Love is in the Air | 2012 Engagement Favorites (So Far!)

I have been very excited about my handful of engagement sessions in 2012 so far.  I am even more excited about these up-and-coming weddings as well.  Many of you have seen most of these pictures if you follow my Facebook or blog, but I wanted to “re-share” them as you get to see what some of my favorites of 2012 so far are.  If I had showed all that I really wanted, you would be sitting here looking at at least 30-40 pictures, but I narrowed them down to a “small” 20. I hope you enjoy getting to rediscover these as much as I have enjoyed reposting them!

I started the engagement picture season with Courtney and Tom.  We met out in Dallas (Georgia, not Texas!) for some amazingly fun pictures.  You may remember our fun run-in with the security cop on the railroad!!  I chose this shot as it is so sweet!!!

Tom plays the guitar, so when he brought it to the session, I knew that I had to use it in the pictures!

I chose this one b/c I just love the smile Courtney has on her face.  You can really see how much she loves Tom.  Plus, the colors in this pictures are awesome!

This spot in front of the door was by far my favorite set of pictures for the day.  Awesome!   I would do back there today to take pictures again!

My next session of the season was with Angela and Justin at Piedmont Park.  I met this awesome couple at my bridal show in January.  I had so much fun at their super fun E-session!!!  I cannot wait until their wedding in November!

They brought their super awesome dog, Chloe, to the session.  She was the coolest dog ever!  I have never had a dog more cooperative in a session before!  She rocked!

Sweet love!

The sky and skyline in this picture are just amazing.  The clouds blow my mind with how AWESOME they look.  This is one of my favorites of the year!

Jenni and Ryan are another couple I met through my bridal show.  I immediately liked Jenni when I met her at the show.  She is so full of life and always smiling and laughing.  She and Ryan are such a great couple!  Their Roswell E-session was so much fun!

Taking advantage of the amazing waterfall at Vickery Creek.

Ryan is apart of the fire department, so we used his helmet in a few of the pictures.  See the ring on top of his helmet? LOVE

I had a great time with Susan and Luke at their Line Creek E-session in April.  We had so much fun with tons of smiles!

LOVE the smiles and happiness!

Meghann and Wade’s Asheville engagement session was SO MUCH FUN.  Getting to travel to Asheville for their E-session was one of the BEST!

I think these pictures in the field were my favorite of the day!  

Meghann and Wade | An Asheville Engagement!

Asheville, North Carolina is one of my favorite places to visit.  I lived there for a short summer back in 2005; and my sister and her husband live up there now, so I get the opportunity to visit up there a couple of times a year.

I had so much fun in Asheville taking Meghann and Wade’s engagement pictures! We had originally scheduled them for a few weeks ago, but it was raining that weekend, so we pushed them back and picked the perfect weekend to shoot pictures. It could not have been a more perfect weather day!

We took pictures in the morning in downtown Asheville- oh my gosh, LOVE that city- and then headed to Courtyard Waterfalls about an hour south of Asheville in Brevard. It rained most of the time down to the waterfalls, but cleared up for us to take pictures!  I cannot wait for their super amazing wedding in August!!!!

Be on the lookout for Meghann’s amazing smile and laughter throughout this entire post!

Laughter and smiles all around!

Beautiful!

This is a new spot that was added in downtown Asheville last year.  It’s such a great spot for pictures!

Pack’s Tavern in Asheville.  This was a really cool spot!

We were on our way out of Asheville when I saw this spot and yelled at Meghann to stop the car so we could take pictures here.  I knew it would be a great spot for pictures!  So glad we stopped!

Fun times at Courtyard Falls!

There was a random field driving to Courtyard Falls.  I just HAD to stop in it on the way back.  I am beyond thrilled with how these pictures turned out!

LOVE it!

Pamela and Rickey | Married!

Pamela and Rickey are truly an amazing couple. The second I met them to chat about shooting their wedding, I could see their love for each all over their faces; but most of importantly, the love of Christ exudes from this couple. They are such an example of Christ’s example of how wonderful a marriage can be if you wait for the right person.

We had such a fun time in the fall for their engagement pictures at Berry College and I couldn’t wait for their wedding day in March.

They are a true inspiration to me and I am beyond blessed to have been able to be apart of their wedding day in such a special way. Congrats to Pamela and Rickey! I know your marriage will inspire others and will show Christ’s love!  Check out more of their pictures on my Facebook page!

Beautiful flowers!

 Pamela wore some super cute/comfy flip flops- look our fun they were!

Pamela and Rickey had a first look.  We had the awesome opportunity to take some amazing pictures before the ceremony!

This picture makes me smile and has a funny story behind it… Pamela and Rickey tend to lick each other’s noses.  This was the aftermath of one of those times

Love this groomsmen shot!

Beautiful bridesmaids!

I LOVE this picture!  Can you see the garter?  These guys are hardcore trying to get it!

Love this leaving picture!  So great!

I’m BACK!

As many of you know, I am a full time teacher… which means the end of the school year ends up CRAZY busy for me and I end up having little to no time to keep up with my blog.  Well, as school is officially OUT and I am on summer vacation, I am BACK and in business!  Be on the lookout for some updated posts! (If you’ve been keeping up with my Facebook, you’ve seen most of these pictures)  But for now, check out my new haircut and a few preview pictures of recent sessions!

