Honeymoon: Caribbean Cruise - Part 5

Day 5: Cozumel, Mexico

The day started out a big dreary. We planned an excursion to Passion Island, but the rain and lack of sun really wasn't ideal. We made the best of it though.

Honeymoon: Caribbean Cruise - Part 4

Day 4: George Town, Grand Cayman

We arrived in George Town at 8:00 am ready to go on our second excursion, Sting Ray City, where we would get up close and personal with stingrays! Brian had already enjoyed the experience once before while on a cruise with his family. I on the other hand had not. I was pumped and couldn't wait to get out there.

After a quick breakfast we made our way down to the the small boat, a tender, that would take us to the dock. This was the first and only stop we had where we had tender in, so we didn't realize how long it might take. Here is where we ran into a little problem.

Honeymoon: Caribbean Cruise - Part 3

Day 3: Falmouth, Jamaica

That morning we arrived in Falmouth, Jamaica and went on our first excursion, a kayak trip to Dunn's River Falls. The day started with an hour long bus ride down the coast to the ocean. Our tour guide taught us a few Rasta phrases to help pass the time. Some of them were "Iree" which means "Happy", "Nutten" which means "Nothing", and when asked a question instead of saying "Yes" you had to say "Ya Mon". "No problem" is also a very popular phrase because they Rastafarian's are so care free.

When we arrived to our destination we were escorted through a resort to the shore where our kayaks awaited. We climbed into our kayaks and paddled our way through the sea to our destination. We passed over an old coral reef, some beautiful homes, and a dolphin cove (I never saw a dolphin so this may have been a lie). Our tour guide took us to a small waterfall and pushed each of our kayaks through it for a nice refreshing soak. He sang the whole time, which was really happy.

Honeymoon: Caribbean Cruise - Part 2

Day 2: Labadee, Haiti

People are always shocked when I tell them this was my favorite port to visit. Haiti doesn't have the best wrap, but when you are dropped off on a sandy beach with clear blue water you really can't complain.

Honeymoon: Caribbean Cruise - Part 1

We hopped on a plane the day after our wedding and flew to Florida to start our first adventure as husband and wife! One of my dear old friends and her husband were also on the flight. They encouraged the flight attendant to move us to first class. Unfortunately it was full, but she did offer us complimentary cocktails. Better than nothing right?

Once we arrived in Florida we crashed at a hotel, ate some mediocre pizza, and watched some TV on an old tube TV. Talk about classy! That following afternoon, we boarded our Royal Caribbean ship, The Freedom of the Seas.

Good-Bye Florida!

Vintage Woodland Wedding: Invitation

Invites give your guests the first glimpse at your wedding style. These romantic, vintage, and woodsy invites were perfect for our small wedding at Krippendorf Lodge in Rowe Woods.  The combination of paper and fabric made quite an impact on our guests.

The overall theme for the wedding was a combination of vintage and woodland styles. The color palette was loosely based on robin's egg blue, blush pink, ivory, and brown. The kraft paper invites were screen printed with white ink. Then wrapped with either a blue or pink floral fabric to match the color palette.

Each reply card had a web address printed on it for guests to get more information on the wedding and RSVP.  It was tied around each invite with a coordinating ribbon.

Designer | Rachael Ward | Cincinnati, OH

Calligrapher | Rachel Scheller | Fort Mitchell, KY

Printer | Four Ambition | Dayton, OH

Envelopes & Paper | French Paper 

Fabric | Jo-Ann Fabric 

Vintage Woodland Wedding: Flowers

To help give our wedding a romantic and woodsy feel we incorporated lots of fresh flowers into our decor. Hydrangeas, peonies, bells of Ireland, snapdragons, and various wildflowers filled a variety of vases on each table.

Upton Wedding

Better late than never.

Last September I had the opportunity to photograph Rachel and Russel's wedding with Melissa Cales.
We had a pretty bad storm the night before the wedding. Tree limbs and debris were all over the road and some people even lost power! The rain continued through out the morning in random showers here and there, but Rachael and Russel didn't seem to mind. They weren't going to let a little rain stand in their way! It was their wedding day after all.

Luckily, the rain cleared up just in time for the ceremony to start. After that it was a non-stop party!

Vintage Woodland Wedding

I'm so excited to announce that B and I were married May 11, 2012! 

Vintage Woodland Wedding: Spring Centerpiece Inspiration

Our wedding is going to be at a nature center. I decided to work with our surroundings and go with a woodland theme with a vintage flair. A lot of inspiration is coming from these images for centerpieces and flowers.

Happy Times

I apologize to those of you who are about to endure a lot of wedding talk. It will probably only get worse from here on out until May. I'll still be sharing some DIY projects, photography, and other things, but this whole wedding has taken over my life. You have been warned. 

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm getting married! Things have been very busy around here with the new job (which I am loving so much) and wedding planning. Life is finally starting to wind down a little bit. We have most of our vendors booked and are finally getting into the really fun stuff, like decorations and cake tastings and what have you.

This past weekend we had our engagement photos taken by one of my previous co-workers, Corrie Schaffeld, who is now a full time photographer. He did a fabulous job of make us feel comfortable in front of the camera, kept us laughing, and captured some really beautiful shots. Here are some sneak peaks he shared with me today. 

If you are in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area and are looking for a wedding, family, or children's photographer you should hit him up. Corrie Schaffeld, 1326 Studios.

Change is Gonna Come

My life has changed so much in the past two weeks. I got engaged on August 15th, three days before our six year anniversary! To say the least I was very surprised! I'll share the engagement story in a later post.

On top of the upcoming nuptials I also got a new job! I start the day after labor day and I couldn't be more excited. Things are finally looking up and I have a great feeling about the future!

I'm sure I'll have all sorts of exciting projects to share down the road as I plan to DIY a lot of my wedding decor. Until then here is a sweet little shot of my sister and her kids I took a few weeks ago.