Fran and I did bible study together pre-covid and in just a few short months, I felt like I known her forever! She's so carefree, warm and welcoming, which makes for a wonderful mama-to-be. She and her hubby John Patrick are expecting a baby boy mid February and wanted to commemorate this milestone with maternity photos last month and oh man, oh man, it was the dreamiest waterfront session in Wilmington, NC. Not only did they color coordinate their outfits so perfectly with burnt orange and brown, their precious dog Peanut's fur coat even matched! Thank you to these sweet friends for trusting me to capture this sweet and fleeting moment in your life. I know I speak for all of your friends and family when I say we truly are so happy for you both. Jess and I can't wait for our daughter to meet your son one day very soon! In the meantime, we are praying for a healthy and happy delivery for mama and baby in these next few weeks.
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No fancy photos in this blog post. Just a good 'ol post with iphone pics of our first born daughter! This photographer forgot her camera bag in the midst of all the 1 am commotion of water breaking and 8-minute apart contractions! Peyton Ellis Powell arrived early despite being breach and came into the world via c-section. Named after two strong and amazing women in our family, we can’t wait to watch her grow. We love you so much already Peyton. Lucky is an understatement.
Love, Mom and Dad 1/23/21• 4:40am •7 lbs 9oz 21 inches The year 2020 summed up in the honest-not-so-sugarcoated version:
-Cancelled weddings and significantly lost income -Postponed weddings -Rained out weddings -Virtual and surprise weddings -Elopements and giveaway weddings -Salty sessions with first borns -Family reunions and illegal family gatherings (who would have thought?) -Adopted a sweet little lab puppy -Niece and nephew birthdays and baptisms -New babies in the fam -My only first cousin and my Med school brother-in-law both got engaged to amazing women -I have a healthy and cancer-free mother-in-law -And ever so sweetly, Jess and I’s Covid-2020 baby is on the way, only one more month!! To every single person that supported this small business in an insane year and to my amazing associate photographers, all the wedding vendors, thank you for being a bright light of joy, and for every ounce of your patience because I don’t think anyone knew what they were doing last year. Cheers to a fresh start. 🙏🏻💫 Okay y'all, prepare to be amazed. I love to ask couples during engagement sessions about how they met each other. It usually gets the romance going in an organic way and usually ends in some laughs and funny arguments about who's version is right. Asking questions like these also helps me get to know these couples I'm meeting for the first time at these engagement sessions. By the end of this session, I felt like I had known Anna and Adam for YEARS. What amazing chemistry they have and it all started with an incredible and unique "how-we-met" story, one of the coolest I think I've heard to date and I wanted to share their sweet story with y'all (with their blessing of course).
Anna and Adam each went to a friend's destination wedding in Las Vegas last October. Anna is attending as a guest & friend of the bride and Adam is a friend of groom and neither of them knew each other prior to this trip. Adam is such good friends with the groom at this wedding, that he dressed up as Elvis and gave a speech for the happy couple. Anna and Adam met during the reception shortly thereafter, and laughed over the silliness and happiness that stemmed from their best friends' nuptials. Needless to say...they hit it off. Fast forward almost a year, with some covid-bonding in the mix, this pair decided to get married on their one-year dating anniversary! How amazing is that? I told you, it's pretty doggone sweet. When you know, you really know. Life is short. What's the point in wasting time? With both of them living in different states at the time they met, a majority of Anna and Adam's relationship blossomed during covid-19 quarantine at Anna's grandmother's cottage in Wrightsville Beach. Like many Americans, they worked from home at a beautiful place and fell more in love so they naturally decided to do their engagement photos and wedding here. I had a blast with these two at the beach and already can't wait for their wedding at The Atrium in downtown Wilmington, NC in a few short weeks! Congratulations lovebirds. Thanks for giving me such warm reminders of why I love my job and hearing these stories. Fall Mini Sessions | 15-Minute Session | Carolina Girl Gardens | Pumpkin Patch | Wilmington, NC9/25/2020 Let's give Thanks
Fall is officially here! 🍂 How does picking out your Fall pumpkins and getting photos done sound? Now booking Fall minis at Carolina Girl Gardens! -15 minute photo sessions -8-12 Edited Photos Delivered Via An Online Gallery sent to your inbox within 48 hours! -Can be for families or individuals Psst...Perfect time to get those Christmas cards done! Venue: Carolina Girl Gardens 7026 Market St, Wilmington, NC 28411 Date: Thursday, October 22 from 3pm-5pm If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an e-mail at helen@visualsbyhelen.com To sign up for a session, please choose an available time slot here that works for you, I will reach back out to you to confirm your time slot. If you do not hear from me, please reach back out! Have a wonderful Fall everyone and I look forward to capturing your beautiful faces! xoxo, Helen Summer isn't over yet guys! We are seeing more and more beautiful families staying on Wrightsville Beach, squeezing out all the good stuff that 2020 has to offer despite a world-wide pandemic. After all, being with our families more is one special thing about quarantine and being at home more right? The Spears and Gunst Families have a family beach cottage in Wrightsville Beach and reunited from all over the United States so they could have some much needed quality time. Hallie and her husband had a baby girl almost seven months ago and this sweet little nugget was the star of the show. Everyone wanted a photo with this little darling, so surely we all took turns with the Gerber Baby model! Such a sweet session by the sea, and I'm grateful to these families for trusting me to document this occasion!
