A lesson in hiring professionals | Charleston Stems

Celebrating the Everyday, Life in Love  //  15th May 2014

As Lesley was getting her hair and makeup done for the wedding, Kelsey, one of her beautiful bridesmaids, shared the news that the wedding flowers had arrived! Lesley was so excited to see them! She said that she had absolutely no idea what they were going to look like because she did not give the florist any direction at all! She just told her to do her thing. ;)

AMAZING! Seriously. I almost gave Lesley a high-five right then and there when she told us that… without even seeing the flowers! She had so much trust in the wedding professionals she was surrounded by that she knew she could be hands off. She didn’t have to worry about them not coming out as she had planned because she had complete faith that the professional florist she had doing her flowers would do an AMAZING job!

And an AMAZING job she did! I have said this so many times since Lesley and Clayton’s wedding: We have never seen wedding flowers that were so absolutely perfectly fitting for that day! Anne from Charleston Stems wowed us in so many ways! The florals were so perfect…. so so perfect. They were not over the top or distracting, they were just perfect accents to Lesley and Clayton’s amazingly beautiful nautical day.

We share this as a lesson learned and perfect reminder to all of us: We hire professionals for a reason! They are professionals at what they do and when given the autonomy they will likely do a better job than any of us could ever dream it to be! ;) I know sometimes we even struggle to take a step back when hiring a professional for different things, but we are the first ones to celebrate when we know our couples and clients have 100% pure confidence in us! As a professional, that is the best feeling in the world! ;)

Anne, thank you for wowing us and helping to make Lesley and Clayton’s day even more beautiful than we could have ever imagined! You are quite talented and it was such an honor to work with you!

The Story Beyond – We wanted to hug that phone.

Stories Documented, Wedding  //  13th May 2014

Sometimes seeing phones at weddings drives us nuts. Actually most of the time it does. ;) We always feel like a wedding should be a place for people to come together and chat and have a good ol’ time… without the distraction of a phone. But this phone was different! This phone helped make an incredibly special person in Lesley and Clayton’s lives present at the wedding. In this situation, we wanted to hug that phone.

It is so AMAZING what technology can do for us! Lesley’s 98 year old grandmother was live on the phone from England. She joined us while Lesley was getting ready, during the ceremony and even to congratulate the AMAZING couple after the ceremony! Lesley’s grandmother was with us all day and it was so delightful!

Although Lesley’s grandmother couldn’t make the trip all the way from England, she was right by Lesley’s side all day. And I think it is safe to say this was quite a treat for both Lesley and Clayton and Lesley’s grandmother!

We welcome the phone with open arms when the person on the other end brings out excitement like this! ;) How happy is that?

Annapolis Yacht Club Wedding – Lesley and Clayton

Love, Wedding  //  8th May 2014

As you may remember from Lesley and Clayton’s engagement session, they have a love of the water. In fact, you could say it is in their blood. Lesley’s dad sailed across the Atlantic from England many years ago arriving in Annapolis, the place he would fall in love and welcome his sweet daughter, Lesley, into his life. He was an adventurer. And although he passed away a few years ago, he is still very much present in so many ways.

His love of the water shines through in Lesley. She is comfortable and at home on the water, most especially on Flying Angel. Her compass has never wavered, but in Clayton she has found a new North Star to adventure through this life with!

It only seems appropriate that Flying Angel escorted Lesley to the Yacht Club on Saturday. It was her dad’s way of proudly walking her down the aisle. And we have no doubt, he is one incredibly proud dad and incredibly happy to welcome Clayton to the family!

Lesley and Clayton’s wedding was nothing short of AMAZING! Their love is so visible and present. In fact, as Lesley’s uncle shared in a beautiful poem he wrote for them, their love is, in fact, a present.

“…And so to the present both a time to be glad
And a loving present to her loving dad
Gift wrapped with their wedding vow
Their gift of love for ever now
To Lesley and Clayton man and wife
A present and a future happy life.

Friends and family share in their happiness
Wish them a life of love and all that’s best
A home that is warm and full of song
A life that is rich their love so strong
Lesley and Clayton two families now united.
Sutherlands and Alexanders, happy and delighted.”

– Owen Sutherland

Lesley and Clayton, thank you for sharing your beautiful day with all of us. Ryan and I are so grateful to have been there to document this special part of your love story. You two are so incredibly beautiful, both inside and out! You have touched our hearts in a special way and we know that is true for all that you come in contact with. Thank you for being you. Congratulations, friends!

