I firmly believe that a food item is the best wedding favor. Your guests will most likely use it instead of tossing it in the junk drawer – or worse – the garbage. Who wants to spend money on a favor their guests will ultimately throw away? I wanted our favors to be special, as I’m sure most people do, so Chris and I decided on a food item that...
Wedding Welcome Bags
One of the projects I was absolutely sure I wanted to incorporate into our wedding planning was Welcome Bags. Given that about half of our guests were traveling by plane and staying in hotels, we wanted to give them a little refresh and a warm welcome to Arizona. As with most of my other projects, I took to Pinterest to find some inspiration. I came across this article from Wedding...
That Time We Went Camping for Memorial Day Weekend
Since my future father-in-law moved in with us, it has been non-stop projects. He is a true busy body and amazingly driven. He always wants to be working on something. Lucky for us! This past Memorial Day Weekend, we chose to go camping to escape the heat of Phoenix. Camping was a major part of Chris (my fiancé’s) childhood and I love the outdoors. We chose to go to Big...
What’s Growing On? Early Summer
I’m coming back after a long absence writing on this website. My first order of business is to share our garden, which is a new passion. A lot of work and almost two years went in to designing and building the garden, including the fence, irrigation system, garden boxes, shade cover, and laying the stone and pebbles. Here is the layout of our backyard: The pictures below show the garden...
The Grand Canyon
Chris, our friends Leslie and Jaycen, and I spent last weekend at the Grand Canyon and in Sedona. The last time I tried to see the Grand Canyon it was raining and eerily foggy. For such a large natural wonder, it absolutely can be completely invisible under the right weather conditions. Luckily, the weather was beautiful this time. I would highly recommend visiting the Grand Canyon in January or February...
Making Nicole a Fairy
What girl doesn’t love playing dress up? Nicole brought her trunk full of vintage clothing over early one morning and we promptly disappeared into the woods. I think the golden colored dress nicely contrasts the dark, wet trees and bright green leaves making her pop out. In retrospect, I would have opened up the aperture more for a more blurred background, similar to Ashton’s portraits, but ultimately I like how...
Ashton and the Window: Using Available Light
Here is a perfect opportunity to highlight the importance of always carrying your camera: one afternoon a few months ago Nicole and I visited her nephew, Ashton. I love taking pictures of him because, of course, he is adorable and photogenic, but he also has incredible blue eyes. I shot these photos in the late afternoon using only the available light from the window in the living room. Unfortunately, I...