Of course it does help that I was working with a gorgeous couple!

Megan & Chris, the two of you are just a delight.  I can’t wait for your wedding this summer!

Dear Megan & Chris,

Remember how I kept saying that Chris reminded me of my friend Ryan.  And how I almost called Chris “Ryan” about five times when we did your engagement shoot?  Well I thought you should see what he looks like.

This is Ryan.

Can you see it?  Maybe it’s the plaid.

Anyway, with that out of the way…. you two are adorable together!  Megan, I love the way you would so delicately reach for Chris’s hand, tenderly holding on to just a couple of fingers.  And how the two of you just seem to go together.  It probably comes from the fact that you both have such compassionate hearts.  Even in the careers that you’ve chosen, teaching and nursing, it’s obvious that you both have a deep love for people.  And it shows in how you relate to one another.

I mean, just look at how cute you are!

Such pretty light just makin’ you glow, Megan!

So cute.

And I loved the props you brought!

Here you are, drawing each others portrait.  What did you think when you finally saw what each other had drawn?(they didn’t see until I emailed them their photos).

I think it’s funny that you both drew each other with your tongues sticking out.  See… you’re perfect for each other!

oops!

There is way too much cute-ness for one post, so stay tuned for the second half!

I am SO excited for you!  When you contacted me to ask me to do author photos for your new book I was excited for a few reasons.

#1. Because you are a wonderful woman with such a sweet spirit and I was excited to get to work with you. You are someone who has known pain and heartache, but who has allowed God to teach you and mold you into the beautiful woman that you are.  I admire that.

#2. Because I got to spend time in your amazing backyard that I have always referred to as “the secret garden”.  A place of such beauty… it’s no wonder God has taught you so many lessons from the garden!

#3. Because I get to have my photos in a book!  Yay!

Here’s the photo you chose for your first official author photo!  And it was fun to find out that the quick shot I snapped of Daisy made it into the book too!

Debra, you are so beautiful inside and out.  Thank you for allowing me to photograph you.

Visit www.gardenlessonsbook.com for more info on Debra Vaughn’s book or purchase a copy on amazon or barnesandnoble.com.

Here are a few more from our session.

Love,
Jen

I know you’re not really supposed to say “thank you” for a thank you note, but I don’t care.  So….

THANK YOU!!!!!!

There’s just something about a hand written note.  It’s so personal.  I love getting to do what I do.  It’s fun for me and an honor to be able to take your photos.  But getting your thank you notes in my mailbox (which honestly sees way more bills and junk mail than fun mail) feels like a little part of you just showed up at my house to give me a hug.  It’s things like this that make not just my job, but my life an absolute joy.

It made me think about the people I am thankful for.  Do I show them enough?  How can I let them know how much I appreciate them?  And it sure as heck makes me want to write more notes so the people I love can experience that “hug in your mailbox” feeling too.

And this may sound corny, but how can my life be a “thank you note”  to the One who has given me life and has given it to me more abundantly than I could have asked or imagined?  Or what about the times when I feel like God hasn’t listened and things aren’t turning out at all like I hoped or imagined?  What then?  I read this in Shauna Niequist’s book Cold Tangerines this morning and I think this is a good answer to that question and a great thought to meditate on this weekend.

“Celebration when you’re calling the shots?  Easy.  Celebration when your plan is working?  Anyone can do that.  But when you realize that the story of your life could be told a thousand different ways, that you could tell it over and over as a tragedy, but you choose to call it an epic, that’s when you start to learn what celebration is.  When what you see in front of you is so far outside of what you dreamed, but you have the belief, the boldness, the courage to call it beautiful instead of calling it wrong, that’s celebration.

“When you can invest yourself deeply and unremittingly in the life that surrounds you instead of declaring yourself out of the game once and for all, because what’s happened to you is too bad, too deep, too ugly for anyone to expect you to move on from, that’s that good rich place.  That’s the place where the things that looked for all intents and purposes like curses start to stand up and shimmer and dance, and you realize with a gasp that they may have been blessings all along.  Or maybe not.  Maybe they were curses, in fact, but the force of your belief and your hope and your desperate love for life as it is actually unfolding, has brought a blessing from a curse, like water from a stone, like life from a tomb, like the actual story of God over and over.”

Remember Andy & Karen?  Well this past Saturday was their wedding.  If you live in Southern California, remember how it was pouring rain Saturday morning.  Yeah, me too.  I had checked the weather the day before and it said Saturday- Chance of rain… 100%.  That’s a lot of percent.  It might as well have said 110% but that would be ridiculous because 100% is all there is.  My friend Heidi hates it when people say that they’re committed to something 110% because that’s impossible.  Heidi, here is my effort to put a stop to this world-wide phenomenon.

