Paradise Productions

What a show!

This celebration had everything! My favorite touches were the tent that took four days to put up and decorate and the fireworks. Tim and Theresa found each other later than most in our society, but man did they celebrate their new life together. The ceremony was in this cool (figuratively speaking) and hot (literally) chapel called the Chapel by the Sea. It's on Captiva Island and has some great old buildings as well as the beach to take portraits. We really enjoyed it. I think Ashley especially did a great job with the group shots on the beach.

I really could talk about every detail because it was all done so well, from the carpet that was laid over the backyard, to the china, to the napkins, to the beautiful flowers, to the chandeliers, to the band. Everything was top notch.

The sense of family and inclusion was also great. Many events shun children but Tim and Theresa have loads of nieces and nephews that they wanted to be full members of the celebration. We could not hardly click the shutter without including one of them in a shot. Some of them made sure they were in as many as possible! "Can you take our picture again!"

Often getting to and from the different sites can be hectic. We want to be the last to leave and the first to get there, so we don't miss a moment. Then, of course there's the stress of navigatinig. Tim and Theresa took care of that by letting us ride with the party in the limos or decked out Budweiser Bus. I thought the bus was really great with the leather interior, bedroom, shower, kitchenette but when I started taking pictures I realized there was another great aspect! The light was awesome coming in the windows from all sides. I thought I was going to take a little break but some of those turned out to be some of my favorite images.

Tim and Theresa - awesome day, we were honored to be a part and receive such complimentary words from you all. Cheers and this Bud's for you! (Tim and his family sell all the Bud to all of Fort Myers)

-Sam

Regina Spektor- I love this girl!

I don't know if everyone already knows about Regina Spektor or not but I totally love her music. This video in particular is really cool and the song is stuck in my head. I hope you enjoy her video "Samson."

Theresa & Tim

This Friday we got to do a great engagement session with Tim and Theresa who's wedding we're doing at the end of the month. Tim and Theresa fit so well together. They are so funny and they can totally read each other. We did the shoot at Tim's dad's place. It was on the water and it was beautiful. Unfortunately there were about a zillion tiny bugs that bit me and I'm still scratching my ankles. Here are some of the pictures! Thanks Tim and Theresa for a great time. We can't wait until the 30th!

Ha HA!!!! Look at this site I picked up from David Jay's blog. Its called myheritage.com and if you upload a picture of yourself it scans your bone structure to find your celebrity look alikes. Here's what came up for my sisters, my mom, and me.

ME:

Gracey:

mom:

Alli:

The great outdoors

The weekend before Thanksgiving we went braved the outdoors with Isa and a bunch of our friends. Each year our friend Joe puts together an awesome weekend of camping and outdoor stuff. This year we went to Alexander springs. It was a great camp site. The bath rooms were clean (yes, it was that type of camping), the grounds were beautiful, and the bears didn't bother us...too much (Rachel and I did hear one growl when we were taking a walk the first night).

Alexander Springs is near Ocala, Florida and I expected to the weather to be really nice, and it was; except at night. The nights were soooo cold. Here we were sleeping outside in 40 degree weather with a 7 month old baby. I was so scared that Isabella was going to freeze to death. Instead, Isa slept like a log. She was even snoring at one point!

My favorite part about the trip was sitting around the campfire and eating s'mores and camper pizzas and taking a walk along a trail with my friends Kristin and Sarah (and Isa of course). Some of the group jumped into the crystal clear springs that were on the edge of the campground. They all said it was very refreshing but I'm not a big fan of freezing cold water. Sam bought a fishing license the day before we went on the trip so he spent a good portion of Saturday fishing. I was glad he took that time for himself because fishing is something he loves but rarely gets to do because he is quite busy being the best husband and dad in the world.

Thanks Joe for all of the planning and thanks to all of our amazing friends for sharing that time with us and for loving us.

Here are some fun pictures some of the gang took.

Nice Note

We have the nicest brides. Sam and I just got home from our 10 day road trip (more about that soon). As soon as I got home tonight I got the mail and sat down in front of the computer to work work work. As I opened the mail I found this note that Sheilla sent to us. We work so hard to make our clients feel special and to be more than happy with our work and the little notes and emails like this really help us keep going. -Ashley

Congratulations Allison!!!

My sister Allison just found out that she has been accepted into the graduate school at the University of Central Florida. She is graduating from Asbury College next month and then will start in January. Allison is not only an awesome sister friend but she is so hard working. She will be studying to become a speech pathologist, something she has wanted to do for as long as we all can remember.

So, Alli... I looked up some facts about UCF for you so that you will fit right in when you get there. I found this info on their website so I think its pretty official. First of all you will be a Golden Knight and the mascot is named Knightro! Knightro. It's almost too corny to believe. Here is a picture of Knightro.

Also, if you get lost you can ask these people for directions. This is the picture posted on the Visitor's page so they must be the official map readers.

And if you need tutoring, here is the guy that knows how to read.

I also found this girl on their site. I can't tell if she is pretending to write something or in the middle of painting her toe nails.

We're so proud of you Allison. You are so smart and so wonderful. You are going to make a huge difference in the lives of many people.

Things just got harder....

So, Isabella learned to crawl last week and the whole mom thing just got harder. Isabella is sooooooo easy and so well tempered but she is very alert and very curious. So, now that she can crawl (it's actually still more of a army crawl) she has began to broaden her horizons and venture off of the nice little 4X4 blanket she used to stay on.

It seems that the many toys that Ya Ya (my mom) has bought her just aren't quite good enough. Instead she has decided that Lola's (our chocolate lab) toys are much more fun and much..... yummier. What's worse is that Lola loves to share so everytime I throw the toy some where else or try to hide it from Isa, Lola does Isa a favor by kindly fetching it and putting it right back in crawling distance. This is so gross, I know. Here's some examples from today of Isabella after she has escaped from the pretty blanket with all of the colorful baby toys to get Lolas stuff.

Boutique Service

We strive to offer a "boutique" experience in which everything we offer is one of a kind and the service we offer you is personal and genuine. Recently we have decided to drastically reduce the number of wedding videos we produce each year (only 6). The time and work that is put in to creating a custom made wedding film is huge. We want each film we produce to be out of this world amazing. By only working on one wedding film at a time we will be able to even make each film that much more special and perfect. We also hope to free our schedule up a little to do more photography instead of trying to maintain a 50/50 balance between the two. So if your thinking about using us for video some time in the future, call soon while we still have availabilities.

Stay in love

Sheila and Travis had their wedding on Saturday. What a cool ceremony. It was at a beautiful Catholic church in Fort Myers. They had a full mass with several Filipino traditions.

One of the things the priest said during the homily was, "Stay in love." He talked about making time and falling in love again and again. That's a good message for any couple in their marriage. It was quite obvious that Sheilla and Travis were in love. They are so great together.

I think my favorite part of the night was all of the dancing. These people could D-A-N-C-E! When Sheilla and Travis opened up the dance floor with a waltz I was very impressed. Then, I was stunned as two by two the guests started dancing and it was like watching a Filipino dancing with the stars. Usually people kind of just sway pack and forth but oh no, not these sophisticates. They were awesome.

Not only was everyone good dancers but they were all so nice and so fun. Thanks Sheilla and Travis for all of your great planning and your beautiful wedding. You made our work so much fun.

Here are some pictures from the wedding.

Sheilla getting ready.