I seem to attract themed (read: costumed) weddings & receptions. I’m really not sure why- maybe people just intuitively guess that I’m easily persuaded to dress up myself? Anyway, I think it’s awesome! It’s all of those things that are wonderful about the childhood dress-up box or trick-or-treating. Minus the candy. Maybe it’s revealing my inner geekdom, but I think that everyone deserves a break from being a parent/full-time employee/tax-paying grownup and get to be someone else for awhile. If that means dressing up and eating creampuffs, then who am I to complain? :)

All of that to say: remember that masquerade ball I mentioned? There were a pretty good contingent of steampunk costumes present. Combine that with the Century Inn’s amazing old-time decor and bar, and I could have taken pictures all day. It made me so happy I thought I’d share a few of my favorite portraits.

And good times were had by all. :)

Selena and Kirk married earlier this year in a small, private ceremony in Tennessee. With family spread across several different states, they decided to host a seperate reception for the family to celebrate their marriage- with a masquerade ball! How cool is that? Anyway, we took a little bit of time before the reception to do a day-after type session with the traditional wedding dress.

They’re such a handsome & stylish couple, the venue was intricate and beautiful, does it get any better?

So lovely. I can’t wait to show you the rest.

The days are getting longer and I am appreciating every little bit of sun that I can get. I’m looking foward to having the blue skies last a little longer after I get home from work– but I also can’t complain about getting home in time to walk around in the golden hour.  I love how even the most mundane of things- even dried seed pods on faded stalks that barely held on through the winter- become enchanting during those last few moments of sunset.

I have a small confession to make…

I am ready for spring, so ready for spring, I can’t even tell you. I am ready to take my shoes off in the grass and mud, I am ready for the birds to come back, and for the dandelions to terrorize all of the nice staid landscapers, and being able to roll down the car windows.

But! We are supposed to have sunlight this weekend! And in celebration of that, I am sharing some things that make me happy. May we have more of them soon.

Happy weekend, ducks!

Emily & Joel are friends of ours from Colorado. They are expecting their first baby in May (so exciting!!) We had talked for a while about setting up a maternity session whenever they would be in town a few weeks ago. We tenatively scheduled it for the weekend. And everyone from the east coast knows what came next… twenty+ inches of snow! What fun!

I don’t know if we’re brave or just plain crazy, but we decided to do it anyway. I let my husband drive- he’s the crazy one. :P  We made it, though, and were able to have a fantastic, cozy portrait session, and even stole Joel  before the start of the Super Bowl for a few minutes so that we could get some great sunset shots.

There are so many fantastic shots from this session that I had a really hard time picking which ones to feature. Emily is so beautiful and glowy and serene. Here are some of my favorites:

So gorgeous. Many thanks to Chelsea for assisting me (especially with the scarves, I couldn’t have done it without you!) And many thanks & the best of love to Emily & Joel. I can’t wait to meet your little one!