Spring is in the air!  Yeah yeah…I know it’s still JANUARY but I’m itchin’ for some springtime happiness!  What a perfect time of the year…the sun is out, the flowers are a bloomin’, and fresh fruit and little roadside stands pop up!  That’s what I think of when I think of spring…sunshine, wildflowers, and fruit!  So…I’ve created a few inspiration boards for weddings based just on those things!  I hope you enjoy and are maybe even inspired for your own wedding!  Mwah!

SUNSHINE

WILDFLOWERS

FRUIT

Wow!  First off…let me say how embarrassed I am!  This is my first post since AUGUST!!  I bet some of you thought I fell off the face of the earth or was attacked by a “bridezilla”!  Thankfully I am back to report that not only am I alive, I am fantastic (and didn’t even have one bridezilla)! I never imagined 2011 would turn into such an amazing year! Thank you thank you to all of my brides and grooms for such an amazing, incredible journey!  I promise I’ll be back soon to post some more detailed weddings (and engagements) from 2011, but for now…I’d love to share with you just a few of my favorite images from the past year.  I hope you enjoy!

Wow!  I know I say I am blessed all of the time…but it’s SOOOOO true!  Kathy has been a huge fan of BerryTree Photography for a while now and when she got engaged, practically the first thing she did was contact me to see if I could shoot their wedding next June…how sweet is that?!  Of COURSE I said yes!  A destination wedding in one of my favorite areas of the country?…yes please!   She and her fiance, Mike, live in Portland, OR – it is SERIOUSLY beautiful here!  (and the no humidity thing…I could get used to this!)  While out in Portland for a photography workshop with some awesome photographer friends of mine, I decided to fit in an engagement session for this sweet couple!

Kathy’s dad is a pilot and owns a plane, and so we decided it would be incredibly cool to use it as a prop for their engagement pictures since Kathy and Mike LOVE to travel together!  What I didn’t know was just how amazing this session was going to be.  I brought my awesome friend and Portland photographer Amber Anderson along and as soon as we got there Kathy’s sweet dad asked us if we wanted to see Portland/Washington from the air!  Um…yes please!  I have never flown in a small airplane before and it was an incredible experience!  We got to see 5 mountain peaks including Mt. Hood, Mt. Rainer, and Mt. Saint Helens…breathtaking!  Thank you so much to Kathy, her father Jim, and the whole family for this amazing adventure!

Now onto the pictures!  First…a few from up in the air…then…the engagement session!  Hope you love them as much as I do!

Mt. Saint Helens on the left an I think Mt. Adams on the right…

Jillian and Chris were married at The Venetian Pier at Lake Lanier Islands.  They are both in the Air Force and live in New Mexico, so when I showed up at the wedding, it was the first time we had met!  Let me tell you what a delight they both were!  Jillian and Chris both have fantastic families and their love just flowed the entire day.  My favorite part of the day was when Grandpa sang a song to them that he had sang to his wife on their 50th Anniversary…seriously, one of the SWEETEST moments ever!  (see pictures below!)  Jillian and Chris, thanks for having me to capture your day…I felt like part of the family by the end of the evening!  Enjoy!

Kristina and Hans were married at their home church of Alpharetta First Presbyterian and then celebrated their union with an elegant reception at The Manor Golf and Country Club in Milton, GA.  I know I say this all of the time, but I must just have the sweetest couples as clients because Kristina and Hans are were just delightful!  I was greeted with a squeal when I arrived in Kristina’s getting ready room and the entire wedding day was full of laughs, sweet moments, and TONS of fun!  You’ll see from the pictures that this was an elegant affair with gorgeous tablescapes adorned with the prettiest flowers.  However, at this wedding, elegant did not mean stuffy!  Kristina, Hans and all of their guests knew how to party!  The dance floor was packed all night, the photobooth brought lots of laughter, and the candy bar topped off the night with a sugar rush.  Kristina and Hans it was a pleasure working with you and your amazing families!  Enjoy the images from your big day!

Hans releasing some pre-wedding jitters with a bit of fun!

I asked the girls to come up with their own “silly” pose…they channeled their inner cheesy 80′s music video selves!

When I think of Ashley and Chris the first word that pops into my head is – PRECIOUS!  These too are so in love and even more importantly that love is deeply routed first in God.  I know without a doubt that their wedding day was surely precious in the eyes of the Lord.  Ashley and Chris were married at their home church, Greater Heights Baptist Church, in Cumming, GA and had an incredibly sweet reception at Chukkar Farms and Polo Club in Alpharetta.  Let me tell you what a fun place that was to shoot!  First…there is a gorgeous green barn with yellow accents…fun!  Then, there are all of the animals – pigs, chickens, horses, and even a farm cat.  My favorite pictures from the day were when a HUGE clydesdale horse came RUNNING towards us – seriously…so fun!  (Make sure you make it to the bottom of the post to see them!)  What else?  Ashley’s dress had pockets!  Her bridesmaid dresses were from Banana Republic – love this idea!  All in all the wedding was personal, sweet, and a joy to photograph!  Enjoy the images!