A lot of people cruise through my Instagram and say "Oh wow so you do only weddings?" That's actually one of the biggest misconceptions about my photography business. The truth is I just tend to do a lot of wedding posts because I do more of them than anything else just by chance. It doesn't mean I do not enjoy the family portrait session, the birthday party, the newborn portrait, the graduate celebratory shot, the model portfolio or the professional head shots. The reason why I've done more weddings than anything is most likely because of how the market is coupled with how much people love to get married! When the market is good, people are making more money, taking chicks and dudes on dates and falling in love with them and before you know it, they're asking me to be their wedding photographer. Everything else is more "trendy" for the lack of a better way to say it... Weddings are the biggest constant as people have been getting married since the dawn of time. Family portraits are a matter a targeted sentimental demographic of folks who want to treasure the little milestones here and there. The birthday party is rare because most people have cell phones with incredible quality cameras and the traditional headshots are not as needed now because due to a modern day trend of "lifestyle" photos. People want to see you in your element and get a "lifestyle photo" rather than a traditional studio photo. LinkedIn is probably the only thing that keeps headshots a popular phenomenon. Otherwise, everyone uses "lifestyle" photos for their websites and profile pieces. They should though—what you look like at the studio is not really what you look like in real life. When it comes to selling yourself, people want to relate to you, so lifestyle photos are the best way to go. This is all purely my opinion though. I just wanted to showcase all the little things I do so you know that while yes I LOVE romance and weddings, I also love to do all of this too: small business ie jewelry + clothes:Dog Portraits (Yes you read that right, they are children to most people).Family Portraits (Lifestyle):Family Portraits (Posed):Children:Newborns and Infants:headshots: Food/restaurant:Family Reunions:birthday parties:Graduate:events:Bridals:Engagements:...and Weddings (obviously):Pretty big variety right? That may scare some people if they think that means I don't have a specialty—but I do... People. Almost every one of those photos involved a person. There's a reason I'm bubbly, it's because I feed off human exchange. My compulsive drive to make you happy is what propels me in this customer service business!
WOW. Jess and I had our first Labor Day Weekend here in Wilmington and we entertained his folks, his brother and brother's girlfriend and it was the best time spending it with family. There must've been something in the air though because I got several wedding photography inquiries on Sunday and Monday for folks that got engaged on Friday or Saturday. Patriotism must bring out the romance! So when newly engaged couples approach me for wedding photography packages, they ask me about prices and then almost all of them asked me who I hired for my wedding. Photographers are one of the first wedding vendors that couples tend to reach out to so for me, a lot of thought goes into the best custom palette of wedding professionals for each and every couple. I tell each and every one of them to take their time and get to know these professionals because they are the people that bring your wedding together. They are the ones that you spend most of your time communicating with during your engagement and if you love them, you will love being engaged because you will see how easy it's supposed to be despite contrary belief. After Jess proposed back in November 2017, I told myself one thing: that I want it to be about the sanctity of our marriage... not about koozies, flowers, dresses, bridesmaid gifts, or any of that tangible mess. I made myself promise to never bring any stress on my family, on my fiance and his family because stress meant that it was forcing something that wasn't supposed to happen. I know you won't believe me when I say this, the tangible things I spent about three seconds on, the wedding vendors however, I spent forever on. Here is the dream team that helped Jess and I make our day so special and why we chose them. Keep in mind that every one has different taste, different priorities, and different sentimental reasons for making decisions. Keep in mind I was the last of my family to get married and I'm a wedding photographer for a living so naturally, I just wanted to marry my sweetheart and be done with it. Don't feel like you're making the wrong decision just because I wrote a blog post about it. The wedding ceremony venue: St. James ParrishNot trying to fool anyone here... we aren't the greatest Christian couples out there—we barely make it to church whenever we're home but Jess and I made it clear from the beginning that God is always first and that's why we wanted a spiritual wedding. We didn't want to forget what it was all about in all the glamor that weddings can create. We went to St. James Parrish before we were engaged and felt like it was a church we could connect with so it made absolute sense for us to get married there. Another drive to get married there was for sentimental reasons. My aunt and uncle got married