“We all say we want to serve others, but are we actually doing it?” – David Jay

Among many other very profound statements (both gut-wrenching and uplifting!), this was one of the statements David Jay started off the Showit United Conference with last week! It was in that moment that everything became very real! We knew in our hearts this conference was going to be something special, but nothing prepared us for what it turned out to be!

Showit is a service based technology company for photographers. We have been using their website and image delivery platform for a few years now and are SUPER excited to be using their brand new upgraded PASS system for our image delivery this year (more on PASS next week)!! (Wahooo! Our brides and grooms are in for a special treat!). But anyway… ;), Showit has not only developed some AMAZING products for photographers, but they have created a community that is pretty darn special! This year, Showit hosted their very first Showit United Conference and we made it a priority to get there! Over the past few weeks specifically, David Jay (the co-founder) and the other hard-working Showit staff have been blessing the photography industry by being true examples of selfless leaders. They are taking action to make sure the industry is heading in a positive direction… where photographers recognize the importance of their craft and the impact we all can have on this world through our gifts that we have to share.

For four days, we were reminded of this incredible message of service! We were reminded that everything that we do is SO MUCH BIGGER than ourselves. We all have very special gifts that we were given and it is our responsibility to share those gifts with others! At United, we were surrounded by 200 AMAZING people who may call themselves photographers… but in fact, they all are SO MUCH MORE than that! We had the incredible honor to speak from our hearts and share our perspective on this topic during a breakout session! This message of Love and Service was echoed over and over again in the best possible way! It was incredible.

Thanks Abby Grace for taking these photos of us during our breakout session at United! 

This conference was AMAZING! It was such a blessing to our hearts! It fired us up and reminded us once again of how much we truly have to share! We are so honored to have been among such AMAZING company. Every single speaker touched our hearts in a special way! Seriously… there were a lot of tears, friends! ;) And as Natalie Norton taught us recently, “in tears comes truth!” There was so much truth discovered in our hearts last week and we are so grateful! ;)

This picture below of our AMAZING friend Mary Marantz sums up so many of our emotions we felt last week! Gosh, we have seen Mary speak about 30 times now (lol… that might be a little bit of an exaggeration.. lol.. or maybe not?!?! ;) )! and every single time she rocks our world! But seriously, there was something incredibly extra magical about her talk at United! It gives me butterflies just thinking about the way she touched our hearts last week. We are SO GRATEFUL!

We cannot end this post without thanking Showit! DJ, Kevin, Andrew, the Support Studs, Dev Guys, … and the whole team!! Honestly, this whole company poured their heart and soul into this conference… Not to promote themselves, but to create positive change and share this message of love and service! It was incredible! We are so honored to have been a part of this! An extra special thank you goes out to Kevin… thank you from the bottom of our hearts for believing in us and encouraging us to share our hearts with the world! We are so incredibly grateful for you!

Side note: We have been so incredibly inspired by the overwhelming messages of love and service that was shared last week that we are trying to figure out a way to share it with all of you! Photographers or not! This is a message that we believe everyone needs to hear! ;) We are planning to host a webinar in the near future (next month… date TBA) with a sampling of the message that came from our hearts during United last week! If you would like to join in on the conversation… please sign up for our newsletters and we will make sure you get the heads up when we announce the date!

Have an AMAZING weekend!

Last week while we were out in Santa Barbara for the Showit United conference, I went to a photography workshop with Mike Larson.  The weather has been particularly cold and gloomy lately back in Baltimore, so it was great to get outside and shoot a little bit somewhere warm and sunny.  Plus the workshop was at an AMAZING private estate just before sunset.  Suzy and Lukas VanDyke, another (SUPER FUN) photography couple we had the pleasure of meeting earlier this year in LA, were the most adorable couple and the perfect models.  Below are a few of my favorite photos from the workshop. Enjoy!

This was the first workshop given by Mike Larson that either of us had attended.  Mike specializes in vineyard and private estate photography.  His approach to a wedding is slightly different than ours, so it was really good to get a different perspective and to hear how he interacts with his couples while photographing them. Thanks for sharing so openly with everyone, Mike!

Tomorrow we will share a more in depth wrap up of our trip to Santa Barbara and the United 2013 Conference. Have an AMAZING Thursday!

We have had this crazy Stupid (as Richie Norton would say) idea for quite some time. As with any crazy idea we come up with, we get super excited and dream about it on a regular basis! As you may have figured out by now… these are the kinds of things that have us smiling without even realizing we are smiling! Some of those crazy ideas come and go… but, this one, stuck. It really wasn’t going to leave our minds and it was our choice to do something about it or let our dream fade away into that black hole of fear.