I love a good project, but rarely do I take time out of my busy schedule to actually make things that have forever been on my “someday to do list”.  Today, I decided to venture into making my own sugar scrub!  I figured this would make the perfect gift for either bridesmaids or guests at your wedding and so I took some pictures of the process so I could share!  All of the ingredients in this sugar scrub are natural and it will give you the SMOOTHEST skin!  I personally love using it on my legs after a shave and I’ve created this scrub with ingredients that make it perfectly safe (and awesome) to use on your face as well!

The ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cups brown sugar
• 2 1/3 cups sugar
• 1/4 tsp. tea tree oil

• this has a very strong odor and can be omitted if the odor bothers you, but I love the benefits it provides (see below)
• 1 tbsp. Vitamin E oil
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
• approx. 10 oz. olive oil

(I also added some drops of a “home fragrance oil” from Bath and Body Works…normally something you would put in a diffuser and burn…to help mask the smell of the tea tree oil.  An essential oil would probably have been a better choice, but this is what I had in the house and really…it was so little compared to the amount of sugar I was using I didn’t think it would matter much!)

ok…so I started with an old mason jar from my grandmother’s house – I just love these jars…they make me smile…so why not!  This is a 1 Quart jar and this recipe fills the jar perfectly!  (I would break it into MUCH smaller (4-8oz jars) if you are making this for a gift!)

next…mix the brown and regular sugar together until smooth

add tea tree oil, Vitamin E oil, vanilla extract, and any other “smell good” items you want to add.  Here’s a good time to answer…why tea tree oil and Vitamin E oil?  Because they are AWESOME for your skin!

some of the benefits of tea tree oil:

• general disinfectant that fights bacteria in all kinds of wounds and infections
• treats fungal diseases
• helps skin to heal by by encouraging the formation of new scar tissue
• gives relief from muscular pain, aches, sprains

some of the benefits of Vitamin E:

• strong antioxidant that prevents premature aging
• prevents and repairs free radical damage
• has anti-inflammatory properties
• used to treat sunburns
• prevents water loss from the skin and helps to retain its natural moisture

next…add olive oil to wet the mixture.  I didn’t measure…just poured until the sugar mixture was wet and there was a LITTLE extra olive oil.  If I had to guestimate I would say I used about 10 oz. of olive oil.

scoop into your jar!  It will look like the below…a bit lumpy…just put the lid on and shake the jar and it will even all of that out!
Then…you are D.O.N.E. – DONE!

for my final step I threw a ribbon and some yarn around the jar to just pretty it up!  Use your wedding colors and decorate away!

Sigh…Berry College…my alma mater and namesake of BerryTree Photography!  I LOVE this place!  It is seriously one of the most beautiful places on earth.  What I love best about it photography wise is that I think I could shoot there forever and never have to use the same locations twice!  For this engagement session we start out at the oh so popular picture taking spot…Swan Lake.  I don’t normally shot here, but this is where Kelsey and Will got engaged…right there at that little swing.   So sweet!  Swan Lake has beautiful swans…and mean ducks!  You’ll see what I mean!  I had a traumatic experience with one of them trying to kill me in college…so I usually avoid the lake at all costs…but…for the sake of pictures!  Next…a little more rural/rustic side of Berry…and my favorite shots from the day!  I feel like I’m in another country when I look at these pictures…the scenery there is to die for!  And the deer…oh my!  Ok…picture time!  Had a blast with you Will and Kelsey!  Enjoy your images!

One of the incredible perks of my job is getting to travel.  Last year I got to shoot weddings in Maine and San Diego.  Coming up on the books are weddings in Pennsylvania and Oregon.  And Josh and Sara asked me to be a part of their special day in Las Vegas!!  Seriously…how lucky am I?  Josh and Sara live here in ATL but most of Sara’s family is from New Zealand.  So…a destination wedding in Las Vegas seemed like the perfect place to meet up and celebrate!  I was excited beyond measure to get to shoot this wedding…the glitz, the glam, the lights…what photographer wouldn’t be?  But what surprised me most was just how ROMANTIC Las Vegas can be!  Of course…Sara and Josh being completely in love with each other didn’t hurt…made my job easy!  The wedding took place at a catholic church on the strip (who knew??) and the reception was at the Bellagio!  Let me tell you…not only the best wedding food I’ve ever had…but some of the best food EVER.  The sea bass was to. die. for.!  Josh and Sara thank you so much for inviting me out to capture your wedding day…it was truly and honor!

Thank you so so much to the fabulous Amber of Amber Anderson Photography for coming along to shoot this wedding with me.  I had a BLAST getting to hang out with you for a few days in such a fun city and you helped more than you know on the wedding day…you are amazing and I’m so glad to call you my friend and fellow amazing photographer!

Seriously…love these two!  What troupers!  We got stuck in some BAD traffic and couldn’t make it to our originally planned location for this shoot.  So…what did we do?  Pull off on the side of the road!  Literally!  We shot these images in a neighborhood that had been cleared and not built on.  There were some weeds that had grown up that kind of made it look like a field and some gorgeous light…so we ran with it!  Pretty impressed with how they turned out!  Of course…Jess and Jason are the perfect models!  They understood how to ignore the camera and just be with each other.  As you can tell from the images below they both LOVE life and each other!  Enjoy!

First…just for fun…the “location” side of the road abandoned neighborhood…

and now…to the images!