Michael and Katrina Tie the Knot!

Well I can safely say that the wedding season is off to a great start and is almost in full swing! What a fabulous wedding it was for Michael and Katrina! It looked like rain all morning, but the rain held off and we actually got blessed with some beautiful sky later on that afternoon! Both their ceremony and reception were located at Our Lady of Victory in the Grandview area. OLV recently built a great reception hall directly behind the church and it was the perfect space for Michael and Katrina's celebration. In addition to wonderful food from Shane's Gourmet Catering, and great wine (Michael's own, Via Vecchia) they had an awesome 7-piece blues and swing band, Hepcat Revival (www.hepcatrevival.com) that kept everyone rockin' til last call. Thanks to Michael and Katrina for such an awesome start to the wedding season! You guys really pulled off a fabulous event that I'm sure your friends and family were thrilled to be part of! Here are a few of my faves:

Jaclyn and Jeff — Gettin' Hitched!

Over the next couple of weeks I will be playing a little catch up with my blog with lots of new images, tidbits and news—so keep checking back! Thankfully I've been busy having fun with loads of engagement and family shoots, as well kicking off the crazy wedding season at the beginning of this month. I'm going to start with sharing a few of my favorite images from an engagement session I shot a couple of months ago with one of the sweetest and most fun loving couples I've had the pleasure of working with so far, Jaclyn and Jeff. These two are a riot together! We started at the Varsity Club, where they met a couple years ago (and apparently had their first smooch under the archway) It didn't take long for them to warm up to the camera either, which made my job a piece of cake! These two are just so much fun to be around and are really just very warm and genuine people. Thanks Jaclyn and Jeff, for hamming it up and making my job so much fun!

Sunny San Diego

After my recent 2-week, whirlwind trek through Italy, I didn't anticipate the wow factor that this laid back, sunny, beach town would have on me. I have been to California more times than I could count, and have even driven most of the Pacific Coast Highway–but never as far south as San Diego. What a gem!

I was long overdue to go out and visit Kim, one of my very closest friends. We go all the way back to junior high, but we don't need to get into how long ago that really was! Anyhow—thanks Kim, for a relaxing and fun weekend! My two favorite spots were La Jolla, (where I had the BEST seafood omelet at brunch on Sunday) and Torrey Pines National Park, located between La Jolla and DelMar. I had Monday to myself to explore, so I hiked around for a couple hours and discovered some incredible views of the coast, along with some local flavor. I attached a few pics, some being my first in several so-so attempts at self-portraiture. Don't laugh. Oh yeah, and there's one in here of an old church in the "Old Town" area of downtown. I love the simple lines and composition.









So my wanderlust generally tends to lead me to places far and foreign, but how quickly I forget (especially being from COLUMBUS, OHIO no less!) how beautiful a country we live in. San Diego has definitely made my list of hot spots and I'm eager to return soon. God bless America!

Italia

Or buona sera, depending on when you are reading this—in anycase that's one of about only ten phrases or words that I used during my 2-week adventure with my friend, Sarah, to beautiful Italy. I was focused more on the scenery, food and vino. (or my new favorite, Limoncello)

And never in my life have I ever seen so many people eat so much ice cream—and I can understand why. Gelato, as Italians call it, is heaven in your mouth. But it's not just the taste that gets you—it starts with the irresistible presentation. Every combination you can think of, and wonderful ones that you wouldn't have.




Our adventure started with a whirlwind 2-day stay in Rome. Definitely an amazing city with so much to see and do. Unfortunately, we were so exhausted the day we arrived that we were wandering around aimlessly in a daze. We saw the Colosseum, got harassed and chased down by a gladiator, ate some gelato on the steps of the Pantheon, dined and embibed at Campo di Fiori, and before we knew it we were off to the Amalfi Coast.

Hands down one of the most unique, beautiful, treasure-filled places I've ever been. It was everything and more that I had ever pictured Italy to be. Character-filled smiling faces, beautiful golden-clad cathedrals, tiny alleys with even tinier cars—a photographer's dream, to be sure!








There are so many more pictures I'd like to post, but I'm going to wrap up this blog for today with a few of my favorite pics from the much less touristy Southern region of Italy known as Puglia. We were lucky enough to stay with our friends, Maggie (a fellow blogster-www.travelingmaggie.blogspot.com) and Paolo. Both were WONDERFUL hosts and gave an "insider's" experience of what I believe to be the "real Italy". The most beautiful coastline I've ever seen, warm people, acres of wild flowers, olive groves, and quaint little markets. Thanks Maggie and Paolo! This has truly been an experience of a lifetime!

Email troubles

Hello everyone—Just wanted to post a message to let you know that if you tried to send me an email in the last couple weeks while I was on vacation, my apologies if I didn't get back to you. Apparently while my website was being switched over to another host (it's been updated by the way-woo hoo!) my email was down for several days and I wasn't aware of it until I got back from vacation. If you have tried to get in touch with me via email about booking a wedding or portrait session and have yet to hear from me, please try again or else feel free to call me.

Thanks for your patience!
And for the record, I realize I have been a slacker in the blog world. I have so much to update and hopefully I will have new info and images up weekly now, so check back often!