I’ve been posting a lot of photos from Kebi and Ian’s wedding, because they are fabulous people and I am in love with just about every image taken that day. A couple weeks before her wedding, Kebi was still struggling to find the perfect wrap to keep her cozy during her winter wedding day. I immediately recommended Etsy.com.

Etsy is easily my favorite resource on the internet for unique handmade gifts. The site allows craftspeople to sell their amazing wares online and all in one easily search-able site. And you can find just about everything, from food to clothing, on this site. Plus they have a killer newsletter with TONS of great inspiration. The only problem with receiving the daily enews is wanting to buy absolutely everything they feature.

Needless to say Kebi found a fabulous wrap that compliments her dress beautifully and enhances her classic movie star beauty. And here’s a couple photos!

And here is a screen grab from the fantastic Etsy newsletter that lands in my inbox daily! I’m blown away by the stuff they offer. Do you see those nest boutonneires?! AND you can order your dress on the site, even have it custom made! It’s impossible not to love!

Images and Content from Etsy.com newsletter

If you’ve never visited the website check it out. NOW. And click here to see a KILLER woodland inspired wedding newsletter!

Dooooods I shot an amazing wedding last weekend! Kebi and Ian are ooooozing awesome and so are all their friends and families. So get on over to the slideshow and view it all day long! Click to see the AWESOME: http://www.moodeous.com/slideshows/iankebi/index.html

Or watch it here:

I’m excited to let ya’ll know that a Q&A with yours truly has just been posted on the marriage.com website! This is my first foray into sharing my expertise with a larger audience and I’d love to hear what ya’ll think!

Marriage.com is a website dedicated to bringing you the best information available on the web for newly engaged couples. Their blog features the “Daily Unveil” in which they feature resources and trends for planning your wedding. Check them out!

Below you can read the very kind introduction to my Q&A, then please get on over and read the whole thing by clicking here:

A picture is worth a thousand words. What wedding day is complete without the photos to refresh momentous memories? It’s so important for a couple to have pictures they love and can share with family and friends; so, it’s equally important to have a talented, dedicated photographer just like Kristy of Moodeous Photography, located in Denver, Colorado. Kristy was kind enough to spare some time to share some advice and tips on hiring the right wedding photographer. She also conveys how it feels to be on the other side of the camera.

And, just for fun, here are a couple pretty photos from a couple of my first weddings!

This weekend I had the extreme pleasure of photographing Ian and Kebi’s wedding at the Curtis Hotel in Denver Colorado. It’s a uniquely fun and colorful hotel that I’ve been excited to shoot at for a long time. Vibrant colors and decor along with it’s downtown location made for some beautiful pictures. But the highlights of the day were my interactions with Kebi, Ian and their wonderful family and friends. Not only are Ian and Kebi the kind of people I would consider friends, but so are their families. And it didn’t hurt that Ian’s family and friends all came here from a town neighboring my hometown in Pennsylvania. More on that later though, this is just a teaser post!

Print reads ” All the women moaning about finding husbands, have obviously never had one!”

Okay, I admit it. I’m totally completely a dog person. I’ve been known to squeal at baby puppies and pretty much any other fuzzy baby creature. My dog and our 2 cats are all adopted from local animal shelters and I can’t help myself when the yearly fundraisers come around. At some point one of my donations resulted in a subscription to Dog Fancy. It’s generally a magazine that I flip through when I receive and then drop into the recycling bin that same day. Recently I stumbled across an informative piece about having dogs in your wedding and thought it would be fun to share.

In the all the weddings I’ve been to and photographed over the years I’ve only seen dogs in two. One was my brother’s wedding and he only invited the more responsible and mature of his two dogs. She was the ring bearer and she did a fabulous job, delivering the rings via heart shaped carabiners on her collar and then napping through the entire ceremony at the bridesmaids feet. It was adorable for their outdoor, nature inspired wedding and went off without a hitch. Below is a picture of Pearl being led down the aisle with the other Ring Bearer. Photo courtesy of John Nimerfroh, JDN photography.

photo Copyright 2009 © JDN Photography

A couple years ago I photographed a wedding at Hudson Gardens in Littleton Colorado with Melissa Rich Photography. where a dog trainer had managed to negotiate her three dog’s attendance at her wedding. One stayed long enough for pictures before he left for a more relaxing environment. The other two were part of the wedding party. One, a Great Pyrenees mix, walked the bride down the aisle! It was very sweet and the dogs were incredibly well behaved.

I think the key in both instances was having a well trained dog(s) and making sure the dog’s stress level was kept low. The dogs did not attend the reception in either case and were sequestered in safe environments where they wouldn’t be subject to dangerous table scraps, loud music or other stress inducing situations. Read the article below if you’re considering incorporating your beloved fuzzy family members in your wedding!

Check out this great article about RecycledBride.com on the www.marriage.com blog. I had no idea this site existed, but what a great resource for ensuring your wedding is both affordable and green too! According to the marriage.com blog, the owner of Recycled Bride donates 15% of ad revenue to Global Green. Seriously that’s some spending I can get behind! This site has just about everything you need for your wedding. Including mother of the bride/groom dresses for the savvy thrifty and fashionable mom’s out there.

