Today is the day. Today is the 10th and last stop on The What’s Next Tour. We are not sure how this day is already here, but it is. Today we are reminded to soak this in. To soak in every special moment that you may or may not even recognize as “special” on a daily basis!
Today, we are slowing down. If we had magical powers, we may even go through this day in slow motion just so that we can soak in every single moment that we have. ;) We are soaking in the AMAZING words that God is sharing with us through Justin and Mary’s voices… we are soaking in the emotions and the energy and the passion that fills the room. We are soaking in the open hearts and warm hugs. The What’s Next Cafe and the details that are so inviting… we are soaking them in! And we are even soaking in the effort it takes to load in and load out… in hopes that we never forget the hard work and love that fills this tour!
This What’s Next Tour experience has been filled with moments that we will never forget. These moments make up the past 3 weeks of our lives. These moments we are so happy for. So grateful!
We are so excited to share more with you about the Tour! So much more to come! But in the meantime… soak in this moment and enjoy today! Happy weekend friends!
Yesterday we started our day off in a way that seriously could not have been better! Before the tour even began, we were super excited about visiting a few of the cities either because we have never been there before or because there are special people in our lives that call that city home! One of those cities that meets both of those reasons is Indianapolis and we were there yesterday!! ;) Wahoo!
It was crazy cold (about 10 degrees when we got in) and we didn’t get much sleep the night before, but there could never be an excuse good enough to miss a 7:30 a.m. breakfast with Carly and Bobby!!! We photographed Carly and Bobby’s wedding in August of 2011… (that seems like forever ago!!!)… and they are AMAZING! Seriously, we love them!
As we sat at breakfast catching up on their lives and hearing all about their house-hunting adventures, we were quickly reminded of how blessed we are to have such incredible couples in our lives! When we started our business we were thinking it would be fun to meet a few couples here and there who would maybe become friends. Haha… that is one of the aspects of starting our business that we are so excited to have been proven wrong about! ;) Elizabeth Ryan Photography and now Liz and Ryan has brought so many incredible people into our lives! We are so grateful for the love that surrounds us… for the people who walk into our lives as strangers and put their trust in us to capture an incredibly special time of their lives who quickly become not only friends but family!
It makes our hearts sing knowing that we get to see Carly and Bobby two more times this year!!! at two of their friends/family weddings (Sarah and Joe and Susan and Brad!! Whoop Whoop!) ;) YAY! Couldn’t be more excited and grateful that the Liz and Ryan Family is growing with couples who are AMAZING… just like Carly and Bobby! ;)
We were in a room full of people. Everyone listening intently as Mary pulled a few What’s Next statements from the chalkboard to discuss. We went through a few… and as soon as Mary was about move onto the next section, a few words caught her eye in the upper right corner of the chalkboard. They read, Make Others *SPARKLE*! As her face lit up, Mary looked out into the crowd and said, “Whoa… wait. Who said “Make Others Sparkle”?
In the front row, one of our most favorite people ever raised her hand, Natalie Franke. Natalie went on to describe that she wants to lift people up. This year she wants to focus on spreading her bright personality while making a difference in the lives of others! And in that moment… our smiles got as big as they can get and our hearts were literally beaming (well, actually my smile may not have been that big because I was actually doing everything I could to hold back the happy tears… haha! As you can imagine, the tears flowed anyway!) In that moment, as Natalie thanked us for bringing out her Sparkle and pledged to pass it on… Natalie touched our hearts in a special way and that moment we will never forget!
Natalie is one of those people who is always thinking of others! Always!! ;) That is just one of the many reasons she sparkles! And we are so excited that this year she sees herself spreading that sparkle all over (even more than normal)!!! How exciting to think of what this world will look like full of Natalie Sparkles?!?! ;) So MAGICAL!!! :)
I am super excited to say that Natalie is well on her way to spreading that sparkle this year! She, along with the 3 other fabulous ladies behind Bayside Bride and Charm City Wed have created the Chesapeake Bridal Awards in hopes to spread the shine and recognize wedding professionals in the area! AMAZING, right? They had thousands of nominations… that means hundreds of people took the time to nominate thousands of their favorite businesses! They created the opportunity for thousands of happy thoughts and sparkle to shine!
We are beyond honored to be one of the nominations and even more honored to have been selected as a finalist and named one of the top 10 wedding photographers in the Chesapeake Bay area. Wow!! Seriously, wow! We are so humbled and so inspired to be among so many incredible wedding professionals in the area! Thank you Natalie, Krista, Serena and Rochelle for spreading your magical sparkles!!!
We would love love love for you to jump on over to the Bayside Bride site and the Charm City Wed site to vote (1 vote on each Facebook Page per person). Of course we would be honored if you vote for Liz and Ryan under Photographer, but what we are even more excited about is for you to vote for your favorite vendors in every category!!! Spread the love! If your favorite wedding professionals aren’t on the lists… please take a moment and send them a note to let them know how much you love them! Everyone loves a sweet love note here and there! ;)
Ohh Happy Day!!! It’s Monday! We hope you had an AMAZING weekend! This week we are starting with a little juggling for our AMAZING Life Manifesto Video! :) Often times we let our to do lists get so large that we forget about the most important to do: Having Fun! So this week, be sure to schedule in a little extra time to Play! Whether it’s going to a movie, playing with a puppy, or juggling, be sure to make it a priority to play, have fun, and laugh! Have an AMAZING week!