Picture of Joshua and me at a recent wedding in Nebraska!

Pamela and Rickey saying goodbye with rose petals!  How pretty!

The beautiful Fountain family!  LOVED taking pictures for this amazing and beautiful family!

Katie and Will’s amazingly beautiful St. Ives Country Club wedding reception!

Max and his brother, Noah, had such a fun two year old session!

Meghann and Wade’s Asheville engagement session- SO MUCH FUN!

Susan and Luke are engaged!

Susan is a great friend of mine from middle school.  We go way back to playing basketball together to being in chorus together to being in youth group together.  We have TONS of memories from back in the day- some really embarrassing to the other person… and we’re not afraid to share these stories today. Haha!

I got to meet Luke for the first time yesterday at their engagement session at Line Creek in Peachtree City.  I have some fun memories of hiking back in high school in that area.  It was a perfect spot for our early morning E-session.  Susan and Luke are such a sweet couple, and I am so excited to get to take pictures of their June wedding.

One of my favorites of the day!

LOVE Susan’s ring!  So beautiful and unique!

Love how happy Susan is in this picture!  So happy!

To Pin or Not to Pin

Unless you’ve been in a hole for the past year, you know that next to Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest is the next big (new) internet sensation.  I heard about it probably close to a year ago from my friends Mallory and Kristi.  While I thought it was fun and cool to look at while I was hanging out with them, I never thought I’d take much (p)interest in it myself. PLUS, I just didn’t have the time to add something else to play around on the internet with!

I told myself that I wasn’t going to join Pinterest until I bought a house- I knew I could use a “few” of those blogs out there to give me inspiration for our eventual house.  Well, I joined a few months before we found our home… and after answering a almost 5 month invitation from Mallory, I was in the Pinterest family!  Luckily, because her of invitation, I was able to set up my account in less than 10 minutes and didn’t have to wait on Pintrest to let me join… still not sure why they do it like that, but at least I got to join easily!

I’ve used it thus far for various things, mainly DIY ideas that I will never probably do or have the time to do; but it’s been fun to look at!  Maybe this summer when I have more time off I’ll make some of the totally awesome cute thing for my house or an amazing recipe that I’ve found that I wanna make.

Now, I’ve had this internal dilemma on how I should use Pinterest for my business: “To Pin or Not to Pin.”  I try very hard for my clients to give them unique and beautiful pictures from Making Memories Photography, not from other photographers ideas used by my business.  Now, in the photography business, photographers “borrow” ideas from each other all of the time.  We see an image and might be like “wow. That’s awesome.  How can I use that idea for my business?”  I work my hardest, however, to come up with my own ideas for my business.

With the new Pinterest age, I’ve had quite a few clients come with ideas for wedding and engagement pictures.  I have no problem if they find something they love and want to use it for a picture idea.  These are their pictures and they should get what they want.  I just still have this internal dilemma myself as to whether or not I search Pinterest to find photography ideas for myself.  I dunno… maybe I am limiting myself or maybe I’m just being silly.  As you can tell, I am still trying to figure this out and you’re getting to read as I work thought it out loud!  If you’re a fellow photographer, feel free to leave your thoughts!

But what I do know is that I really need to use Pinterest for is for the FREE advertising that I know it will give to my business.  I know that I struggle with using other photographers ideas on Pinterest, but at the same time, I am FLATTERED when someone “pins” from my blog to share ideas of pictures I’ve taken.  Fellow photographer extraordinaire, Katelyn James of Virginia, has posted a great post on her blog from a few months ago about Pinterest and I really appreciated her insight on how to use Pinterest for your business.

I am just learning myself how to actually create a “pin” myself and not just repin stuff I’ve seen from other people; so I apologize if you follow me on Pinterest and just got inundated with tons of Pinterest pins about my business.  It’s a learning process; and while I do know I will use Pinterest for my business, I am just not quite sure how I will use it exactly yet… “to pin or not to pin. That is the question!”

A Piedmont Park E-Session

I had such a fun and amazing time with Angela and Justin at Piedmont Park this weekend! They came with their cute dog, Chloe, and many cute props to include in the pictures!

I met Angela at my bridal show in January and loved her immediately.  We spent some time talking about sunflowers and my dream wedding venue, Glendalough Manor, in my hometown of little bitty Tyrone, GA.  When she contacted me a week later for her wedding, I was thrilled!

Angela and Justin have started to become good friends- outside of taking their engagement pictures, they have come and met with Joshua and me a few times at my church.  I have loved getting to know this really sweet couple and cannot wait for our next time to hang out together!

Oh my gosh!  Can you tell me how amazingly adorable this picture is?  I LOVE it!

Angela found this super cute idea on Pintrest, so she decided to make a set for her engagement pictures to potentially use for Save-the-Date cards!

Love balloons as props!  So much fun!

Angela and Justin brought their super cute dog, Chloe, to their E-session.  Chloe was the most cooperative and AWESOME dog I’ve ever had in pictures!  Chloe, you rock! 

WHAT?!  Look at this skyline and beautiful blue sky!  The clouds in this picture blow my mind!  I am a little obsessed with this picture… can you tell?!

How adorable! LOVE it!

Such a sweet picture.  Angela and Justin ROCKED it out!!!