T & M Engagement Session

So here’s a blog out of the norm for me, we’ve got some engagement photos!!!! I’m known as Nashville’s family/newborn photographer, which I love, but I don’t get to see just adults often! (Sorry I’m trying to hit all those google keywords guys) This blog is actually some months old, at this point, these two knockouts are already married and have been on their honeymoon and came home!

These guys drove probably an hour to meet me way out in the country, an hour or so before the sun went down and we bust

After years of watching ID, every unknown person in an unfamiliar area or noise in the woods makes you hyper vigilant. For us, while we were already shooting in the spooky/skeptical barn, far away from our cars, there was someone driving around in the forest on a four wheeler, hooting and hollering. While I had shot on this property before and had no issue what so ever, I kept expecting them to come out at some point and block us off from the ladder that lead to our only escape and we’d just all die there, in the field in a barn, and they’d steal all my camera gear (Which would have been more upsetting). These guys toughed it out though, despite all my complaining and made the best models! No matter what silly prompt I gave them or stupid joke I told them, they laughed, they did whatever, and they made the shoot so much fun!

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M, D, & W Maternity Session

There have been an awful lot of babies born the last two months but I have to say I'm most excited for this little family to welcome their baby girl! Unlike most girls these guys know exactly when their little lady is coming so they've been counting down the days for months and it's the cutest thing!

N & D Maternity Session

I've yet to share my last two trips from NOLA however I somehow managed to get this session finished and blogged in just a few weeks!!! Maybe that's because a beach maternity session has been on my bucket list for some time now and I couldn't have asked for a better couple to check this off with!!! Those of you who follow me on any social media account have had to deal with me sharing N & D's couple/maternity photos off the last few weeks and you'll continue to see them... until I share them all.  

I could write paragraphs about these two and how much I loved this session BUT I can also write the same amount about how perfect these two are together, so much so it's almost sickening! They were also the kindest, most hospitable, most willing couple and I adored every second with them. I initially told them I'd stay far out of their way because I didn't want to interfere with their 'Baby moon' but I ended up spending every moment with them. I do believe these two were truly made for one another and I'm so thrilled that their little lady is going to be able to be a part of their wedding, which will be the following year!

I also gotta say I'm so amazed at how dedicated they were to their session! We woke up one morning before the sun came up in order to get our pastel beach photos, made a fool of ourselves in public, they acted out every scenario and pose I asked them, no matter how silly it seemed and I will forever be grateful! As I'm writing this we've got just a few more weeks till their little lady arrives and I look forward to being part of her birth and part of her and parents lives for years to come!!!

Besides the awesome time I had with these guys I had I also had an incredibly relaxing and completely undeserved trip. I was wide awake at 4am every morning and I would generally go right outside and sit on our designated beach (I'm surprised I wasn't murdered) chairs with my fleece blanket and just watch the sun come up and listen to the ocean... very 'tumblr' girl I know, but I can defiantly see why people retire to Florida!!! We had umbrellas too, which I've never had at the beach, I've always just hidden under my towels because I don't tan... I burn... I'd rather just be pasty white! When we weren't shooting or under the umbrellas the soon to be Papa A, who was such a hoot to be around, and I went snorkeling while Mom watched us on the beach and told us not to go out too far. I'm not accustom to not being the 'mother', it was actually pretty funny being watched over the whole time. I don't think I've ever had such a fun time at the beach and there was never a dull/awkward moment! We talked about everything and I truly look forward to spending more time with them in the future!!!

I of course found a stray beach cat but he looked like he was being taken care of... his ear was tipped and he wasn't too nervous about being around people! He had two to three cans of wet food every day though!

O & K Maternity Session

My longest days working, besides weddings, are when we do 'destination locations' but they are by far the best! I'm down for driving two hours every day for the perfect spot, trying to run around said park to find service because GPS takes you to the wrong place, panicking when you can't find each other, seeing your phone is about to die and you have no idea where you are, and seeing that bear in the woods eyeballing you because you look like a tasty snack... all of these things happened on my maternity shoot with Mrs. O & Mrs. K, except the bear thing. Bears know I probably just taste like Cauliflower and coffee, not a great combo to start your day as a bear. 

