The day itself ended up being out of a story book.  The weather was suppose to be close to 100 degrees, but instead we got a breeze that cooled everything as it whisked through the valley and stormy clouds that seemed to only make themselves known so I could get great shots!  Not a drop of rain, just fantastic lighting.

Here is a teaser of their wedding to delight the senses!

I'm getting a little more courageous in working with white dresses that every girl dreams of walking down the aisle in. I use to only be brave enough to take shots of them indoors, but I have discovered the great potential of draping them in the great outdoors!

This is one of my favorite shots of putting on a bride's shoes!

Meredith's smile was electric and I really enjoyed capturing it!

I was pretty excited about these two shots! What a perfect couple in a perfect setting!

Classic, romantic, dramatic...that's all I have to say

I want to make this one into a canvas print!

Chris' sweet boys spreading the flowers for Meredith before she walked down the aisle.

I could not have waved my magic wand and made more perfect and dramatic clouds. These are moments that photographers live and breath for. Thank you God for your amazing gift!!

There ceremony as so sweet and quaint. Family only...about 20 people max. I loved it!

They had a butterfly release at the end of the ceremony and it was a delight to watch and capture.

There are several other shots I would like to share from their wedding, but I will leave it at this for now, so I can move onto more editing. Can you see now why I drool over shooting at Cave B?  It’s just gorgeous and to add a stunning couple to the mix, who could ask for anything more?!!  Many blessings to you Meredith and Chris~

It was a delight to be there to capture Kyle and Sawyers special day!  This is just a teaser of their day……enjoy!

I love how this captures their joy and the light surrounding them!

I think Sawyer looks gorgeous in these shots! Not to mention the sweet joy that is written all over her face.

I find this shot very romantic and filled with gentle love.

These shots just make me smile!

The beautiful flower girl....

I had to showcase the family shot and zoom in on this little angel.

A good portion of the time I was there, friends were filling the air with laughter and the relaxing sounds of summer. "Mingle" was the word!

I will end for now with a shot of Sawyer's jeweled shoes! I thought they were fantastic and a perfect addition to her summer wedding dress!

I adore my job and feel incredibly blessed to capture people’s life moments, especially such a special time as a wedding.

Sammy and Evan were married at Red Tail Canyon Farm in Leavenworth, WA.  What a beautiful location!!  I am going to keep my words short here, not because there isn’t a ton of wonderful things to write about their wedding, but because I must move on to the next bit of editing!

I hope you all enjoy the preview of Sammy and Evan’s wedding in the woods!

I thought her shoes were so cute, yet so practical. Heels make walking in the grass a little challenging, so Sammy went with blinged out flip flops. Smart girl!

There was a wonderful, huge bathtub in the room they were getting ready in, so I had to have Sammy crawl inside. Something a little fun and a bit different, I like how it turned out!

I caught a few shots of her as she was waiting on the stairs. I think you can feel some of the anticipation of waiting for the "big moment"

They were darling together. I think this shot shows their connection and overall joy to be getting married!

I love their very real smiles and laughter in this shot. Makes me happy!

The gorgeous ladies!

Boys will be boys!

Sammy was brought in by horse and carriage...so romantic!!

I wanted to add a few detail shots because her flowers were beautiful and I love how simple and elegant everything looked...and right in the middle of the woods nonetheless. They did a great job!

The "candy bar" has become more popular over the last couple years, and I personally think the idea is fabulous! Great for kids and adults alike.

But make sure you leave room for cake....I think everyone might have been on a sugar high by the end of the night

Toasts to the bride and groom! There were a few laughs for sure.

And finally I will end this post with the joy of children running around free as birds. That always brings a smile to my face.

Jennifer and Matthew’s wedding did not fall short in any way.  There was plenty of love, lots of beauty, and two hearts DEFINITELY became one.  It was such a joy to be a part of their day.  Jennifer was radiantly beautiful; Matthew handsome and classic.  They were married at the Sleeping Lady Resort in Leavenworth, WA.  My last wedding was at this location as well, so you might notice a few similarities in the backdrops, but hopefully you can see the unique beauty that each couple brought to the venue.

Matthew getting ready was my first stop, (of which I had a little hike and got my workout in for the day ) it was just Matthew and his brother, so to be honest we had to do a little "set up" of the photos, but he was still "officially getting ready". I LOVED his tie, so cool!

There is something about this shot that is so REAL. Jennifer was starting to truly feel the emotions of walking down the aisle , so she released the emotion by spreading out her arms and laughing. Her mom was just about to put on her necklace, a very sweet moment.

