Meet Andy + Emily Steiner! So happy to post this blog as this was such a beautiful (slightly chilly) April wedding day! Truly honored to capture their wedding day with my second shooter, Elizabeth Licitra. Only downside to the day was locking my keys in my car at the Masonic Homes at the first look – sometimes I’m truly an idiot – all I ask is for sympathy. Hope you enjoy some of my favorites from their wedding day!

I love when couples know how to laugh together and genuinely enjoy having fun together. It’s one of the most important things to a successful marriage – laughter. I am so happy for Mike and Tina because this is a couple that seems to understand that – at least that’s what I could gather from their engagement session. Their wedding is right around the corner in May! So excited to capture it. Here are a couple of my favorites from their engagement session…

I love when couples can be natural with one another. Like so natural that they don’t even act like I’m around – they just ooze adoration for one another. Danny + Jess were that couple. We were lucky to get a warm, early March day to putz around Phoenxville for their shoot. I really love getting to do engagement shoots in towns like this because we can just stroll around and create as we go – Phoenixville, even with it’s shadier parts – had plenty of options to spare. Here are some of my favorites from the shoot!

One of the many reasons why I love being primarily a wedding photographer is the connection I make with couples over the time I spend with them. Between engagement shoots and wedding days, I really get to know couples well and become like a third wheel (hopefully in a good way).

What’s interesting about shooting portrait sessions is that I don’t get to spend near the same amount of time with these clients but I tend to walk away feeling like I know them just the same. Maybe it’s because of the countless hours I spend staring at their faces in post-processing – but portrait clients become even more real and important to me. That might sound weird, but even the smallest bits of information I know about people translates into an understanding and appreciation for them – what they do, who they are, what they’re going through in life, their story, etc.

Let me elaborate for this shoot. I believe I spent about 2 hours with this extended family. Steve, the brother-in-law in the blue button down above, serves our country and was headed back overseas the monday after Easter. They wanted to get some portraits done before he left so they could have some updated pictures to hold on to while he’s away.

As I sat editing these photos it became clearer to me the exact sacrifice families, who have loved ones serving in the armed forces, make. Those that serve make the biggest of all sacrifices, but so do their families and I think it’s easy to forget that – the heartache they deal with in being so far apart for so long, not knowing what the future may hold. I couldn’t image living in that reality myself.

So as I processed their photos I simply prayed over them – for safety, for peace, for decades of life and love together, and that when they reunite again, when he returns home, that it will be a time filled with joy and happiness. So please pray for Steve, for his family, for his friends who hold him dearly. Pray for those you know serving overseas and their families who make the sacrifice of living everyday without them near.

I hope the images from the shoot will help them remember their Husband and Father as he serves our country so far away and that in years to come they hold them dearly.

Cold. Very cold. That’s one of the things I can recall well from Bobby + Donna’s wedding day. The other thing I remember? Being so cold that I managed to call them “Donny + Bobba” – in front of everyone. Not one of my best moments  🙂  Despite the cold, though, Bobby + Donna had a beautiful March wedding day at the very elegant Cameron Inn Estate in Mount Joy, PA. There was no shortage of locations on site to shoot so it was really just a matter of braving the cold.

Donna looked beautiful in her wedding gown – which she admitted was a thrift store find for only $100! She didn’t even have to have it modified. It was a very small affair but it made for an intimate and fun setting for the day. Here are some of my favorites!

 

 

Bobby and Donna’s engagement session was such a unique one – mostly because it was Super Bowl Sunday so it was a frigid cold February day. Their wedding day was only about a month later so the clock was ticking to get on with the engagement session. The cool part was getting to use Longwood Gardens as our location – it was the first time I’ve shot there and I hope it won’t be my last. Because it was February, nothing outside was in bloom but there were still plenty of grounds to utilize for some great scenery. Then we could go inside where it looked like we hopped on a plane and flew south for the remainder of their shoot. We had a great time getting to see the beautiful sites as we went, too. Here are some of my favorites!

 

I’m so excited to announce that we now offer a NO INTEREST + NO PAYMENTS FINANCING option through PayPal’s BillMeLater program. We know that times are tight for a lot of folks and we don’t want a tight budget standing in the way of capturing your wedding day or portrait session. The financing program applies to everything we offer from sitting fees to albums and canvases and everything in between!

Financing is available upon request, so make sure to inquire when you contact us to book! For more information on PayPal’s BillMeLater program, click on the banner above.

For more information on our pricing, visit our Pricing Page and Contact Us today!

I was recently asked to do a project for our local chapter of Love146. If you do not know much about the issue of human trafficking and the work that Love146 and countless other organizations across the world are doing to combat this global crisis, take some time to do some of your own research and learn. While it has been a busy couple of months for me I was happy to do something like this and very excited about some of the ideas they had. The benefit was held around Valentine’s Day weekend and was called “Sweet Relief”. Last year Lauren and I performed background music for the evening and this year I was honored to be involved with this portion. In working with my neighbor and her three beautiful little girls we were able to complete a concept project about the life of a human trafficking victim. Each of these photos was on display the night of the event with a small write-up explaining the interpretation. I hope you guys enjoy!

For more information on human trafficking you can check out one of our dear friends websites who is a modern-day abolitionist and a singer/songwriter – he has been working tirelessly for years on his own to bring girls out of the sex-trade and into loving and caring homes adopted and adopted by local churches around the country. You can check out his music at www.PWGopal.com. Another local organization in Reading called FREE is headed up by our friend Bob Morrison and you can learn more about their organization at www.FreeFromHT.org.

“This could be the life story of a child who falls victim to domestic trafficking here in the United States. Proceeds tonight will go towards LOVE 146, which provides restoration for victims and prevention education for children who are at high risk of becoming exploited.”

INNOCENCE | She starts out like every little girl…innocent and sweet.

 

DREAMS | She has time to swing and time to dream…like being a princess in a fairy tale wedding.

 

AN EMPTY SWING | She searches for safety but is repeatedly victimized. Believing she found hope, empty promises lure her away. She is only 12 years old.

 

FAR FROM DREAMS | No one protects her, no one fights for her…so she believes the lies he tells her. Before she knows it, she is trapped.

 

A DARK WORLD | She sees no way out. Still a child, our laws see her as a criminal. The world sees her as a prostitute. No one sees her as a victim.

 

LOVE INTERVENES | They see her and don’t condemn her. The LOVE 146 community intervenes in her life. They support her with safety, encouragement, empowerment, and hope.

 

A DREAM RESTORED | With the help of LOVE 146, she is a survivor. She is restored and feels safe enough to dream again.