there over 25 years ago and are still happily married and greatly involved with St. James. Reception Venue: The Surf ClubOkay, like I said, last one to get married so we had to go all out and let everyone be able to invite everyone so we needed the space to accommodate that! The Surf Club fit the bill after looking at all the venues that Wilmington had to offer. We also loved that it was by the ocean which made perfect sense for us since Jess grew up fishing on the Atlantic and I grew up a beach girl from the OBX. photographer: matt mcgrawJess basically put me in charge of this for obvious reasons (that he was about to have a photographer for a wife) but I promise I kept asking him what he wanted and he seemed to be completely nonchalant about it. So let me tell you, this was the hardest decision to make probably in the whole wedding experience because I loved everyone I talked to. Everyone had their own personality, their own style and their own way of approaching me, a potential client. The problem was that I had to pick one. I narrowed it down to picking a Wilmington photographer because of three reasons: 1. I wanted to get to know other photographers in the area as Jess and I had just moved here 2. I wanted to support the local Wilmington economy 3. It was my gut instinct to hire someone within a 30-mile radius (I know super silly but go with it). When I met Matt, he supported me with open arms since day 1 before I was even engaged. He welcomed me into a photographer's industry and not only encouraged me to network more and more, but he also referred me to business he couldn't take care of personally. That little bit of compassion went a long way on making a first impression on me. Videographer: luke brown of light cannon filmsLet me preface this paragraph by saying that videographers are not required for a wedding—at all. I am just a highly sentimental person and know how fast weddings go by so I wanted a way to literally pause on all of it after it was all over and see everything I missed. There are also some moving memories you cannot capture in photography—as much as I hate to say it as a photographer. It's true. I ended up finding out about Luke Brown through my wedding planner (I'll get to her after this) and feel so fortunate to have found out about his name. His artistic but romantic style was everything I wanted. You'll see why when you watch the highlight video yourself. weekend-of Wedding coordinator: Amy mcgraw of Do me a Favor WeddingsAmy happens to be the wife of Matt McGraw, our wedding photographer, but I met her separately through a networking meeting before Jess and I got engaged. We hit it off right away because she was so easy to talk to and just like Matt, as welcoming as anyone can be. So I'm not going to lie to you, I didn't really need her to plan anything—I was in the industry so I knew the motions of wedding planning. I just personally needed her to be there to tie it all together when the weekend finally arrived. My family is so selfless that they would have done everything Amy did, but that's exactly why I hired her myself. I wanted everyone to enjoy themselves and leave all the itinerary action items to her. She not only excelled, she exceeded my expectations. She took care of me like I was her family. She is multitalented so she did flowers, venue set-up, tended to bitty crisis items, and everything in between. Cake: Cakes by CarlaWent with a local lady that does cakes out of her home. Total inside scoop from my aunt who lives here as well. Our priority was not spending thousands of dollars on sugar. This yummy 5-layer bad boy only cost $400 (average is $1,500 for that size). Hair: Ultimate Hair by ChelseaOkay, the one vendor I didn't go local on was one of my very good friends from Jamesville, NC who has her own salon called Ultimate Hair by Chelsea. She's one of those people that fits me into her calendar on her day off when I only give her a week notice. That's how sweet she is. I wanted someone I knew well because after all, you hang out with all day when you're getting ready. Of course she's talented too, but I'm already biased there. What's even cooler is that she enlisted some help from another hair stylist I knew. Her name is Fharren, so I felt like we were all friends just chilling on the porch getting pretty. makeup: flawless makeup by Isla For anyone that knows me, you would know that I'm just not a makeup person. I splurge on foundation and by splurge it's $50 on something that lasts almost a year. The rest of my makeup is all drug store nonsense. Needless to say, I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to painting on my face. Isla from Flawless Makeup by Isla was a contact through my wedding coordinator, Amy. I had her do a test run with my bridal portraits and absolutely loved how she intertwined both the natural but glamorous look so I knew she was the right fit. I also loved how she went into the wedding day thinking she was only going to work her magic on three or four girls but ended up doing the entire house of girls because everyone loved how talented she was. The even more amazing fact is that she STILL finished on time whilst also making all my sisters, mom, mom-in-law, and aunt feel confident and pretty. Sometimes this isn't always the case with makeup artists because some ladies get traumatized through a makeover that's so intense to the point