“So what do we do? Anything. Something. So long as we just don’t sit there. If we screw it up, start over. Try something else. If we wait until we’ve satisfied all the uncertainties, it may be too late.” -Lee Iacocca

For us, too late means that a marriage or relationship we could have positively impacted ends up in a divorce. Or on a lighter note, but still so significant!, too late means someone lives another day of their life not recognizing the AMAZINGNESS that surrounds them every day. We don’t want to see that happen! In fact, we see it as our responsibility to do everything that we can to keep that from happening!

So, with a huge amount of fear and nervousness, but with MEGA passion and excitement, we are so incredibly pumped to be announcing our first ever AMAZING Life Escape!

This fall, November 11-14, 2013 the very first AMAZING Life Escape will take place in Newry, Maine. We will be hosting 7 couples for a 3 night-4 day getaway to the mountains of Maine. It is our goal to provide an experience that will give couples an excuse to escape the everyday craziness of life and focus on the AMAZINGNESS that surrounds them daily!  Between breakfast in bed, AMAZING Life inspired sessions, a mini photo session, a cooking class to enjoy cooking together, and many other super fun experiences, we are planning plenty of additional time to just relax and soak each other in!

The location we have chosen for this first escape is a gorgeous estate in the mountains of Maine. Every couple will enjoy the luxuries of their own bedroom suite and a spa inspired bathroom! There are many additional luxuries that come along with the estate, that include, but are not limited to: a state of the art movie theatre, 2 hot tubs, a game room, outdoor fire pit (perfect for s’mores, of course! ;) ), and a 3 acre property within the gorgeousness of Maine! ;) AMAZING, right?! We promise you, it will be nothing short of AMAZING!

If you are interested in joining us for an Escape, please check out more information on the AMAZING Life Escape website… or click here to sign up! Registration is open NOW! Space is VERY limited!!! So, please don’t delay!

We thank you for all of your support and for giving us the opportunity to crush our fears and pursue our dreams! ;) We are so excited to be creating this experience that will without a doubt leave us all celebrating the AMAZING lives that we live with the ones we love! Hope you will join us for the celebration!

P.S. If you can’t make it this time, but you are excited about the idea… please let us know! This is the kind of project that lights our hearts on fire and if we know there is a demand for it- we are going to do everything that we can to meet the demand!! Please spread the word to your friends too! We would appreciate it so much!!

There is something that we really have not been able to go a day without thinking about… and TODAY is the day that we are going to share it with all of you! So excited to be launching something AMAZING, crazy, exciting, and hopefully life changing for so many! TODAY at 12:00 p.m.! Don’t miss it here on the blog!!

I sit here with a feeling of melancholy. A feeling like I just want to give up, the big dreams we have are just too big. They stare at me in the face, written in ink in my moleskin journal. Host an AMAZING life escape, launch our AMAZING marriage project, share our message of Love and Service as a live webinar, change the lives of others, stop divorce, show that people can choose happiness, choose love, and have AMAZING lives. The audaciousness of these dreams weighs heavy on my mind.

And there my wife sleeps, calm and peaceful. Breathing in and breathing out. Together we chose this life, a life we own, but why do I feel sad. Shouldn’t I be excited and joyous?

Over the past two months we have done some truly AMAZING things. We went on an AMAZING 10 city cross country tour, we went to Punta Cana and shared our hearts with some of the most amazing souls in the world, and we spoke at our first conference just a few short days ago in Santa Barbara. We have been running at full steam without a moment to slow down. To soak in each other. To focus on what gives us the most strength in our lives, our marriage.

We tell others to go on date nights, but Saturday was the first date night we have had in awhile!

We tell others that big dreams can be accomplished but why are we afraid to live ours?

The thoughts race through my mind. The quietness of the early morning sounds louder than ever. I breath in, and on this day, I choose happiness, I choose love, I choose laughter, I choose to chase those hugely ambition goals.

Without disturbing her sleep, I slip downstairs. Quietly I begin to boil water. Fortunately I had ground some coffee the night before. Having just returned home and having not yet been to the grocery store, I can only find a little oatmeal and a few strawberries. But it is enough. I pour the now hot water over the coffee grinds and watch as the coffee gives fully of itself to the water.

As I climb back up the stairs I am eager for a new day together. She slowly wakes and smiles back at me. In my heart, I know today will be perfect. Today will be AMAZING. Together we are strong. Together, in our marriage, we have the power to achieve things we could not even imagine doing alone. Together we are perfect. Together we are ONE.

If you are thinking that your dreams are too big, if life’s fears are too strong, look to the one you love. Hold each other tight. Breath deeply and say these words. “Together we are perfect. Together we are ONE. No matter how hard life gets, it doesn’t matter because together we will get through it. Together we choose love. Together we choose happiness. Together we will make this life, our marriage, AMAZING!”

Have an AMAZING Monday!!!