But back to Saturday.

The rain woke me up at 5:00 am, so I started to pray.  Both the ceremony and reception were indoors, so I prayed this:             “Dear God.  I only need a little dry spell during the day.  From about 1:30 to 3:00 would be perfect.  It doesn’t even need to be sunny, just as long as it’s mostly dry.  I know from experience that you can do this, so I just trust You that this is gonna be a great day!”  Then I fell back asleep.  A few hours later, when I was sitting in bed, drinking my tea and preparing myself for the day, the rain stopped.  I made note of that and when back to what I was doing, thinking that if I got too excited it would start raining again.  Epic display of faith, huh?  A few minutes later the sun started peeping in and out from behind the clouds.  I looked over to the window and smirked, “Lord, you’re gonna give us sun, aren’t you?”  So all of you other photographers that had weddings that day, that was a pretty little package wrapped up for us and signed, “Love, God.”  My friend Jess would call that a “little Jesus hug.”  Mmmmm hmmmmm.

My new friend Nellie from Pleasant Surprise Events did an amazing job coordinating the entire day.  Check out these cool details put together by Nellie and her team as well as Karen and her friends.  Because Karen & Andy are avid backpackers, they had a rustic theme using lots of wood.

Karen & her friend made all of the candied apples themselves!  And the sticks in the apples are from the apple tree in Nellie’s backyard!

I love these images of Andy that Chris, my second shooter, caught.  These are SOOOO Andy!  You excited, Andy?

How cute is this?  It’s just like Woody’s boot from Toy Story.  They walked down the aisle to “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”.  So cute!

And now for the beautiful bride.  See that light?  Jesus hug!

Karen, I’m glad you think I’m funny!  You look amazing!

Now for my favorite moment of a wedding day!  The first look.  Just so happened to find a log cabin.  In Fullerton.  Awesome.

Andy, I love the pure joy in your eyes.

I love how silly you two are together.

Does anyone else see that ” I LOVE U”  behind them?  I didn’t see that until I was editing the photos.  Jesus hug!

Perfection.

Anyone who says that the first look takes away from this moment…. check out the looks on their faces.

Six years in the making.  Doug, our pastor, said that that was the loudest hoop and holler he’d ever heard at a wedding!  Even before the kiss!

Adorable.

Karen, I LOVE this photo.  This is totally something I would do.

So much emotion.  You two are so loved.

Our church recently put up some magic lights, so you know we had to get a photo.

Andy & Karen, I don’t even have words to describe my excitement for you!  Two people were never so perfect for each other.

Ceremony & Reception Venue: First Evangelical Free Church Fullerton

Catering: The Well

Coordination: Pleasant Surprise Events

Cake: Amazing Cakes

Flowers: M’s Flowers

Hair: Unity Salon

Make up: Amy Niles

You are getting a lot of air time on my blog these days.  But you guys are so cool I can’t help it!  I loved the save the dates that you guys sent out!  I loved them so much they got their own photo shoot.

You guys are a great example of what it looks like to carry a theme through.  Nice work!

I mean, seriously.  You thought of every detail.  I love the custom rubber stamp with the little airplane.

I blurred out your website so all your adoring fans can’t stalk your website.

Look at you!  Even your stamps are fun!

I love it!

Love, Jen

PS- I can’t wait to post some pics of your custom designed guest book!

When we last saw you, you were all decked out in your handsome uniform and sassy vintage travel wardrobe.  I was wishing I could hop on a plane and go somewhere.  Anywhere!

When you both did your wardrobe changes I was really glad you both put on some boots.  I was glad I wore mine too, cuz remember all the mud I made… er “asked” you to sludge through?  Josh, I’m sure you didn’t find any in your car, right?  Riiiiiiiight.

Now, Chino tends to get a bad rap.  Probably even more since that OC show that was on a few years ago. But look at all the cool places we found for photos.  And after a while we didn’t even smell the cows any more.  OK.  That’s a lie.  But look at that light!  It was totally worth it!

Kristin, you are radiant!  I can’t wait to see you as a bride!

Beat up old wood thing that might fall down if you lean on it too much… yes please.

I just love this photo of the two of you for some reason.  I don’t know why I liked those tires so much.  But thanks for being willing to go sit on them and look awesome!

And when there are LOTS of cows around, you’re bound to find a barn or two.  This one suit us just fine.

What did she say that was so shocking, Josh?

You guys look so peaceful and in love here.

But Kristin, you were lucky that this guy didn’t bite you in the tookus!  I’ve never seen such a hairy pig before.

Josh & Kristin, I had such a blast with you.  I’m SO looking forward to your wedding and for the months leading up to it.  I’m thankful to have made two new friends!