where they don't even recognize themselves and it actually moves them to tears. That's why I always recommend to my brides to do bridals because it's a test trial with the dress, makeup, hair and you also get to savor feeling like a princess . Rentals: Party Suppliers and RentalsWe rented the Surf Club intentionally because they included chairs + tables but we wanted to spice up the tables with some pretty linen. I knew one of the owners of the place, Ashley from working at a non-profit event called The Care Project and remembered she worked in the event rental business. She took care of us like we rented out the whole store when in reality, all we got was just a few orders of beige textured linen! transportation: azalea limousine serviceWe had a budget but also had about a 23 minute trip from the church to the Surf Club so we could only afford to transport immediate family and bridal party (Didn't make sense for us to order 16 different Ubers to get everywhere and too risky for them to be on-time). Azalea Limousine Service gave us a great deal after we told them what we could really pay. I think it helped that our wedding was in the off-season though! Brides and Grooms, negotiate! Everyone is always trying to make a buck so it usually ends up being a win-win. Flowers: lydia Hines + close family friendsThis was another contact from my aunt who lives here. Lydia doesn't market herself to the public and does word-of-mouth and referral weddings. We feel so grateful to have met her as she had several weddings in one weekend and still made time for us! Her talent coupled with Amy, the coordinator and our close family friends, we were able to put on wedding decor at an affordable cost. lowdown:At the end of the day, you are going to get married and that in itself is a treasure to experience. Don't forget to cherish it because after all, it only happens once! (I'm going to be naive and pretend like divorce doesn't exist in this blog post).
See you lovers tomorrow for Day 16. Ps. Jess, thanks for letting me broadcast our wedding photos all over the internet. Love you husband! 30-day blogging challenge | day 14 | My Camera BagI get asked what's in my camera bag A LOT! Don't get me wrong, I'm flattered people think I'm knowledgable about tech stuff so I'm happy to offer insight. So I thought today would be a good time as any to do a detailed post about all my gear and what I use for shooting for Day 14 of the 30 work-day blogging challenge. At the end of the day, it's up to you to do the research and figure out what you are and aren't looking for. The biggest advice I can offer is going to a Best Buy or local camera shop and hold the cameras themselves to see what speaks to you. See how the body is laid out and if it's easy to learn. Figure out what brand you want and stick with it because it's an investment. You'll want to gradually buy more and it's easier to buy within brand line. Keep in mind the value is behind the lens, not the camera itself. Lenses are versatile across camera bodies and are made to last several through generations of technology upgrades. For a big bang for your buck, B&H Camera is a good place to shop but price compare all over online no matter what, to make sure you aren't getting ripped off. Retail value is inevitable in the shopping process but surcharges can be avoided. Camera Bodies: I currently shoot on the Nikon D810 for all my work and have a second D810 body as an insurance policy in case anything happens to my main camera body. I also like to have one camera with a long lens and another with a short so I don't have to spend time switching lens out. It's important to have two camera bodies on me especially after booking important jobs. You wouldn't want to have to cut a shoot short because of some sort of technical difficulties. The reason for two of the same cameras is so that the quality and color is consistent across the board for the images I produce. 85mm f1.4: The 85mm was the first lens I ever fell in love with and in turn started my obsession with manual shooting a few years ago. When I first purchased it, it didn't come off my camera for months. Even though I have a variety of lenses to choose from, the 85mm is my go-to for portraits because it allows me to not be on top of the person for the up-close look and occasionally for shooting on location when the background is too busy and I need to blur it up a bit to give it that finished look. 35mm f1.2: The 35mm is another great all-rounder lens for me—it's one step away from being a macro lens so it really gets the wide angle look without the price tag. I find that this lens is on my camera the majority of the time. I love shooting with portraits with it (as unconventional as it may be). The 35mm is sharp 95% of the time, even when you shoot with a wide open aperture of 1.4. I only shoot with a wide aperture for personal work, and usually bump up the aperture to 2 or more when shooting for clients. 24-55mm f1.4: This wide angle lens is a compelling wide-angle perspective combined with an ultra-fast f/1.4 aperture that serves the needs of demanding photographers in exacting conditions like weddings where time is of the essence. This is my 3rd most used lens. It also has VR compatibility so I am able to do some video footage if needed. 