2014 could not have been a lovelier year!  From the many beautiful homes and churches of St. Louis to the rolling vineyards and rustic barns of California’s wine country, it was a wonderful year for wedding photography from beginning to end.

For some reason it seemed to me that my clients were unusually beautiful and genuinely sweet this year: at one wedding the bride’s entire second grade class came in their First Holy Communion finery because they so loved her.  Another bride and groom spent half the reception dancing with their many younger relatives.  One couple insisted on being photographed with their dogs for the engagement photos and would have had the dogs at the church had it been permitted.   And another couple made homemade limoncello for every one of their guests to take home.

And there were so many tales of true love:  the groom who fell in love with his bride in first grade, the groom who sang along with the band while gazing into his bride’s eyes every single time they danced together, and the couple who renewed their vows 20 years later, still just as excited to be married as any of my other couples!  I just cannot get enough of true love.

I continue to be thrilled and impressed with Canon’s latest and greatest cameras and lenses.  While I remember fondly the feel of a Hasselblad in my hands, I am blown away at all the new possibilities.  Gone are the days of relying on a flash and counting down every image until 24.  Now I can capture wild dancing and true love under nothing but the soft glow of string lights, and come home with thousands and thousands of images to hand pick the very best.  While it means I live behind a computer screen for months of the year, the reward of staring at so many gorgeous images in front of me is well worth the extra hours.  And who could get sick of looking at so many photos of people glowing with such love and joy?

Finally, I am so grateful to and impressed with all of my fellow vendors who make my job so easy!   From the capable, kind and generous wedding planners, to the talented makeup artists and hair stylists, florists, musicians, caterers, to my amazing assistant photographers, Brent and my youngest daughter Julie, all of them have helped made my year so much more successful and fun.