Vote for Blu Girl of the Year!!!

OMG! Thank you to the wonderful people who nominated me to be Blu Girl of the Year!!! How awesome are you?! I look at the other fabulous nominees and I would seriously vote for any one of them! They are all such wonderful women, and I'm really lucky to know some of them personally. ;-) Being nominated is just the first step!

Tell Blu who the Girl of the Year should be!!
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MOVING UPDATE: After 20+ hours on the road, we're finally at our new place in Lowell, MA! Woo Hoo!!! Funny thing is, even though we're here... our furniture won't be arriving until Friday, so we'll be camping out on our floors until our stuff catches up with us. Luckily, we learned from our last move and planned ahead to get our cable internet installed early so that I can get right back to work (at least on the stuff I can do online)! Here's a little video I made to show you our new place....

... MOVING ...

The day has finally come to say our goodbyes to Terre Haute, IN and head out east to our new home in Lowell, MA. I'm excited, I'm nervous, I'm anxious... so many feelings all at once. Please keep us in your thoughts as we travel over the next few days!


(Photo by Millie Holloman)

Shannon & Kayu Engagement

What do you do when the bride lives in Montana, the groom lives in Texas, and the photographer lives in Indiana?? Have the engagement session in Michigan, of course!! Rain or shine, this engagement session was going to happen, because getting all of the stars aligned again wouldn't be likely until the wedding day!





Can we please take a moment to dwell on how fabulous Shannon's shoes are?! Seriously!


Native Michiganders will recognize the scenery as the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where Shannon and Kayu met and fell in love... at Skeepers. HA! OK, not entirely at Scorekeepers, but it makes for a good story. ;-) How serendipitous that we would find a heart chalked onto the side of a pillar in the law quad...






The whole time we were shooting outside, we could see that there were storm clouds taunting us, so we decided to head inside the law library only seconds before a torrential downpour began!! The window that you see here is not textured, that's just massive amounts of rain pouring down at once!


The library has some cool/weird architectural elements to it, so I had fun playing with lines and angles inside while it continued to pour outside.






Part of the building was under construction without any air conditioning either, so things got REALLY hot between the scaffolding..




Once the storm seemed to pass, we headed back out to a different part of campus to explore some different scenery...


I call these moguls, but I think it's really a piece of landscape art called sine hills- based on sine waves? In any case... looks pretty cool, huh?! What a great place to study... or make-out... you know, whatever college is about for you. ;-)




We were sad to see that they turned the fountain off after the storm, but that didn't stop us from getting in and having a little fun anyway!!!


If you look at the negative space between their arms and the reflection of their arms, it kinda looks like an "N"- which is Kayu's last initial... or it just looks like nothing. ;-)


One of the things that Shannon & Kayu had mentioned about their relationship was how they're pretty competitive with each other, so even though it didn't really show itself until the VERY end, I knew that I could go home happy after I captured the picture below... LOVE IT!!!!

Courtney & Nick Engagement

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived at the Oliver Winery in Bloomington, IN for Courtney & Nick's engagement session. I was just expecting rows and rows of grapevines, but it was obvious that the winery wanted their guests to stay and relax with all of its pretty landscaping and walkways, which helped set the tone for the engagement session.







Courtney & Nick are a really sweet couple, but they didn't have any problem pulling out a little bit of attitude when needed. ;-)




This next shot makes me giggle... he's so tall compared to her!


A little shift in perspective makes him seem not so tall...


Yummy... kissing in a vineyard...






It was a hot and humid day... laying down in the grass was nice...


I saved my favorite for last. I would totally make this shot my album cover if I were an indie folk singer, or put a huge canvas of it above my couch. Yeah, I like it that much. It's unexpected and different and it encompasses everything I love about summer... and love. ;-)

LOVE IT: Catherine Feeny

I don't remember how I came across her, but as soon as I heard her, I fell in love with her style...

Sharyn & Matt's Wedding

Sharyn & Matt are amazing people. I tried to come up with some clever analogy to somehow describe why they are so amazing, but everything just seemed to fall short of being an accurate summation of their amazingness. Let me put it this way... these are the kind of people who change the world, for the better. Now that I've completely built them up, let me show you just how cool, humble, and down to earth their wedding was and why I have such a crush on them...

