s going to a movie, playing with a puppy, or juggling, be sure to make it a priority to play, have fun, and laugh! Have an AMAZING week!
We woke up yesterday morning after just a few hours of sleep and we looked out the window hoping for a reminder of where we were that day. The bus was parked in a parking lot with buildings surrounding us that were not recognizable. But, somehow we knew we were close to home. I quickly remembered we were in DC and we were soon going to see some very familiar faces- the faces of some of our favorite people ever! ;)
As the attendees arrived and we opened the doors, we were feeling pumped! The whole crew had a sense of positive energy that was unlike anything else! As our friends walked in the doors and greeted us with warm hugs- we knew exactly where that positive energy was coming from! ;)
Yesterday, it hit me. We were in a room full of people (new friends and old) who made the choice to be there to do the hard work to make a difference in their lives AND the lives of others! As Mary shared her inspiring words, tears filled my eyes knowing that so many hearts were being changed! Knowing that so many incredible people are making the choice to live out their dreams and do the hard work is so heart warming! It truly is AMAZING!
We are so grateful for the AMAZING blessing of being surrounded by all of these incredible people (new friends and old)! Thank you to everyone who is doing the hard work… who have dreams in their mind that are not going to go to waste… who want to make this world a better place… not just for themselves, but for the lives of those around them! Thank YOU for warming our hearts and sharing your positive energy!
Hello Everyone! We are now one week into Justin & Mary’s What’s Next Tour and we have already travelled all the way across the US from Los Angeles, CA to Orlando, FL and up to Charlotte, NC. Life on the road is CRAZY! One of the strangest things is waking up each day in a different time zone. We have been taking a ton of pictures and sharing lots on Instagram. Today we wanted to share a few of our favorites so far. Enjoy!
Yes, that is a man playing the violin with a scary wolf mask in the middle picture! NOLA was crazy!
Be sure to follow along on Instagram @Liz_and_Ryan and checkout hash tags #whatsnexttour #whatsnextcrew. Have an AMAZING wednesday!
