This little guy was born on Father’s Day – what a great gift for Dad – but it sort of messed up our plans for a brand-new newborn shoot. Mom was really worried that, by the time I was able to get back to PA, little Tyler would be out of the curled-up sleepy newborn stage since he would be a month old. But we were blessed with a very happy & content little guy on the day we did the shoot, which happened to be the day of his great-grandmother’s wake – I think that maybe she was whispering sweet lullabies to him from Heaven, because we got the most wonderful images:

This dress got a little wet and sandy, but not "trashed"…rinsed it out in the shower & hung it up on the balcony, and it looked fine. And soooo worth it for these shots!

I have know Katie since she was about – 8? – and she has always had these gorgeous bright blue eyes like you’ve never seen before. So I knew that she would not only make a beautiful bride, but that her wedding pictures would be stunning…and I wasn’t disappointed.

I’m back from visiting the Granddolls and doing seven shoots in PA…so I’ll be hard at work over the next few days answering messages and sifting through about a hundred emails. Here’s a shot of me with Gavin that Stacey took last weekend; isn’t she great with a camera? I resisted the urge to Photoshop out the wrinkles…heck, I’m a nanna and I earned those lines in my face!

I’m off to visit the Granddolls for a few days, then will be driving  back to Pittsburgh for several days of sessions. I will answer all calls when I resume business next Thursday. Have a great week everyone!

My friend Kelly showed us a cool internet site the other day that actually donates rice to the UN World Food Program according to your score on a fun vocabulary program. Great way to take a break from computer work, and really fun way for teens & tweens to build their vocabulary!
Free Rice

Julie hasn’t really taken her boys to have portraits made because they are – well, little boys…who really aren’t themselves when they are confined for a camera. So I went to their beautiful home on a very hot day and had a fun, easy session with two little guys who are so naturally photogenic that it was hard for me to narrow down their image choices! Here are a few of my favorites – Grant, with his soulful eyes that are going to do in the girls someday:

And Kyle, who is so bubbly and always smiling – uh, let’s call his eyes mischievous:

So the framing crew was on vacation last week, but they were hard at work again this past week and have now completed the main level. Now you can actually see the layout & feel the size of the rooms. Here’s the view from the driveway – garage on the left:

From ground (lake) view :

From the trail across the cove:

As promised…Brad & Bonnie took full advantage of the balmy evening and the beautiful pool at the Inn. As soon as their reception was officially over, they leaped into their future together:

Followed in about 5 seconds by their wedding party & assorted guests:

Thanks for choosing us to photograph your day – you guys were awesome!

This wedding took place at the Ligonier Country Inn, and Jason & I were so excited about shooting it because it is an absolutely breathtaking setting. However, it started raining HARD soon after we arrived and just didn’t quit. We normally spend quite a bit of time before the ceremony doing bridal images plus families and wedding party outside, and we just didn’t have that chance. We were forced to do a lot of stuff indoors, under porches, & in doorways, cramping our style & forcing us to be more "creative". Fortunately, with a bride this gorgeous, that’s not too hard! -

Brad & Bonnie finally had to give up their dream of an outdoor ceremony about 30 minutes before the scheduled time, since the rain clearly wasn’t stopping or even slowing down. We moved everything inside, and had a lovely ceremony anyway! We switched around the wedding events a little, hoping that we would get even a tiny break in the weather to go out & get some nice shots but finally, losing light fast, we decided to go out anyway with umbrellas to do what we could.

And then we went into the hotel bar -

And then, lo and behold, when we stepped out onto the hotel porch, it had FINALLY, blessedly stopped raining! We were able to get everything I’d hoped for & then some -

Love this one of them dancing:

Check back tomorrow – I will post the ones that I talked about last week – something NO OTHER bride & groom has done at any wedding that I have ever been to! You will LOVE it!