70-300mm f4-5.6: This telephoto lens is obviously good for situations where you need to zoom in from a stationary spot. Example, churches with strict photography policies and you gotta prop up in the back and get all the action at the front. 55-300mm f4.5-5.6: More flexibility in this telephoto lens with the extra 15 mm compared to the 70-300mm, and it's also good when you don't want to start out with so much zoom while on shoot. Speedlight SB- 900: First off, I tried to buy the 910 but with it being ~$800 for one flash, the SB-900 is next best thing. This bad boy has so much lighting power that sometimes you could mistaken a dark day with sunshine just from the light this flash provides. I use this flash on body as well as remotely for strong backlight. ~$300 Speedlight SB-700: Great option when you don't need so much power or light, but just enough to avoid unwanted shadows. This flash also provides a great option for remote flash lighting. ~$350 Induro Tripod: as tiny and insignificant as it looks, this guy is actually well over $400 on a good day —these suckers aren't cheap but they are quality and its sturdiness and light weight will outnumber any other competitor tripods out there. I've been in some sketchy terrain situations and this tripod has never let me down. *Knock on wood.* D12 Multi-power Battery Pack: Batteries have one constant. They will die. So yes, battery packs are a huge plus. Again, this luxury isn't cheap at ~$425 but it can save your neck. It also offers the option to shoot portrait without having to cock your head sideways. Memory Cards (not pictured): With long days of shooting, comes a lot of pictures, like thousands so it should come as no surprise that you should invest in several memory cards. Most of my CF cards are either 16 GB or 32 GB Rugged (temperature and shock resistant). I keep them small to force myself to change out often for a liability reason. The idea of having all my photos on one card gives me so much anxiety if something were to ever happen to them. Card Corruption is a very real occurrence and has even happened to my second-shooters from weddings. If you have a shoot with less pressure, it's good to have a large SD card to allow you a full day of shooting, come home and download and go back to work and not worry about deleting right away. The provides you the comfort of having the original copies until you have the time to double check and make sure that all the images downloaded correctly. What I take with me. Now, all this gear is super heavy and not always needed for every single shoot. Depending on what I am set out to work on for the day, I pick and choose the gear I need to take with me for the day. The gear that is always in my camera bag includes: 2 camera bodies, all my camera batters + memory cards and all the little extras such as water and food. The gear that I pick and choose what to take with me include: lenses and speedlights. The majority of the time I only take 2 or sometimes 3 lenses that I might need for a day instead of all them, so I don't strain my body when I have to walk around with my camera bag. With all the equipment, it can easily feel like 50 pounds after 5 minutes. After every wedding with two cameras on my body, I always wonder how I'm going to survive it when old age sets in. Between being on your feet for 8 plus hours and carrying 25-30 pounds on you— It's a very physical job so it's important to drink LOTS of water and get a good night's sleep. Okay, I know that was a lot of words for a picture world so let me know if you have any questions about gear. There's no silly questions either—you don't know if you don't ask. I know y'all are happy it's Labor Day Weekend so go enjoy it! I will check back in on Tuesday with Day 15 of the 30 work-day blogging challenge. 30-Day Blogging Challenge | day 12 | "I got it from my mama"—Is creativity genetic?The million dollar questions: Is creativity genetic? Did I inherit my creative abilities or is that all a myth? Is creative thirst from from learned behavior? Is creativity a result of nature or nurture? I decided to finally do some research and find the scientific answer to those questions since the opposite of art is science. According to John Paul Garrison, a clinical and forensic psychologist in Georgia, his research pointed to personality traits such as being artistic and creative being tied to genetics. does indeed point to personality traits and variables being tied to genetics. But James T. Arnone, PhD, an Assistant Professor of Biology at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey, says pinpointing the actual genes that determine creativity is complex and that creative biology isn’t cut and dry. “Take music creativity and talent, for example,” Arnone says. “Anyone who has played an instrument has heard the old colloquialism, ‘practice makes perfect.’ This is absolutely true.” So take photography for example— practice makes perfect so my skills in photography have naturally gotten better since holding a high-end camera for first time at age fourteen. But that still doesn’t answer the question, did I get it (creativity) from my mama? My granddad, my mom and my mom’s sister all seem to portray characteristics of the right-brain (intuition, creativity and free-thinking). My granddad, Dr. Fred is a retired doctor of 60+ years turned oil painter, my mom, Sue, is a retired nurse turned restaurant connoisseur and acrylic painter and my aunt, Hope is a real estate agent and interior design fabric expert. So essentially the whole maternal side of my family has got a whole lotta artsy fartsy. The introduction into the creative world likely began with my granddad. He taught me how to paint at 7 or 8 years old in he and his wife's home in Aulander, NC. One of the first paintings I ever did with him was an abstract watercolor painting of goldfish swimming underwater. Apparently it won some kind of award, but I think the judges were biased because everyone loves Fred and it was obvious he had a strong influence in the painting hah! That painting embarrassingly still sits in my parent's house today with the ribbon perched on it. My mom and I used to go with my granddad to painting workshops in Beaufort, NC back when I was in middle school (2000's) and we both watched Granddad’s magical acts with his paintbrush and felt inspired to work with an empty canvas. My mom considers herself a dabbler and amateur artist but if you want my (biased) opinion, I have five framed paintings of hers in my husband and I’s house. That’s not amateur, that’s talent! With some help from her interior designer friend and my dad, she managed to also redesign an entire building that used to be a franchise restaurant, Western Sizzlin and turned it into Rooster's Southern Kitchen on the Outer Banks. Let me tell you, it's a whole new world in there. These black and white photos are from 2004 with one of my first Nikon cameras I worked hard to own after bussing tables all summer! On the left, my Granddad is painting a waterfront scene of Beaufort and on the right, my mom is the long-legged lady with her blank canvas that eventually became a work of art. I genuinely tear up thinking about the power of Icloud today because it has saved these fourteen year old photos that I will treasure forever. ![]() This is my aunt Hope and I on my wedding day and behind us you can see parts of my mother-in-law and parts of the outdoor porch that Hope designed from scratch using the space she and her husband had in their backyard. Even from the little bits of this photo, you can tell she knows what she's doing. (I spy a Carolina blue ceiling)! My aunt Hope used to work in a custom fabric store helping customers design aspects of their home, whether it be pillows, curtains, bed skirts, headboards, you name it, she knew how to do it. So it should come to no surprise that she helped me design my husband and I’s first headboard and bedskirt about a year ago. It was the most grown-up purchase I had done but I was proud to work with my aunt on it and see her creative genius firsthand. So is it learned behavior or genetics? I think it’s both. You can’t have one without the other. If you want to be creative and don’t have a inherited bone in your body, then go do something creative anyway. Go get lessons and inspire yourself. Limits only exist if you let them. In tomorrow’s post, Day 13 of the 30 work-day blogging challenge, I will talk about 13 things that I hate about being creative (or rather the downsides and humor behind having a full-fledged creative gene). And yes I just made a reference to the Julia Styles + Heath Ledger movie 13 Things I Hate about You. Now stop reading my nonsense and go enjoy this weird Wednesday. For Day 11 of the 30 work-day blogging challenge, I'm giving some love for newlyweds Emily and Brian who got married on May 12, 2018 in Columbia, North Carolina. The reason for the shoutout is because we just found out they are pregnant! My husband is very good friends with the groom, Brian, through fishing and Brian was even in our wedding as a greeter. This couple is very near and dear to our hearts so we are so excited to see their family grow! Look at those good looks... they are going to have some stunning offspring.
Their Scuppernong River wedding was absolutely exquisite to say the least. The guests enjoyed the beautiful view, a radiant sunset and the even more pretty couple right in their hometown. Thank you guys again for allowing me to be a part of such a special milestone. You deserve a two-fold congratulations on two big life events in 2018. Gimme me all the stories on parenthood because I need some tips! Vendors: Martell's Edenton Party Equipment & Rentals Yeopim Flowers Visuals by Helen All photos in this post provided by iphone 8. 30-Day Blogging Challenge | Day 8 | Tiki TimeSomeone told me once: Go on at least one adventure a week. Doesn’t matter how far, doesn’t matter how crazy—just do something you haven’t done before. That’s what keeps you happy. That someone was my granddad of all people. He told me this was the secret to his and his wife’s 60+ year marriage. This makes complete sense for people like Jess and I because we aren’t static people, we love doing new things or at least doing same things with new people. We often talk about how we have to make at least one new friend a month because it gets so easy to become comfortable and cliquey. Our weekly adventure happened yesterday evening — We went to the Ocean Grill and Tiki Bar with some friends we hadn’t seen in over a year that live in Carolina Beach along with a friend we hang out with often. We had all never hung out before so it was a double whammy of an adventure and it was the best of them. After a few mojitos, live music and fireworks, we meandered over to the Lazy Pirate for some bar food and more live music. Belly laughs and good cocktails made this adventure a Summer favorite. It’s also an adventure worth recommending to folks that visit Carolina Beach or surrounding areas. The atmosphere in both places made us feel like we were in a completely different world. The town and Tiki Hut itself has been featured on the cover of Our State magazine so it should come as no surprise that it is a coastal gem that garners a lot of positive experiences. The Tiki Time adventure got me thinking… what if I challenged myself to do three things I’ve never done before over the weekend, right here in Wrightsville? Then I made a list of three things I’ve always wanted to do:
I spy with my little eye: A couple on the verge of making out. I Didn't even notice this when I took the photo! Still capturing love off-duty. Staying in touch with my long-distance friends is one of worst habits. I have amazing memories with even more amazing people but I neglect to keep asking questions about their lives and staying tuned in. For example, I have only talked to two people this week that were in our wedding... You'd think if I celebrated a huge milestone with them, I'd celebrate every day life with them too. Read more about my bad habits that I'm fully aware of in today's blog. 30-Day Blogging Challenge | Day 7 | Our Bad HabitsBad habits sound negative to most people, but to me, bad habits just sound like a side effect of being human. Everyone has them, it's just a matter of whether or not they realize it. I took a poll from the general public asking if people would anonymously submit their bad habits to me and I was pleasantly surprised in the answers—some of them bring such a good laugh but some are really humbling to see how honest people are with me. Here's what habits you told me about: -Drinking a bottle of wine every night (actually got this three times)! -Picking my nose until it bleeds. -Throwing recycled goods in the trash out of laziness. -Only taking poops at work to avoid using TP at home. -Always saying no when someone asks about hanging out. -Not washing my face before bed. -Biting my cuticles. -Sitting. It's been 5 years since I last exercised. -Binge-watching Netflix until 2am almost daily. -Throwing my cig out on highway. Oh and smoking. -Shameless self-tanner so I'm permanently orange. -Farting and blaming it on other people. -Going straight to the junk food aisle every time I'm at grocery store. -Never keeping cash on me + using my bank cards. -Rarely tipping Uber drivers. -Feeding the dog scraps after dinner and now it's 15 pounds overweight. -Smoke too much pot that I don't know how to chill without it. -Can't be alone so I find a new friend to hang out with every night even if that means spending money each night. -Eating ice cream every night before I go to bed (and sometimes not brushing my teeth so I can savor the taste). -Not drinking enough water. Self awareness can be a blessing and a curse when it comes to bad habits, but it could also lead to making a change if you don't like the bad habit. I've been around a lot of people that have been critical of themselves, saying they could do this better or that better but cut yourself a break. As long as you don't have habits that hurt other people, it's not the end of the world. If you do have a habit that negatively impacts those around you, then do something about it. Be the change. Here are some of my bad habits. They may seem silly but they are things I do too much: -Impulse purchases on Amazon. Last week I bought joint-pain management weed treats for Belle after seeing her having a hard time getting up and down off the floor. Too early to know if it is working yet but fingers crossed it takes the edge off of her arthritic pain. -Not stretching with the group at the end of workout at Orange Theory classes because I'm too impatient. -Putting WAY too much salt in everything I cook. It just makes everything taste so much better! -Leaving my clean clothes on a drying rack for over a week. -Not immediately cleaning my hair out of the shower. I shed way too much and I'm fully aware how gross that is. -I don't make the bed every morning. In fact, the bed is unmade now. -Not calling my family on a more regular basis. (I love you guys). -Not reading the news (and informing myself) enough. Jess, my husband, told me about this national murder case about Mollie Tibbets yesterday and it was the first time I had heard about it even though it had been on the news for over a month. -Not telling people how I really feel right away. I usually delay and let it build up. -Being too cheap that I end up buying a poor quality products when it's important enough to splurge. Example: Buying Pantene conditioner that makes my hair falls out so I switch back to the expensive stuff. -Not going to church when I'm actually home for once. -Eating at Tower 7 every week and ordering guac and extra chips. -Taking so many photos of Belle and never doing anything with them. Here's a framer: Another bad habit is that I never offer to drive when I'm with my husband. Jess is definitely the driver in this relationship. I'm also really bad at distracting him. (We were parked for this photo though haha!) Tomorrow's blog post will be about tonight's adventure to a place we have never been before, just 16 miles down the road. On the Cover page of Our State Magazine, they feature a restaurant called Ocean Grill and Tiki Bar in Carolina Beach in the NC by the Sea edition. This little gem is about to get a few more visitors. Yesterday I batched wedding photos into two categories, keepers and deleters and then I found this gem that I had to send to the bride while she was still on her honeymoon. This is how I feel every day when I accomplish everything on my to-do list. She's my spirit animal! 