I was absolutely in love with her flowers. They were done by my favorite florist Patti Bosket (she put together the flowers for my wedding as well

We took this shot right after they saw each other for the first time that day, it was such a gorgeous background. It was a new spot for me at the Sleeping Lady. It's so exciting for me to find new places at venues I have been to several times.

One of my fav photos of the day. Jennifer looks like a bride straight out of a magazine.

This ones a framer (in my opinion anyway!)

Sweet smiles filled with love and admiration for each other.

I'm a big fan of the romance in this shot. I told them to "really" kiss each other, and they did just that!

Jennifer made my job easy.....she was stunning! And did I mention I loved her flowers?!

The ceremony had the beautiful backdrop of the mountains up in Leavenworth, WA.

A couple touching moments!

I was super excited to have caught this image of Jennifer kissing Matthew's hand as they walked back down the aisle after making it official!

I have so many photos that I want to post from this wedding and I did my best to include as many as possible.  I am continuing to grow as a photographer and part of that growth is changing my “blogging” style.  I’m trying to be a little more creative with how I post and include enough photos so you can get a good feel of the wedding day!  I hope you enjoy what you see.

My first attempt at displaying my photos in a grouped, creative way! What do you think?

I loved Kara's dress! It actually kind of had a little resemblance to my own.

I love how this shot is filled with joy and spirit!

I had to start the shots of Kara and Jon with this one! Sleeping Lady has random sculptures all over their venue and I had to grab a shot with this guy...he was too cute!

Another one of my favs!

The stunning Kara. She was glowing!

I had to put this montage together of Kara laughing while I was trying to get some shots of just her. So cute! I know it's always hard and akward for everyone to be infront of the camera all by themselves.

Mr. GQ himself....Jon!

There were seriously too cute for words. I had a great time capturing their love and laughter.

Aww....family! They are our support system, the glue that holds us together!

I was so thankful to have my backup photographers. I thought this shot was priceless.

I love how Jon is looking at Kara in this shot! Full of love for her.

My favorite part of the ceremony! It's official.

And finally, at least for now, I wanted to give a little feel for the absolute FUN they were having at the reception. They cut up the rug!

The first shots were out in front of the Central sign! Aren't they adorable with their matching dresses?! I guess they bought them at different times, not meaning to match....now that is a true best friend.

I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting Nikki and Shelby last weekend.  Nikki got in touch with me about a month ago with a very cool idea. She and her best friend are graduating from Central Washington University this year and wanted to create some memories.   And that we did!!  I thought this was such an awesome thing to do (actually I wish I would have thought of it myself when I graduated).  I know it’s something they will cherish for the rest of their lives.   So, I took a trip over to Ellensburg and we played around on campus and around town in some of the alleys and by the railroad tracks.  Minus the VERY windy day, it was perfect and a lot of fun!  Here is a sneak peek of these lovey ladies.

Celebrating their graduation! Congrats girls.

Then we marched across the street to a cool old college building with huge pillars.

~Beautiful ladies~

I had to show these shots next to each other, because the serious sexy faces didn't last for long. I had to move quick to capture the first one and then it was pretty much just laughter after that.

See...more laughter! ( i.e. more of what I love in photos). I think this probably shows the more true side to the girls, than being serious.

Off to the Ellensburg alleys we went. I have to say I'm likin' what we got. What great posers they are!

I love how these really show the fun we were having! Pure laughter!

And last, but not least, we went over by some railroad tracks and found these awesomely huge towers that I had to do something with!! I think it was a success.

They were a little worried that some creepy crawly thing was going to come up and get them for these last two shots. But we all made it out safely and I think it was totally worth the risk.

Thank you ladies for a FABULOUS time!  I hope that these photos will be something that you can always look back on with a smile!  Congratulations on this new chapter in your lives.

After receiving their engagement session from me, they sent me this incredibly sweet thank you e-mail that I wanted to share.  I’ve been meaning to post it for quite some time, but as always, I got a little side tracked.  Thank you to Molly and Josh for being so wonderful and I know we will have a blast on your special day!

If you would like to see more shots from Josh and Molly’s engagement click here!

“Hi Maija,

As Josh and I have finally been finishing our save-the-date cards, I wanted to take a minute and let you know how thrilled we’ve been with our engagement pictures– I thought of you and decided to check on your blog a week or so ago, and was surprised to see our silly mugs! That reminded me of how I’ve been meaning to pass on our gratitude to you.  Knowing that we’d be using one of the photos for our save-the-dates, we’ve been somewhat secretive about sharing all the photos until we’d chosen the one to send out.  I can’t tell you how crazy it’s driven our families and friends!  We’ve received such praise on the photos they have seen, and everyone has been begging to see the rest ever since!  Everyone had a favorite, as you captured both our silly sides (which are showing all too often!) and the softer moments. On top of it all, we had a FABULOUS time shooting with you, and learning what a fun, vibrant, easy-going yet professional work ethic you have.