The day started off with Matt getting ready with his family at a nearby hotel while Sharyn got ready with at home with the help of her mom. The bookshelf gives you a sneak peek into this couple's brilliance and sense of humor. ;-)





They decided to have their ceremony at the Netherlands Carillon in Washington, DC, which is also in the same park as the Iwo Jima / Marine Corps War Memorial, where Sharyn's family laid flowers in honor of Sharyn's father, and where Matt & Sharyn saw each other for the first time on their wedding day...



From the memorial, they casually walked together to their guests where two small rows of chairs and a table with coffee were the simple makings of their ceremony site that overlooked the District of Columbia...







One of the things that Matt & Sharyn had mentioned was how happy everyone seemed in my photos. They feared that they might not look as outwardly happy as the other people they had seen, so they practiced a fake-laugh just in case... which ended up making ME laugh more than anything!


Sharyn's bright orange Kate Spades were picking up leaves as we walked back through the park...


How stylish are these two?!


Matt navigated us through some construction traffic and a back alley as we made our way to the Tabard Inn, where a lovely and intimate brunch was served for the close family members who attended the ceremony...






After brunch, there was a bit of down time that allowed everyone to get into more formal attire for a larger evening reception at the fabulously retro Clarendon Ballroom. To set the mood, The Grandsons were on hand to play some of their signature tunes, such as Party With The Rich, and Hip Replacement. You've gotta check out their album on iTunes to hear their curiously quirky lyrics and rockabilly tunes. After hearing them at the reception, I bought their album from iTunes as soon as I got home!


Orange and red were the colors du jour and I just love the many ways in which it played out, even down to the selection of bottled water and the mashed sweet potatoes! Also, if you look closely, you can see their fabulous Ann Wood Handmade Bird toppers dressed to look just like Sharyn & Matt!


Now THIS is their REAL laugh, genuinely captured during an entertaining toast...


Look at them tear up that dance floor!


What I love most about Sharyn & Matt's wedding is that while they certainly had a fabulous day with oodles of unique style, it was never about the "things"... it was always about the people they loved and were celebrating with, and that's just one reason why I think they're amazing.


Matt & Sharyn, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for inviting me to share such a special day with you!! I consider you good friends and hope you always stay in touch!!

Christine & Joce's Wedding

Christine and Joce are some of the sweetest people I know! Christine & I met when we were both studying Music Education at Oakland University, and I always remember how sweet Christine was and how she always wanted things to be fair for everyone. When she told me about Joce, how they met, and how they had grown together as friends, I just knew that he was the right one for her. So, it was really surreal for me to be their wedding photographer and watch this special day unfold from behind the camera.

The girls got their hair and makeup done at Bocci Salon in Sterling Heights, MI; who was able to take a really unique hairstyle idea and make it look stunning on Christine!




One of the flower girls loved Dinosaurs, so she introduced me to her dinosaurs "Ducky" and "Spike"...


Instead of getting ready in a hotel room, Christine's "big sister" offered her RV to be parked right outside of the salon and then driven to the ceremony site! That's something I NEVER would have thought of, but talk about CONVENIENCE! It even had a side that popped out, so it was pretty roomy!


Definitely a good idea to open the champagne outside!

Christine & Joce decided to do portraits before the ceremony at Heritage Park, but first, they had a special moment together when they saw each other for the first time...


How sweet is that?! Guys don't often get all mushy at the altar in front of everyone, but get them alone and they turn into big sweeties. ;-)

The simple yet beautiful historic Hope Chapel provided just enough room for their loved ones to witness their ceremony...



After they walked down the aisle, they got to ring the chapel bells together! How fun is that!?



I may be a bit partial because I was married in the fall, but I just adore fall floral arrangements. Especially when the florist has the creative freedom to do pretty much whatever they want... everything turned out so beautifully!!


After the ceremony, the sun set quickly over Metro Beach, which meant perfect timing for a silhouette..


Joce's best man also happens to be in a band with Christine, so there were some good stories to be told..


Some tricky cake eating moves...


Beautiful first dance..



In the corner of the reception site was a table for kids with some treats and fun things to play with, but once the adults found it, there was no stopping the fun...



Christine with the rest of the band members from the awesome "Sh! The Octopus". Can you believe that they did a summer tour together not long before her wedding? Check out their next concert date by -> clicking here <-


Christine looks hot doing the robot...


I have to give a shout out to "Ms Krysty Swann" for taking time out of her busy operatic life in New York to celebrate with Christine on her wedding day..


I have to say, the real "performance" of the evening was when Christine's brother put on his very own hip-hop performance. It was truly larger than life..


Christine & Joce - I love you and I miss you!!!