There were a lot of details about Molly and Adil’s day that just made our hearts fill with joy! It was clear to us that their wedding was not just a celebration for them by them. But it was a celebration where a worldwide community was coming together to make sure Molly and Adil’s wedding celebration was one of a kind!
When Molly and Adil shared with us that their close friend was going to be making their cake, we thought that was pretty cool. But when they told us he would be flying in from Chicago on Monday to begin prep on the cake in Molly’s parent’s kitchen we got pretty excited. Okay, pretty excited doesn’t really do it justice. We were pumped. But, then they filled in the gaps that blew us away and told us that their friend was a master sugar artist and would be using blackberry preserves that had been canned from Molly’s parents garden earlier this year!!! WHAT!?! How amazingly special is that? I googled their friend’s name and he is not “just” a sugar artist, but the Chicago Tribune calls him, “a master sugar artist and cake stylist. One of the best in the country.” Yes, this was AMAZINGLY special and there was no way we were not going to capture this!
We arrived to the Eastern Shore on Thursday to begin capturing Molly and Adil’s wedding weekend. First stop was Molly’s parent’s house. We immediately felt at home as we got the tour of their home and joined the rest of Molly’s family as we watched in awe of the magic Mark and his assistant Alexis were putting together. By the time we arrived, the refrigerator was full of beautifully crafted magicalness, waiting to be decorated! We were literally left speechless as Mark shared the details of the cake in numbers.
Within this beautiful masterpiece, that consisted of 60 lbs of cake, there were approximately:
7 doz eggs
16 lbs butter
12 lbs sugar
11 lbs flour
15 qts buttercream
30 bananas
… just to name a few!
AMAZING right?!?! It was such an amazing honor to be able to capture this incredible gift to Molly and Adil as it was created!
Over 50 hours of Mark’s craftsmanship went into just the flowers on this cake!
Ohh and I would be remiss if I did not mention… this cake not only looked AMAZING, but it tasted pretty darn AMAZING too! Thanks Mark and Alexis for sharing your incredible talent with all of us! Be sure to check back next week for more from Molly and Adil’s Wedding and to see what Mark’s Cake looked like once it was finished!
We LOVE to travel and our October is probably one of our craziest travel months this year. We have already been to the Eastern Shore for an extended weekend wedding (more to come on this later today), we are currently preparing to head down to North Carolina and Virginia for two fun engagement sessions, and then later this month we head up to New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut! With all of our recent travel, we have had to become pretty adept at working from road. Or as I like to call it “our mobile office.” Which brings us to this week’s installment of Friday Favorites.
Friday Favorites – Out and About – Kelly Moore Thirst Relief Bag:
We are out and about a lot so having a mobile office is a must. The Kelly Moore Thirst Relief Bag makes it easy for us to do just that. Wether its sitting in the airport, at a coffee shop, or in our car, it is essential that we have everything we need to edit photos, write blog posts, and run our business. With the Kelly Moore Thirst Relief Bag we can fit our iPad, 15” Macbook Pro, 2 portable hard drives, Food and Wine Magazine, iPhones and several Lara Bars inside with ease.
Not only is this bag super practical, but the proceeds from sales of the bag helps provide a lifetime of clean drinking water for up to four people via Thirst Relief International. Get your very own bag here and save four lives!
Dream big, follow your passion, do what you love … these are all things we’ve told people in the past when they ask us for advice on starting a business. In fact, these are often things that life coaches and motivational speakers will tell you too. However we have decided that these answers are no longer good enough. Instead, we want to truly inspire each and every single person we meet to live a more AMAZING life.
To start, we hope to be able to help you dream big BIG dreams. Dreams that can change your life. Dreams that seem impossible at first, but with a little dedication and effort, dreams that will come true. For the next three Thursday posts on our blog we are going to be discussing one of our favorite ways to dream big. It is what we call a “Dream Storm.” It’s kind of like a brainstorm, only much much more amazing. In this three part series we will discuss the following things we do to help us have a successful Dream Storm:
1. Finding your inspirational space 2. A storm of big ideas 3. Dreams = Reality, taking the first step
Finding your inspirational space
BIG Dreams, Dreams that can rock your world, don’t just begin flowing from your brain to pen to paper to reality. Instead, you need to set the stage. Dreaming is an entire mind and body experience. Before you can begin, you must find your inspirational space. A space in which you feel safe to dream big. A space that screams you. A space that allows your mind to wander endlessly. It’s more than a room, it’s an environment. It’s the sounds and the smells. It’s how the space makes you feel when you are there. Finding a space that inspires you will allow you to truly Dream Big.