And because every post needs a picture here’s a Show & Tell moment. Check out how gorgeous my bride Kim looks in her BORROWED wedding dress. No kidding! I love my clients for their fabulous unconventional weddings. Grooms rent tuxedos, why can’t brides?

Today is Valentines Day, so I thought I might tackle the topic of WHY people get married and what exactly weddings are all about. My two cents? Love. It’s about the love, people. It’s about the person whose eyes you want to stare into for the rest of your life. Its about celebrating that giddy once in a lifetime feeling. And celebrating it with the other wonderful people you love. Because love is special. So here’s my question. Does spending a ton of money on your wedding day make that love any more special? Seriously, does it?

Yesterday I sat down in a Starbucks with a potential client. I told her (as I do all of my clients) that she should meet with other photographers, see how their prices,  products and photography differ from mine and most importantly see who they get along best with. As we talked she asked me why my prices are lower than other photographers. I explained that I keep my overhead low and keep things simple, you won’t get a lot of flashy packaging from me. The reason? I work hard to attract a particular type of couple. They’re the couple who reads the paragraph above answering, “Heck no! Money does not make our love any more incredible, amazing or breath-taking!. They are backyard brides, DIYers and often people who didn’t even know you could have custom designed wedding logos for your special day.

Depending on who you ask, the “average” cost of a wedding in 2009 was between $15,000 and $25,000. No kidding. With that money you could buy a car outright, put a nice down payment on a house or save for your child’s college fund. Or you could spend it on one day. One beautiful amazing day that you will cherish forever, but will go by in a flash.

If that number sounds absurd to you, don’t worry. You’re not alone. Lots of savvy incredible couples are taking the internet by storm, sharing their stories of beautiful, personal, sentimental, NOT average weddings that didn’t cost a fortune. So below I’m presenting you with a list of fabulous sites with real advice on maintaining your sanity while planning a wedding on a realistic budget and doing it all with style and grace.

A Practical Wedding

A Backyard Wedding

Broke Ass Bride

Snippet & Ink

Intimate Wedding

$2,000 Wedding

If anyone wants to share their wedding planning stories, tips, tricks or photos please feel free to get in touch and I’d be happy to feature you!

Here are a couple photos of my best friend Michelle’s dress. She spent months looking for the perfect dress to reflect her style, coming finally to the realization that she needed something custom. That’s when her mother offered up her wedding dress and together they had it altered and rebuilt into the perfect dress. It was gorgeous, represented the importance of her family and tradition and came in well under budget.

Sometimes home calls. The calls don’t always come for the kindest of reasons, but these are hardest to ignore. I left Denver on a red eye last weekend for a trip back to Philadelphia. My Aunt, only 41 years old, had passed away. Brain Cancer took her too soon–leaving behind my 3 young cousins (all in grade school) and a grieving husband. I couldn’t imagine not being there with my family during this time. I feel lucky to have the means and the time to take. I feel lucky to have spent the week with the people who have been so formative in who I am today. I feel blessed for the love my family shares.It was a week of ups and downs.

A beautiful memorial service, absolutely overflowing with loved ones and memories of my dear “Auntie”, as I jokingly called her. She was boisterous and mischevious. You could not sit in a room with her and NOT laugh. Her personality wouldn’t allow it. She was kind and generous with her time and her talents. Her creative nature yielded murals, paintings, drawings and many an impromptu art lesson. She will be missed, but I try to remember how you couldn’t stop laughing when you were with her. How she’d want us to feel now. To carry on and find things to laugh at, even in the face of such hurt. I miss her. I grieve for her children. But I laugh thinking of the moments we had together. It almost doesn’t seem real.

Before I left Denver (a week ago today actually) I visited the Denver Art Museum’s temporary exhibit “Embrace!”, where 17 artists created pieces specifically for the unusual architecture. “Chamber”, a video installation by Charles Sandison really resonated with me. A vast room is filled with projections of words, symbols and phrases, moving across the angled walls and ceilings in a mesmerizing constellation. It was beautiful and soothing. I felt like the feelings I have about my Aunts death had been removed from my head and taken life. Like they had become part of a vast world of frustrations, pains, joy and the confusions of life that everyone experiences. I felt as if I could sit and watch the flowing characters all day. They gave me a sense of peace. Below is an image of the piece.

I was doing some hard drive house cleaning this morning (heck of a way to ring in the new year I know!) when I came across some photos I never posted. In fact I hardly even looked at them until today. This past November when we visited Drew’s grandparents in Florida we went to Mote Marine Laboratory. It’s a wonderful aquarium with a focus on ecology, preservation, science and education. They rehabilitate a lot of animals and do a lot of good for the under water community down in Florida. Mote has a Manatee research program which includes 2 incredible specimens that live at the Mote Laboratory, because they can not return to the wild. Their names are Hugh and Buffet and here are a couple photos of the adorable guys!