Huge thanks to the AMAZING team of wedding professionals who came together to help make Lesley and Clayton’s day so special:

Wedding Planner: Wedding Savvy, Leslie Jefferson | Stationery & All things paper!: Paper in the Park | Hair Stylist & Makeup Artists: Behind the Veil | Florist: Charleston Stems, Anne Bowen | Venue: Annapolis Yacht Club | Officiant: Gene Rasmussen (Uncle of Bride) | Ceremony Music: Chesapeake Strings | Bakery: Palate Pleasers | DJ/Band: Doug Segree Band | Videographer: Simple Flare Productions | Rentals: 2 Hands Studios & XOXO Vintage Rentals | Bride’s Attire: Elizabeth Johns | Groom & Groomsmen’s Attire: Brooks Brothers, Jos. A Bank | Bridesmaid’s Attire: LulaKate | Photographer: Liz and Ryan

We are looking for an Intern! + A few more exciting things!

Dreaming  //  2nd May 2014

So many exciting things to share with you on this AMAZING Friday!

First things first… we are looking for an AMAZING Intern!!! Do you know anyone who may be looking for some marketing experience with an established small business as well as a start up?!? ;) Technically he/she does not have to live in the Baltimore area. We are looking for a hard worker who is excited to be a part of our team! Contact us for more details!

Secondly and so excitingly!!!! We are going to Africa in December with an organization called BuildOn to help build a school! Our goal is to raise $4,000 before we go! So we are doing something that we hardly ever do, but are crazy excited about it!!! We are offering mini-sessions!!! Each session will be 20 minutes long with both Ryan and I as the photographers and you will receive an online gallery of the images with permission to print anywhere you wish! ;) These sessions are perfect for an Anniversary photos, Family photos, Professional Headshots, Facebook Profile pics, Dating website pics ;), honestly anything you wish! Contact us to reserve your spot today and please help us spread the word! It would be AMAZING if together we can raise over $4,000 for this AMAZING organization!

And last but not least for this Friday! Kate and Derek’s wedding is featured on The Well Groomed Groom today!!! So exciting! We always celebrate when our grooms use their wedding as an excuse to get dapper and pamper themselves right along with our brides! Derek is certainly dapper and we are excited to relive their wedding day again on The Well Groomed Groom! Go check it out and leave them some love! ;) And for all of our grooms- this is an awesome site for inspiration for YOU! ;) Enjoy it!

 

Happy Friday y’all! ;)

The Story Beyond

The Story Beyond  //  29th April 2014

A few weeks ago, we found ourselves in Ohio hanging out with Ashley and Jeremy Kester, two people who have touched our hearts in big ways with very limited time we have spent in the same place at the same time! We were chatting about their most recent business ventures and soaking in the passion that poured from their hearts!

Jeremy was sharing his heart and love for H.H. Boogie (a company he and his AMAZING wife started over a year ago). They produce the most gorgeous wooden keepsake boxes that we have come to love in so many ways! ;) More to share on these in the future…

But as we were sitting there, Jeremy was explaining that when he shares wedding images with his clients, he pulls out a sampling of photos and explains the meaning behind that image and why he took it. He writes the story on the back of the image and gives that gift to his clients. Whoa. That is magical. That hit me. Every single image that we take has a story within itself. Just as our brides and grooms have their own emotional memory and story of their images, we often have our own little stories of why we took that image at the moment that we did. We often share those stories with our couples during their reveal party (which is why we LOVE doing reveal parties so much!!!) But we thought it would be fun to start sharing 1 or 2 images from each of our weddings along with our emotional memory or story of that image here on the blog!

These images will not always be the “prettiest,” but they certainly are pretty on the heart and we can’t wait to share them with you!

To kick things off, here is one of our favorite images from Jill and Tripp’s wedding:

Most people looking at it would see a regular old high five. Pretty awesome. But actually the story is even more awesome. This is probably one of 10 high fives Jill’s mom has given in her lifetime. She does not like high fives and thinks they are strange. (Side note: I just heard a commercial on the radio yesterday about how strange high fives are because it is as if you are hitting each other. Haha… too funny. To be completely honest, up until Jill’s mom shared her dislike for high fives, I had never heard of that before! ;) ). Only on super special occasions will she give a high five. I would say by the look on their faces, this is certainly a high five worthy super special occasion! ;)

When I look at this photo, I see pure joy. Jill’s mom was a source of pure joy throughout Jill and Tripp’s entire day (and beyond!)! She radiated! And when she was in the same room as us, we knew it because the positive energy just flowed everywhere! I am not kidding, I am pretty sure there was not a moment on Jill and Tripp’s day that she did not have a gorgeous smile beaming from her face! We hope this image will be a forever reminder of what pure joy looks like! (It certainly will for us!)