More Than October | A Special Project

Giving Back, Gratitude  //  4th October 2013

I honestly have no idea even where to begin this post! My emotions are all over the map right now, but most importantly, my heart is filled with Joy! Over the past few months, Ryan and I have been working on a project that we have had to keep silent. Over the last few weeks, we started many mornings off with a conference call with two of our favorite people in the world, we completed a MAGICAL photo shoot that filled an empty old factory with whimsical AMAZINGness, Ryan fully coded his first WordPress website, and we witnessed one of the most AMAZING women in our lives take an incredibly brave step to touch the lives of others! Wow.

On September 10, 2012, our mentor, friend, board of life director, pretty much second mom, inspirer (the list goes on and on), Dean Badal (or Amy Badal… but she will always be Dean Badal to us!) fought and won her battle with Breast Cancer. I remember receiving the call from our friend Jenna telling us that Dean Badal had breast cancer and she was having surgery that day to remove it. That call was one of those calls that you never expect to receive and never could imagine what to say or even do. I remember feeling heart broken and sick to my stomach, yet prayerful knowing that God works in mysterious ways.

Dean Badal has touched our lives in more ways than we could ever describe. In fact, every single student and alum that has been surrounded by her at Bucknell would probably say the same thing. Ok, scratch that… every single person who has been surrounded by her at one time or another would absolutely say she has touched his/her life in a special way!

When we heard the news that Dean Badal was fighting cancer, I knew in my heart that there was a reason. God had a plan and He was going to see her through this journey. Just a few weeks after her surgery, Dean Badal shared that she had already been thinking about what she could do to use this incredibly challenging time to make a difference for someone else. She always has incredible and crazy fun ideas! ;) (Maybe that is where we get our love for crazy ideas from!?! ;) In fact, I have no doubt that is where we get it from! ;)) Over the past year, Dean Badal has shared her idea of More Than October with us many times. However, in the midst of her incredibly busy schedule in her role as a Dean that she puts her whole heart and soul into, she had little time to focus on it. Jenna called us one day and said… ok, we are just going to do this. We are going to get the ball rolling and make this happen!

Weeks later… and an incredibly heart warming journey later, we could not be more excited to share with you, More Than October. The site is designed to share Dean Badal’s story, where early detection saved her life, and inspire women to take action for their own health. She has started a movement to get at least 1,000 women to sign the pledge to do a self-check or schedule a mammogram. This can save your life! Seriously, the statistics are real. 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer over her lifetime. Please don’t hide from it. Take action for your health… your friends and family will appreciate it more than you know! Please go take action, sign the pledge, and send the message to all of the AMAZING women in your life to do the same.

We are beyond proud of Dean Badal (who might be one of the most private people we know) for sharing her story in hopes that it can inspire people to take action. It is not easy to put yourself out there, and she did. This life is so much bigger than ourselves, and Dean Badal has given us another example of just that! I am moved to tears knowing how blessed we are to have Dean Badal in our lives and to have the opportunity to help her make this project happen! Dean Badal… thank you for being YOU, for believing in us, for challenging us, for teaching us life lessons every single day, for using your “gifts” to impact the world around us, for clicking publish on your site! ;), and for always being an inspiring example of how to live this AMAZING life! We LOVE you Dean Badal!

 

Federal Hill Engagement Session | Carol and T.J.

Engagement, Love, Stories Documented  //  3rd October 2013

You may remember this AMAZINGly sweet couple from their surprise proposal that we had the opportunity to capture in July! Now that I think about it… that was actually a really long time ago! ;) Gees! Time flies!

Well, I am happy to report that Carol and T.J. are still glowing… even more than ever… as they soak in this AMAZING time of their lives! We were so excited to hang out with them again last week for their Federal Hill Engagement Session! We could not wait to see Carol and T.J. again… but we were also super pumped to meet their dog, Banjo, that we had heard so much about! ;) Banjo is literally like their little son and a well-dressed little guy too! That bow tie… seriously, adorable! ;)

As we planned Carol and T.J.’s engagement session, they filled us in on their love for lawn games! They said they are known among their friends for their love of all games! You name it… they will play! Of course they already have their own corn hole set that includes their wedding date and names on the boards! And of course we had to include them in their photos! Last week, we soaked up the beautiful evening glow of the city in Federal Hill Park with a little corn hole action… and it was AMAZING!!!

As you can imagine, we had a blast hanging out with Carol and T.J. and we are so excited and so honored to be able to capture this AMAZINGly sweet and FUN time in their lives!! Carol and T.J.… we hope you always look at these photos and are immediately reminded of your special glow of happiness and love!

amazinglifetogether.com | Coming Soon!

Dreaming, Love, Our Dreams  //  2nd October 2013

Ohh friends! There is so much excitement happening around here! ;) We have certainly had a crazy couple of weeks- and the weeks ahead are even a little more crazy, but we could not be more excited to share this excitement! ;)

We have been working extremely hard behind the scenes on a project that warms our hearts! The AMAZING Marriage Project (that we announced earlier this year) has evolved in so many ways and we are about ready to share just one small piece of that evolution! ;) Actually, it is not small at all! It is BIG and it has been a huge labor of love… which is why we are so incredibly excited to share it with you all!!