Mrs. O & K have gone through in vitro fertilization and were at the time expecting a little boy in the following month (Baby O has since been born and looks just like Elvis!) so we were all a little worried about making her endure the hike to our location! She was a trooper though and both K & I couldn't say a thing about being exhausted from the rock climbing and hiking because O was doing it at 8 months pregnant! We were all kind of hoping it would send her into labor so we could all head right to the hospital and we could photograph him making his big debut! Plus this shoot was mid December so we were thinking that they had already hit their deductible for the year so...! O handled the cold so well and still somehow looked so elegant and beautiful during the whole session, I always get so jealous of women who look 10 times better than I do on a normal day 8 months pregnant. K was so helpful helping me get those super flowy dress shots and despite not wanting to be photographed she was also such a great model, and almost sickeningly sweet and caring to her wife! K & O were both so excited about their pregnancy and have worked so hard and done so much to get to where they are! They're already preplanning their next child and I am dying to snuggle their handsome little guy! 

P & A Maternity Session

I made a statement the other day on FB about how my ladies need to go ahead and have their babies anddddd I guess I'm getting what I wished for! Within two days of posting one of my pretty Mama's went into labor and just a few days later my beautiful cousin looked like she was about to have a baby fall out of her during her shower! Sadly Papa A had to go to work before the Baby Shower ended and before Mama P could escape I made her come out back and let me get a few photos of her! Thankfully she was model ready and so very happy to accept!!!

Our family is so incredibly happy for her and her awesome guy, they're going to be fabulous parents when we allow them to have their little guy! Thankfully he's being born into two big loving and very family oriented families.

DW Maternity Session

Baby DW number 3 is almost here!!! This means at any given moment I can be driving up to KY to witness this little monster to make her/his big debut! Lets hope unlike his/her sister, they decide to arrive at a hard noon! Hopefully this isn't the last of the DW children, I know if Mama can help it she'll get two more out of Papa K, because they make the most adorable kids! Check out this beauty rockin one of my maternity dresses & her adorable munchkins (& handsome hubby) giving her some serious love!

Baby P 6 month Session

The first BLOGGED session of 2017 is well deserved to be shown first for the excessive cuteness!

It's crazy how fast 6 months goes by when it's not your child! Somehow it's already been 6 months & little Baby P was extra sweet & cuddly for her 6 month session. She was much happier to see me this time around & had thankfully forgotten how much I disturbed her while she slept during her newborn session! After planning for many weeks trying to work around this sweet princess being sick & Nashville's inconsistent weather we finally caught a lovely day in between the rain & wind to shoot on this awesome families beautiful property! We spent the first part of the morning going through the older girls (who are the best mini mommies) closet & my goodness I've never seen such a wardrobe with such exquisite taste! It was easy to see why mama J had such a hard time deciding between outfits. I can't decide what the best part of this family is. How sweet Ms. P is, how social and easy Mama J & Papa R are to get along with, or just how incredibly awesome the R & G are! The older girls, G & R, always acted like they were so happy to see me & have always so social & well behaved anytime I have met them, in ever setting! I always try & squeeze extra time in between photo taking to frolic with them & catch up on the latest gossip ;) 

Little Miss G & R were also kind enough to watch their baby sister while I snapped a few photos of Mama J & Papa R together! The two newlyweds looked so great together & photographed so well I could have spent another hour with them just taking couple photos, but we just so happened to shoot on super bowl Sunday & that takes precedence over most things! 

Believe it or not the hardest part of this session was getting Ms. P to look at me! There was lots of tasty grass all around to be eaten & having photos taken on game day wasn't exactly what this cutie had in mind! She fell asleep for a portion of the shoot & things became so much easier! You could also tell just how adorable & squishy her cheeks were when they were smushed up against her Mama! 

Though Ms. P is halfway through graduating the baby plan I'm always going to be looking for an excuse to work with these little girls & their awesome mama & papa! I've already recruited the little ladies to model some of my handmade dresses for me soon! I'm starting to try & slow down finishing these photos because I don't know what I'm going to do with myself when I finish!!! 

Deer headband - Dearest Dreams

Red Headband - Pixie Blossoms

Baby T Cake Smash

I've waited four months to share this blog... FOUR MONTHS TOO LONG!!!

