More Than “Just” Photographers – Inspiration for an AMAZING Life

Dreaming, Our Dreams  //  13th November 2012

Over the last few weeks, we have fielded many questions and heartfelt comments from some of our closest friends about our business and our new brand. (ie. Why did you drop photography from your name? When I go to your website, I can’t even tell it is a photographers website. etc.) All of these questions have come from their hearts and have ended up in great conversation!

The truth is, a lot of thought went into the Liz and Ryan brand and new site. When we went through the rebranding process with Making Brands Happen, we were challenged to dig deep and we came up with a few realizations that lead us to where we are today with a website that helps us achieve our goals of being more than “just” photographers:

1. The thing we LOVE most about being “photographers” is the ability to make a difference in people’s lives. Yes, we LOVE to provide amazing photographs that our couples and clients can cherish for years and generations to come. However, we even more so love the process. Over the years of owning our own “photography” business, we have realized that the moments we get to spend with our clients are cherished moments. It is usually a few hours they have given of their time to us and it is our responsibility to take those few hours and make them magical. We have realized that we have the power in those few hours to really impact their lives… and THAT is our love.

2. We have the ability to make a difference in the lives of others everyday! Our blog provides an online platform that gives us the opportunity to reach out and share a little bit of inspiration to more people than we could ever imagine photographing.

3. We are unique and we have something special to share! We are 27 and 28 (soon to be 29 with a big b-day for Ryan coming up! WAHOO!) years old. We are happily married for over 5 years (yes, we got married young! ;) ) and we wake up more in love than ever each and every day. We have worked the corporate jobs that we thought would make us successful and after realizing there was so much more to life than sitting at a desk doing work that we were not passionate about, we took our careers into our own hands. We took the time to dream and with God’s help, we created our business. We have taken HUGE leaps and risks. All of these things, we have done with passion and love together. These decisions and actions have lead us to this point in our lives where we feel INCREDIBLY blessed.

We love living the unconventional life. We love taking time to dream and then following our hearts to make those dreams a reality. We love date nights and entertaining with our friends. We love finding new recipes and challenging ourselves to make them… together. We love seeing something in a store and thinking, “we can make that”… and then actually doing it. We love being grateful for every single day that we have been given. THIS is our AMAZING LIFE.

4. Living an AMAZING LIFE (whatever that may look like to each individual) is certainly something that everyone strives to achieve and we can help people get there. We have the ability through our everyday interaction with our online friends and in person with our clients to provide inspiration and encouragement to seek out that Amazing Life… to think about what that looks like and make it happen!

5. By sharing examples of living an AMAZING LIFE, we have the ability to inspire other people to live their own AMAZING lives.

It is our goal with our new brand and http://lizandryan.com to do just that. Yes, we are still photographers and we LOVE that experience of capturing AMAZING LIVES. God has given us a talent to help illustrate our couples and clients storybooks of their amazing lives and we are honored to be able to do that. However, we never see ourselves as “just” photographers.

We have a passion for love and love stories. When we photograph our couples, it is ALWAYS our goal to help them feel more in love than ever. We want them to wake up everyday feeling incredibly blessed. We want them to look at their photographs every single day and remember that exact moment it was taken and the AMAZING love they share.

We have a passion to seek out happiness and what brings people happiness. By sharing things that bring us happiness (cooking and DIYing), we hope to spark a passion and interest in others to find what makes them happy.

We have a passion to be surrounded by amazing people and to share our love for entertaining with them. Any excuse we can come up with to pull our creative spirit together to host a party and share a good time with our friends and family… we are on it! ;) It is true that surrounding yourself by incredible people makes you a happier person. AND when you can throw in an excuse to celebrate together… that makes it even better!

So… as you can see, we are passionate about a lot of things! ;) But the overarching theme is that we are passionate about living an AMAZING life and doing everything that we can to inspire others to live their own AMAZING life. We are certainly not “just” photographers, but we believe in the power of inspiration and making this world a better place! Documenting it along the way is one incredible gift we have to share!

If you haven’t seen our promo video yet, be sure to check it out below to learn a little bit more about us and our passion to live a more AMAZING LIFE.  

Liz and Ryan: This is Us //  Promo Video // by Jeremy Mitchell Cinema on Vimeo

The Amazing Life Manifesto: Do The Unexpected

Amazing Life Manifesto, Dreaming  //  12th November 2012

This past week we were BLOWN AWAY by an unexpected gesture that literally made our heart beat a little faster. Our friends Justin & Mary put out a little message on their Facebook page to encourage their friends to hop on over to the Liz and Ryan Facebook Page and share a little love with us. About two hours later, with a HUGE new group of fans, we saw Justin & Mary’s post and literally got teary eyed. We were speechless.

This unexpected gesture took them probably 3 seconds… but it will stick in our hearts for a very long time. It was not about the number of new fans or social media in general… it was the fact that their unexpected gesture left us with a HUGE amount of encouragement.

Ryan says in the video that the unexpected gesture by Justin and Mary changed our lives. That may seem a little exaggerated… but the truth is, that simple unexpected gesture rocked our world. It has us thinking everyday about little things we might be able to do to help spread the love to other people. Knowing that everyone has the ability to share some encouragement that may rock someone’s world and help them get closer to their dreams is kind of an awesome thought.

We hope you take a moment this week to “Do The Unexpected” and rock someone’s world! You have the ability to change someone’s life! How AMAZING is that?!?

Justin & Mary… so grateful for YOU! Thank you for rocking our world and encouraging us in ways that leave us speechless! ;) xoxo!

