We met after a bridal show in St. Peters, Missouri and I knew Tony and Annie had a story, everyone does, but not everyone has a story of lifelong commitment and dedication with both families requiring them both to make the right calls and decisions on their lives. That was 8 years ago.

Today I was able to spend a day with their family and friends and watch two beautiful people take vows openly that they carried in their hearts from years ago.

Looking onward were their two sons Jackson and Tyler, Tony made sure to take them fishing this morning and spend special time with them before he added “husband” to his new role in life.

Tony is a man of character and honor. I was impressed as his mother took time at the reception to tell me a little bit more of his “life story”

Annie is dedicated and even talked of not minding if the kids came with them to Jamaica (no, the kids are not going, but she still would not mind!). They were announced at the reception as a family, danced as a couple then, as a family.

When I think of the character of people like this, it just makes me smile to know good people do exist.

They got married on the hottest day of the year, (so far) (108 heat index) and everyone, even their amazing bridal party sucked it up and did whatever Annie and Tony wanted for pictures to remember their special day.

The reception was at an amazing venue called “The Christy”

The night was still going strong with lots of dancing, celebrating and love!

Thank you all so much for allowing us into your lives and allowing us to capture the emotion as your two families were joined together!

I’m blessed enough to have moved to a new state and find an amazing church that does some amazing outreaches, I use the word amazing a lot and so do they.

One of the outreaches they do is at a school in St. Louis called Patrick Henry.

An amazing fact is that the city of STL was going to close a slew of schools and Patrick Henry was on the chopping block. Because of the time and energy spent by Church On The Rock and it’s amazing (that word again) volunteers Patrick Henry was given a stay and was not one of the schools to close.

What an honor it is to be even such a small part of this great ministry and it’s ________ (insert amazing) works!

This day was also no exception. It was an honor to be asked to photograph this event. It’s taken me a bit to blog about it, but I wanted to make sure I include them in my blogging!

This day Church On The Rock (COTR) celebrated the teachers of Patrick Henry with makeovers, new hairdo’s, nails, and more. They were also each presented with Ipods and a GC to the Galleria Mall.

One of the things that I noticed on my way driving into Patrick Henry was a few bulletin boards with advertisements bombarding the children with images and thoughts they really did not need to be thinking about. The closer I got to the school, the more I saw.

As the teachers came in I thought about how tough it is for them to be able to control a classroom of inner city children whose focus was almost anything but school. I got to speak to a few of them and it was nice to be able to tell them how much I appreciate what they are doing to help these children.

It was an honor to photography the teachers of Patrick Henry School and to be part of such a great giving back.

Thank you for this opportunity to capture todays hero’s getting some pampering and appreciation that they deserve!

On Sunday I had the opportunity to head to St. Peters and participate in the 2009 Bridal Bliss Bridal Expo.

Raquel came in from Ohio and we had a really wonderful time in a new market for us and met a lot of really nice people.

We were located between a Golf Course and a Travel Agent! The smell of the food was amazing and then the people… a non-stop flow of brides, grooms, friends and family! We had some wonderful conversations. We met a family whose brother is getting married, for the first time, he’s 53. We met another woman who between her and her future husband they combined 82 years of marriage, both widowed and going to walk down that aisle one more time, together. And our Texas Groom who wants his engagement pictures outside Busch Stadium in matching Cubs shirts. Yikes!

We met an amazing group of people who shared one thing on that one dayThey were going to marry the love of their lives and they were looking for people to share in that day with them.

I love the Bridal Shows that I am able to talk with the people. I loved listening to your life stories and getting to know you all.

It was great to meet you all. I hope you all enjoyed the show as much as we enjoyed doing it.

To all my new vendor friends, it was nice to meet you, yes even you pole fitness lady! Yes, she was there, with her pole and no I did get on it. But it’s a new big thing in the realm of fitness and fitness parties.

From the smell of the meatballs, that drove Raquel crazy (I ate one and they were GOOD!), to the health and fitness, all around great show.

Thank you St. Peters. See you next year!

Earlier this week, Jim and I were traveling down a back road to our new home when we spotted him! We knew what it was, our brains saw the white head and we KNEW….but out of our mouths came every bird, besides what it was.

Jim is pointing and yelling Hawk…errr..Hawk…ooooooo WOW….I’m seeing an Eagle but I’m thinking Vulture, we laughed so hard at each other, stopped and just watched him. He was eating a deer that had been dead for about a month in a plowed field. He was amazing, and fat!

MOE is an Eagle! I gave him the name because he’s in Missouri (MO.) and he’s an Eagle (E)!

Jim loves Eagles and we had to return home for me to grab my gear and shoot what I could.

I wanted to get out of the car and see how close I could have gone, Jim was worried I’d disturb him feeding and told me he’d have to put a leash on me. So I stayed in the car, but, told him…next time, I’m out of the car. I can’t wait.

I looked for Moe today, but did not see him. I’ve been told he’ll be back, so, I’ll keep looking.

Until then, an eagle shooting is a rare thing, and this close is even rarer. I’m thrilled and blessed to have been able to shoot such an amazing bird!

I love hawks, but there is something majestic about an eagle!

It’s been a crazy couple of days…I was in Ohio on Sunday, but on Monday we headed to Missouri, I’m there right now, but tomorrow I’ll be in Ohio again! Ahhh ain’t moving grand?

I got a bit overwhelmed today by the amount of work it takes to move. I’m amazed at people who have moved more then once…this is just unreal…I stood in my kitchen and just looked around at all the boxes, and all the missing cabinets (not in stock) and thought, WHAT am I going to do… and I broke…my poor husband, who has worked so hard on this house, carpet, ceramic floors, hardwood floors, new paint…

We bought this house as a fixer-uper because we wanted to make it “our” home, we’ve knocked out walls, tore out walls, tore out windows, bathrooms, fireplaces and an entire kitchen, we’ve torn off all the old siding and replaced it, we’ve got a ways to go…but it’s time to move.

I will share space with the dining room for a bit until my office is complete..we need spring to come early this year!

Missouri is amazing, today it was around 65, sunny and all I wore was a sweatshirt to keep me warm. I’m hoping it warms up fast, I’ve heard it does. I’ve got a toddler shoot in January in Troy Missouri, and I’m looking forward to the weddings that will be coming up soon, in Ohio and Missouri!

I’ll keep everyone posted on my move… I’ll have some amazing before/after shots soon. My husband is amazing at what he can do…just wait till you see…..

tomorrow…Ohio

Happy New Year everyone, if you get a chance, leave a comment about your New Years Resolutions, Creations Photography has a $10.00 ITunes card to the one we choose at random!

My NY resolution:
I’ll post them up tomorrow night!