Thank you for putting these on clearance.  You knew that I have a hard time passing up a bargain and that I wouldn’t be able to resist them.  I’m so glad I gave in!

Every time I walk into the room they give me a little infusion of joy.

They have been making me happy all week.

$3.49 well spent.

Love, Jen

When Karey first called me to tell me that you were looking for a photographer I was excited.  I would finally get to meet this “Josh & Kristin” that I had heard so much about.  I thought you must be OK if you were such good friends with Karey.  But I had no idea just how much I would like you both!

I loved talking with you guys about all of the places you’ve traveled together (Kristin, you’re smart to be marrying a pilot!  I gotta get me one of those  And kudos, Josh, on your sweet proposal up in Oregon.  What girl doesn’t want to be whisked away to a beautiful place and have the man she loves ask her to marry him?

So when you guys told me about your idea for a vintage travel themed wedding, I swooned a little.  OK… a lot.  And when you told me you were thinking about doing a vintage themed engagement shoot… oh my gosh I think I fell in love a little bit.  I couldn’t wait to do your engagement shoot!

I’m in love with this shoot!  I love how there are so many stories that can be told from these photos.  I couldn’t believe that the guy at Planes of Fame let us do pretty much whatever we wanted!  Even getting in one!  The planes were amazing and it was fun to hear some of the history.  Kristin, I loved how you pulled together the whole look with the vintage suitcases and gloves and everything.  You are adorable!

Oooh, Kristin!  Look at those legs!  And Josh, you’re lookin’ pretty dapper in that uniform of yours.

Work it.

There’s those legs again!  Girl, I’m a little jealous.

Where you guys goin’?  Can you sneak me on the plane?

There’s something I love about the emotion in these.  It’s like you’re saying goodbye before a long trip.

I’ll get to the other half of our shoot in the next post. I just thought this part deserved a post all its own.

To be continued……

You’re getting married in 9 days.  Woah!  NINE DAYS!!!  Can you believe it?  I am SO excited for you.  This is a day you’ve both waited a long time for and it’s almost here.

I’ve known you both, separately, for quite a while.  Karen, I remember one of the first times I had an extended conversation with you.  It was at a winter retreat at Forest Home.  I remember thinking that you would make someone a great wife.  I would later find out that that someone would also be well nurtured and EXTREMELY well fed, especially if he were fed your pumpkin pancakes on a regular basis (dang those things are good… can I get a witness!)

And Andy, one of my early memories of hanging out with you was when we were backpacking through Ansel Adams Wilderness.  You wore a purple-ish and teal sweatsuit made from some sort of wind-breaking material.  I thought it was pretty dorky.  Sorry.  But I also remember listening to you talk being impressed at how smart you are and how you figure things out.  As I got to know you more, I would come to understand that behind that extremely analytical mind is a gentle soul with one of the most caring and compassionate hearts I’ve ever met.

I also remember when I found out the two of you were dating!  It was the day our church celebrated its 50th Anniversary.  I think it was Andy that told me, but I remember exactly where I was standing.  I thought, “Of course”.  Of course you were dating because you two are totally MFEO (made for each other. c’mon, haven’t you seen Sleepless in Seattle?)  Somehow I knew that the two of you would be getting married someday.

And here you are.

You two have been on a lot of adventures together.  Some that I’ve even had the privilege to be a part of (although I have to say I’m not sad I missed the one where you backpacked for 18 days on the John Muir Trail.  The photos were pretty, but I’ve got NO desire to do that one.  You guys are amazing and hard core!).  I WAS ecstatic that I got to be a part of this moment.

And now you’re about to embark on this new adventure together.  You’re going to be married.  I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that you get to go on this journey together.

Since you guys are such outdoorsy people, I’m so glad we found this little spot for your engagement photos.

And I’m so grateful that I got to be witness to these moments where the love between you two was so evident and beautiful.

And silly.

I can just hear Andy’s laugh when I look at this.

Dear tree with changing leaves,

Thank you for providing such a pretty golden canopy for these two love birds.  The end.

This is one of my favorites of you two.  Maybe because your personalities come through so much here.  And maybe it’s that glint of adoration in your eye, Karen.

And thank you, you two adventurers, for being willing to jump over fences for me and hang out in dead plants.  It sure does make for pretty pictures.

Gurl, you are workin’ those jeans.

OK, these next two are my favorites too.

Whaaaaaat?  You guys didn’t tell me that you moonlight as models?

Stop it.

Karen & Andy, thank you for choosing me to photograph the two of you.  Karen, you have always been one of my biggest fans, encouraging me in my business, and I always secretly hoped I would be the one who got to photograph you on the day you became a bride.

So many hopes becoming reality next Saturday.

Love, Jen