My last Cake Smash of the year was with one of the sweetest & most well behaved children that I've ever worked with! I spent months talking with this little ladies mother not knowing that Elizabeth was someone I had known for AGES! (The last name was different and threw me off, don't judge) so it was extra exciting seeing this family after months of talking & years of not seeing one another! Thankfully this chilly weather stayed away for a few weeks & the beginning of December stayed in the 60s for weeks! After blowing up about a hundred (ten) balloons (& somehow not passing out) I met with these beautiful Mama's & this beautiful little lady who arrived in her adorable jammies! None of the photos I had seen of her prior to our session did this adorable little girl justice!!!  Supposedly Baby T never smiled for her daycare photos but was nothing but smiles from the moment she arrived at out session! I tried multiple times to make farting noises with a balloon but couldn't do it to save my life but thankfully it wasn't necessary! Check out this little girl rockin her tutu & giant bow!

Again, most well behaved child! When it was time to walk away from the balloons she dropped everything and went over to her mama's for a quick change & was instantly ready to play again! This sweet girl was so easy to amuse and wanted nothing more than to just play with all the tall grass and her mama's (didn't want anything to do with her parents phone!)

I loved the unique theme Elizabeth picked for Baby T's cake smash and all the vivid colors that came as a result! Baby T loves Balloons (if you couldn't tell) but not as much as she loved her cake!  

One member of my 'cleanup crew' somehow snuck out of the back part of the house and started the process before we could even finish washing Baby T in the sink!

The D Family

I had the privilege to see the D family before Papa Tam was deployed & have finally caught up on all my other blogs so I'm able to FINALLY share these images! I've loved watching this adorable little family grow and was so happy to have them as my first session of the new year! Nashville weather has given us some incredibly cold days but thankfully the sun came out just long enough this day to make an outside session possible! (Baby A let us know when she was getting cold and brought us her sweater to put back on her, it was so cute!) Adrienne and Tam somehow always manage to produce some of the goofiest but cutest couple photos & Baby A has grown into such a little fireball too, I don't know how her mommy and daddy keep up with her! We spent most the session chasing her around and didn't jump in the water.

I'm always so impressed with how sharp this family dresses! They're always incredibly coordinated and ! Now, if only I could get Blake to willingly dress as snazzy as Papa Tam I'd be a happy lady!

Candace & Brian

As soon as I mention in a post that I never work with adults anymore (that don't have children accompanying them) I have a week full of happy newly engaged couples! Candace contacted me months back about doing an engagement session with her handsome Fiancé Brian & I was incredibly bummed that she was booking months in advance (even though that makes it much easier for me)! I always love suggesting style, locations, & outfits to clients but Candace knew right off the bat all the details she wanted incorporated into her session & had her outfits picked out & sent to me weeks before! I was eagerly counting down the days till our session & though we had to reschedule due to weather it was well worth the wait! We blew through the first portion of our session in less than 30 minutes.

 I can always tell a lot about a couple based on how smooth our session goes & even though C & B asked to be directed throughout our session it wasn't at all necessary. The two of them worked so well alongside one another & had too much fun  just being around each other & had such difficulty treading through the tall grass that I don't think they even realized they were having their photos taken. Brian had sadly heard most of my jokes but gave me a few new ones to add to my artillery!!! He spent most the session making her (& me!) laugh & everything was just so incredibly genuine that I couldn't stop photographing them.

One of the big things Candace had discussed with me that she wanted incorporated into their session was their love for the outdoors & the two were very eager to tug their new canoe along with them. Though they both informed me that there were two perfectly good seats at either end of the canoe (& apparently that's where you're suppose to sit) I couldn't help but make them pretend they liked each other for a few minutes & made them sit next to each other. Thankfully (but much to my disappointment) the two didn't flip as they went adrift.

It took a weekend of heavy rain to truly bring out all the fall colors we've all been dying to see & we thankfully managed to capture all the vivid colors before the next storm came & blew all the leaves off the trees!

It was nearly impossible trying to narrow down what photos to share from B & C's colorful & romantic engagement session & it's going to hopefully be even harder for them to narrow down what photos to use for their print order!

A big congrats to Candace &  Brian on their engagement. I know they're going to have so many wonderful years together & I'm so thankful you guys allowed me to work with you & I can't wait to see wedding updates in the near future!