The photos were such a hit with our family, that we framed several for Christmas gifts for elated family members.  (I have to say, it feels somewhat narcissistic to be gifting so many photos of ourselves, but they loved them so much, we couldn’t resist!)

Our photos were one of our ’splurge’ decisions when it comes to our wedding; One of the few things that we refused to compromise on, because it means so much to us that we have great photos to preserve the day.  After receiving our beautiful engagement photos, we are so very anxious for our wedding, and the gorgeous photo-memories we know you’ll create.  Amongst all the chaos of planning a wedding, it’s fabulous to feel confident and excited about booking with a vendor– We are so glad to have you!
I’m sure you’re swamped with bookings and editing, but if you get a chance to send along any further photos, you can bet there’s a restless audience that would be elated so see ‘em!

Hope all is well– And THANK YOU!
Molly and Josh.”

I hope you all enjoy these few shots I took of Chris and Nichole’s wedding album.  I should be receiving  a couple more albums in the next month or so, and I will be sure to post those as well.  This particular album is called the “Modern Book”, which features flush-mount, lay-flat pages, and a photographic wrap-around dust jacket.  I love it!

Join the revolution! Be a voice for those who don't have one!!!

I am not going to spend a long time on this post because I think that most of you reading this already know about Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. I have been watching it since it started and it has made my emotions run even higher on the epidemic we currently have in our country.  Childhood Obesity!!

I struggle with Adult Obesity, but that comes no where close to how I feel about childhood obesity.  Quite simply, children do not have a choice or a voice.  They look to their parents for guidance and they copy EVERYTHING they do!!!  I am not a parent yet, but I am an aunt of 4 and have been a nanny and spent a lot of time around children.  So I know this is true about children.

When I see a child that is overweight, it breaks my heart.  I know that child does not have a voice.  They are not going to argue with their parent about the pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Or the fried foods that saturate their plates.  Let’s be honest, that stuff tastes GOOD!  I eat it on occasion (key word: occasion!) Children will eat what you put in front of them.  Let’s stop this epidemic.

I know that by me posting this that it’s not going to change the world.  But we all can make a difference, by starting in our own homes.  If you are a parent, give your child one of the greatest gifts you can ever give them…..HEALTH.  Love is paramount and you are only loving them by giving them their health.  They want to live and they want to live it to the fullest. Give them that chance.

It’s so easy to cook fresh and to give a snack that will do the body good.  It’s just as easy as giving the crap that is so often fed to children.  Get into that kitchen of yours, roll up your sleeves, and start cooking!  There are hundreds of easy, quick recipes out there that your children will love and will gobble down just as fast as the french fries and crispy chicken you may have fed them last night.  I promise!!!  You just have to be willing to BE the change. Make the choice for your child and be a voice of health.

For those of you who are passionate about this topic, please take a second and sign Jamie Oliver’s petition.  It literally took me 15 seconds.  You never know what your voice can accomplish until you start using it!

God bless and eat fresh!!!

Ryan and Alyssia are such a sweet couple.  I loved my time with them….we had tons of laughs.  Alyssia was very nervous about being in front of the camera.  Apparently she has only a couple photos of her from the past several years.  I changed that.  Now they have more than a couple framers.   Though it took a little while for her to loosen up, she did great as the time went by and I’m really looking forward to their wedding day.  I know there will be a 1,000 beautiful memories to capture.  Their love is so innocent and beautiful to watch.

Here are a few shots from their engagement session we did a couple weeks ago.  I hope to add more soon…but wanted to give everyone a sneak peek.

We started out at a park and took some shots with Ryan's son Noah. So cute!!

After the park we went to Alyssa's parents house on a farm. I explored the area a bit and found these very cool old trucks hidden away. I think they turned out to be a fun backdrop! I'm all about finding some creative, fun textures to add to photos....finding things that maybe not everyone would think to make a great photo.

Aren't they darling?! I love pulling out the silly side of couples...aka. finding their inner child!

I love, love, love barns!

As the sun was going down, we ran over to a field and caught these last few shots. I thought they turned out quite well considering me we really hustled to catch the sun before it sunk behind the horizon.

I love the light in this shot. Not to mention the oh so sweet couple.

Expressing their love!