In just a short time, we will be launching the brand new AMAZINGlifetogether.com site! (http://www.lizandryan.com will definitely still be around! We are not going anywhere!) For months, we have been designing, coding, tweaking, and preparing this goodness and it is so AMAZING to see it come to life! Our original goal date to launch was October 1st… but we have a few AMAZING pieces to finalize before we release it to the world! ;) Stay tuned… it is definitely worth the wait. We are SUPER close! And we wanted to share our excitement with you all so that you can join us in our dance party! ;)

Hop on over to http://www.amazinglifetogether.com and make sure you sign up to be notified when we go live!!! You will not want to miss it… especially when we get to introduce you to couples like Clara May and Paul, who have been married 55 years and want to share their life experiences with us! Ahhh! So grateful for this passion in our hearts and the couples who have come into our lives to help encourage the world to live a more AMAZING Life Together!!!

Don’t forget… go to http://www.amazinglifetogether.com and sign up! Together, we will be smiling super BIG! ;)

University of MD College Park Engagement Photos | Casie and Justin

Engagement, Love, Stories Documented  //  1st October 2013

Whenever we leave an engagement session feeling more in love than ever, we know we just photographed one AMAZING couple! ;) It is always our goal to touch our couple’s lives in a special way… and the engagement session is one of our favorite opportunities to do that because we treat it is a little date night for our couples. We want it to be an escape from wedding planning and the everyday craziness to soak in the love that they share together!

Casie and Justin have this special kind of love. The love that explodes from their smiles and makes everyone around them feel that special kind of love too! We absolutely felt more in love than ever after their engagement session and we could not be more grateful to have them in our lives!

Casie and Justin introduced us to the University of MD College Park campus… the place where their love began! It was an incredibly beautiful day and so much fun to explore the place they called home for quite some time! They introduced us to Testudo for a lucky rub of his nose and we finished the evening off at Bentley’s… their favorite downtown hangout! So much fun!

Casie and Justin… you two are AMAZING! Thank you for sharing your love with us! ;)

 

 

Fell’s Point Baltimore Wedding | Karen and Brendon

Love, Stories Documented, Wedding  //  26th September 2013

For the last 4 years, we have joked about who was responsible for introducing them. Ryan would always take credit because he worked with Brendon at the time. However, as I remember the story, Ryan and I were in our kitchen planning a fun evening and I said, “what if we introduced Karen and Brendon?!?!” ;)  To be fair, I do believe Ryan was actually the one to call Brendon that day and invite him over, so let’s just say… we introduced them.

I don’t think it actually became real to me until I read their story in their own words on their wedding website.  My heart smiled reading, “Liz and Ryan introduced us on a summer evening on their roofdeck.” At many points during their wedding celebration last weekend, Karen and Brendon said, “we would not be here if it weren’t for Liz and Ryan.” Whoa. Seriously, what an incredible honor! It is AMAZING to think how a simple action of following through on those “what if” statements in life can change people’s lives! Love is a crazy special thing! And although we know we cannot take full credit for bringing them together last weekend in marriage, we are certainly quite excited to know we had a small role in their love story along the way!

I cannot even begin to explain the emotions I felt on their wedding day. There is nothing quite like seeing two friends with smiles bigger than we have ever seen on their faces before. The day was perfect… the weather could not have been more AMAZING, the boats passed back and forth as they said their vows on a a pier in Fell’s Point, and their intimate wine and cheese celebration (that included the cutest handmade personal pies for dessert) complemented the evening of dancing and so much fun!

Karen and Brendon… as we reflected on your wedding day through your photos and the audio from your ceremony, the tears filled my eyes. We knew your wedding day was going to be special, but it filled our hearts with so much awe and joy as we witnessed your love at its finest! It is a day that we will never forget and we are so incredibly honored to have been there as friends… and photographers too! ;) Knowing that you will forever have these photos to remind you of that happiness and love that you share…that makes our hearts happy! Thank you for such an AMAZING celebration! We Love You guys!!!

Huge Huge Huge thank you to Natalie Franke for coming along with us for the day as a part of our team! Since it was our first wedding post my surgery, we wanted to make sure she was there in case I needed a break! ;) Thank God, I was feeling great (probably because we were capturing our friend’s marriage!! How HAPPY is that?!?!)… I know a large part of the reason was also because Natalie was by my side to fill in where we needed her most (she even carried my bag all day! :( Sometimes that is harder than shooting! ;) )! Natalie- thank you for being you! We are so grateful for you!

Also, a big thanks to all of the professionals who helped make Karen and Brendon’s wedding so special:

Hair and Makeup: Kristi at Canton Hair Studio | Flowers: Patti Raraigh (Brendon’s mom) | Ceremony Venue: Bond Street Pier (Admiral Fell Inn) | Officiant: Chris Fedak (friend of Karen and Brendon) | Ceremony Music: Jessica Albrecht | Reception Venue: Admiral Fell Inn | Pies: Arianna Franca, Batter Up Cupcakes  (friend of Karen) | DJ/Band: C&J Entertainment | Bride’s Attire: Etsy (YES! That beautiful dress is from Etsy! ;) ) | Groom’s Attire: Banana Republic | Bridesmaid’s Attire: Nordstrom | Photographers: Liz and Ryan