Marielle and Ben’s Fell’s Point Baltimore Wedding

Love, Stories Documented, Wedding  //  9th November 2012

From day one that we met Marielle and Ben, we knew there was something special about them! Their style, their personalities, and most especially their ability to forget about what everyone else around them are doing and just do their own thing!!! We pretty much LOVE them! ;)

Prior to their wedding, Marielle and Ben shared with us some of the details of their day. They mentioned they were having pie instead of cake (AMAZING!); Marielle’s girls were wearing patterned black stockings (AMAZING!); They were getting married at the twilight hour and were excited for the nighttime photos! (AMAZING!) Yes, we were SUPER excited about everything that they had mentioned that made their day special! However, it wasn’t until their wedding day when we saw everything come together that we just seriously could not stop beaming!

Marielle and Ben were in their element and their beaming smiles said it all! As Marielle shared her gift that she had purchased for Ben and it was a GIANT Star Wars Lego set (that any kid at heart would dream of!), we knew this day was absolutely everything that they had wanted! They did it the way they had dreamed it to be and we could not be more excited!

Marielle and Ben… you two inspire us! We love love love that you live life the way you want to! ;) Thank you for giving us the honor to capture your amazing wedding day! We had a blast right along with every single one of your guests! Love you guys!

 

Huge thanks to everyone who helped make Marielle and Ben’s wedding so perfect!

Ceremony and Reception Venue:  Frederick Douglass – Isaac Myers Maritime Park | Caterer: Rouge Catering | Stationery: Sarah Rosenthal (friend of the bride) | Florist: Divine Design & Events | Officiant: Cantor Ann G. Sacks | Music: Aran at Ridiculous DJs | Transportation: zBest Limos | Hair: Angel at Studio 921 | Bridal Gown: Bliss by Monique Lhullier from Betsy Robinson’s Bridal Collection | Groom’s Attire: Brooks Brothers | Bowties: Knot by Tiffa (LOVE THEM! Made by Tiffany- Marielle’s MOH!) Bridesmaid’s Attire: Maggy London from Nordstrom | Groomsmen’s Attire: Black by Vera Wang from Men’s Wearhouse | Wedding Bands: Smyth Jewelers | Photographers: Liz and Ryan

 

 

Friday Favorites: Tech Corner – Paper App and Wacom Bamboo Stylus

Celebrating the Everyday, Friday Favs  //  9th November 2012

Happy Friday everyone.  Before we share this weeks Friday Favorite, we just wanted to leave a quick reminder to head on over to our Brew on the Roof Party post and leave us comment for your chance to win a $25 Williams-Sonoma Gift Card. The winner will be chosen and announced on our Facebook page shortly after 5pm today so don’t forget to like our page! :) And now for today’s regularly scheduled post…

I love technology.  As an electrical engineer, electronics and gadgets have always been in my blood.  Whether its the latest new phone, computer, or TV, it is all exciting to me. Ok, I admit it, I am kind of a nerd.  Or as Liz calls me, an “engi-nerd.”  It is crazy to think about how much technology has changed in just the last few years.  Whatever happened to car phones and cassette tapes?  Soon we will be saying good-bye to DVDs and CDs as well! That’s Crazy!  Have no fear we won’t be getting rid of our Atari 2600 anytime soon! :)

As much as I love technology, one thing that has been hard to replace is the simple joy of doodling, sketching out my thoughts, and writing in a journal.  Although I haven’t quite given up the good old fashioned pen and paper yet, this week’s Friday Favorite may eventually make me do just that.

Friday Favorites: Tech Corner – Paper App and Wacom Bamboo Stylus

As much as I love technology, until now, it was just easier to sketch out a quick idea on a notepad or in my journal.  That is until I found the Paper App and Wacom Bamboo Stylus.  The Paper App and Stylus turns your iPad into a never ending digital journal that is perfect for sketching or writing out a few quick ideas.  We pretty much always carry our iPad along with us, so using the paper app instead of a real journal has freed up some extra space in our Kelly Moore Thirst Relief bag and taken some weight off our shoulders.

Being a photographer with an electrical engineering degree has definitely made me a super visual detail oriented person. So when it came to planning our Brew on the Roof Party, I pulled out our iPad, opened the Paper App and began to sketch out our plans for the evening.  A few of my sample sketches can be found below.

 

Ok, I might not be the next Picasso, but the Paper App has definitely been one of our most used iPad Apps.

So we would love to hear from you.  What piece of technology or App has made your life just a little simpler?

Happy Friday!

 

 

DIY Barn Wood Beer Flight Tasting Boards

Celebrating the Everyday, Liz's DIY  //  8th November 2012

Out of all the DIY projects we did for our Brew on the Roof party, making our very own beer flight tasting boards from old barn wood was definitely my favorite project.  With a little bit of sweat (Liz made me use a hand saw to cut the wood so the boards would look more rustic :) ), a few hours on the roof (isn’t everyone’s workshop on their roof?), and 48 holes later, we had the perfect tasting boards for our party.

A few additional details on making your own DIY tasting boards:

If you don’t have access to old barn wood, feel free buy wood at your local hardware store.  And you can also feel free to use a table saw or circular saw to cut the wood to length.  To make the holes in the wood you will need a 2″ forstner bit. We got ours at Lowes.  Also, be sure to have well charged batteries or or a corded drill. Cutting out 2″ holes will cause a lot of strain on the drill and ware the battery out quickly.  Or better yet, find a friend who has a drill press to help out :).  When drilling, be sure to stay as level as possible and only go about 1/2″ to 3/4″ deep into the wood.

Finally, your tasting boards are not complete without tasting glasses.  We purchased ours from a restaurant supply store online and they shipped them directly to our house the next day.  Check out the Webstaurant Store for more details.

If you enjoyed this project, be sure to check out the entire tasting party here and don’t forget to leave us a comment for a chance to win a $25 gift card to Williams-Sonoma.  We will randomly select the winner tomorrow at 5pm EST.  Have a great Thursday!