30-Day Blogging Challenge | Day 6 | A Peek into my Typical DayAfter yesterday’s blog post I opened up the floor to what today’s blog post should be about. According to the survey, y'all seem interested in what my typical day is like. Y'all— I'm really not that interesting but this question was asked several times so I'm not going to deprive you of your wishes. Keep in mind, I never have the same day twice so this is a rough timeline: 6:30am | Wake up and hit snooze (once or twice admittedly).🤷 7:00am | Actually wake up, feed Belle, drink coffee, and watch the Today show for news and weather. 📺 7:45-8:15am | Answer e-mails from my photography and graphic design e-mail accounts (Yes, I have separate emails for both to better keep up with my separate clients and I have that many to go through that it takes all of 30 minutes). 💻 8:15-11am | Jam to loud music from Spotify and carefully edit + retouch photos from recent photo sessions or weddings. 🎧 11am-12pm | Graphic design work for small businesses I help on a regular basis. 💭 12pm-12:30pm | As marketing director for Rooster's Southern Kitchen, I'll screen for negative feedback to relay to management and respond to positive reviews on Google, TripAdvisor, Yelp + Facebook. 🐓 12:30pm-2pm | Eat lunch (usually dinner leftovers) and do one thing that helps promote my business, i.e. post an ad, print materials, work on blog, etc.🍴 2pm-5pm | More photo editing (I have to spread it out throughout the day so I don’t drive myself crazy because it can get tedious after several hours. For perspective, an 8-hour wedding takes about 16 hours of editing). 📷 Here's my favorite photo I've edited today so far. The color + vibrance reminds me to stop and smell the flowers, literally and metaphorically. 5pm-5:30pm | Work on blog content or schedule a post on social media for my clients and/or myself. 5:30pm | Orange Theory Fitness class or an evening photoshoot depending on day.🏃♀️ 6:30pm | Grocery store run since store is next door to gym🥫 7-8pm | Shower + Cook dinner. Let's be real, Jess is the master chef and I'm the sous chef. Tonight we're having short ribs, sautéed squash zucchini and onion and mushroom risotto. 🚿 8pm-10pm | Eat and watch Parks and Rec with my husband (Don’t judge us. We like having something funny to watch at the end of the day and neither of us had ever seen it so we started the season together).😂 For today’s self-promotion project (that occurs every afternoon), I started on making some more soft-copy portfolio books to give to potential clients with small businesses in Wilmington. This is a culmination of both my photography + graphic design skills. My goal is to bring these books to small boutique clothing businesses looking to gather lifestyle or product content for their websites, blogs, social media posts, and social media advertising. Those of you that have a small business probably know how important it is to stay relevant to your fans online so by having a whole lineup of professional photos on standby takes almost all the work away for you in the social media realm. You just figure out what product(s) you want to promote that day and roll with it. I got about halfway done with this 20 page portfolio. MY goal is to have this sent to printers by labor day weekend. Crossing fingers.🤞 Down younger is a couple of teasers for you: To sum it all up, I sit in this desk chair for about 8-10 hours a day and my goal is to get up more often to walk and stretch. We all know sedentary lifestyles aren't good for you so why do we continue to do it? For tomorrow's blog post, I'm going to talk about all (okay most) of my bad habits so you know I am just as human as you are. 30-Day Blogging Challenge | Day 5 | Wilmington: Why after moving 27 times, it feels like home8/21/2018 30-Day Blogging Challenge | Day 5 | Wilmington: Why after moving 27 times, it feels like homeOkay, before you assume I’m some kind of nomad here’s a little context for the number I came up with: I chose to go to boarding school with a scholarship at age 15 (and loved every minute of it), so each time I moved at the beginning and end of each year in high school and every time I moved in college for new leases or summer sessions, and every time I moved after college totaled up to 27. So there was 12 years between all of that to make that kind of damage and it’s not even over yet. In June of 2017, Jess and I were living in Charlotte before we decided to take the leap and move to Wilmington for his job. Not only have we fallen in love with the 28403 zip code, we have gotten our engagement photos here AND got married here. On top of all of that, we have decided to get pre-approved so we can buy our forever home after renting for over a year and a half. There’s no other place we’d rather be. Here are five things we love about where we live:
Tomorrow’s blog will be completely up to you. Submit the subject below and I’ll give you all I’ve got! 30-Day Blogging Challenge | Day 4| How does my Hearing Loss Affect my Job?
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