So how do you find your inspirational space? It’s not always easy, but there are a few things you can do that will make finding your space easier. First, create a checklist for your space, or what I like to call my “space criteria.”
Develop your space criteria:
Do you prefer calm spaces or loud and energetic spaces?
Do you prefer being around lots of people or by yourself?
When you really need to get work done, where do you normally go?
Do you think better while listening to music or in silence?
Do you prefer to capture your thoughts on pen and paper or on a laptop/iPad?
Do you like to be outside or inside?
Do you work better in the morning, afternoon, or in the evening?
Do you prefer sitting on a couch or at a table?
After you have answered these questions take a moment to look back over your space criteria and remember your space is your own. This isn’t an all encompassing list so feel free to write out as many different criteria for your space as you wish.
Spaces that fit you:
Next, think about spaces that satisfy the criteria on your list. If you prefer being by yourself in calm spaces, than a coffee shop is not the space for you. In this case, your inspirational space might be a simple corner nook in your home. If you like energetic spaces, then trying to dream big in a dark basement office might not be the space for you either.
For me, I love energy, being around lots of people, the smell of coffee, bright rooms, music, using our laptop and iPad, and sitting at a table. When I want to Dream Big I try to find a space that maximizes as many of these things as possible. Usually, I’ll end up at the Starbucks around the corner, or over at Spoons if I am feeling a little hungry, or up at the rustic chic Artifact Coffee. Spaces like these feed my soul. I love looking around and seeing so many different people in one space. Soaking in the buzz and excitement of a full coffee shop really sparks my creative energy. It’s amazing to think that the person at the next table could be working on something HUGE that may change the world. It inspires me to try and change the world too!
Once you have thought of a few spaces that match your space criteria, take a few of the different spaces for a test drive. When you bought a car or a home, you probably didn’t settle for the first one you looked at. Your inspirational space should be no different. Finding the perfect inspirational space will allow you to dream big dreams that can change your life.
Time for the test drive:
Create a list of 3 simple tasks. The tasks should be easy enough that you can complete each one in 30 minutes or less. An example could be responding to 10 emails or writing in a journal. Once you have a list of 3 tasks, using your answers to the questions above, think of three different spaces that fit most of your space criteria. Go to each space and complete one of the tasks on your list. Once your task is complete, take a moment to write out or think about how you felt in the space while completing the task. Was it hard to focus? Did you zip right through the task? Were you inspired to continue working?
Rinse and repeat … After testing out your three spaces your inspirational space should begin to stand out. Feel free to refine your criteria and try out as many spaces as you wish in the next week.
Once you find your inspirational space, leave us a comment below, we’d love to hear about it. And if this post was helpful, let us know, we always love feedback on how we can improve our blog! Don’t forget to check out Part II :A Storm of Big Ideas on our blog next Thursday!
At times we felt like we were in the middle of nowhere… but strangely had a comfortable feeling of home. As we drove down the dirt road that our phones guided us down, we drove straight towards a farm. Like, a legit farm, that looked like it was producing all of the milk or all of the grain for the whole Eastern Shore. We looked at each other and started to worry that we definitely were on a private road leading to this farm. But, we kept going because that is what our phones told us to do. As we got closer and realized that in fact the road took us directly through the farm, two dogs and a friendly gentleman came out to greet us! The old man looking like he had been working on the farm for 70 years straight without a break gave us a friendly wave and went about his day.
The fears of being shot at because we were trespassing quickly went away and we started to feel like we were right at home again! ;) Everywhere we turned was a beautiful picture worthy scene. I found myself pointing and just stopping in my tracks to take it all in!
We were on the Eastern Shore last week for an AMAZING wedding weekend! While we were there (in between Molly & Adil’s wedding weekend activities) we definitely took some time to soak it all in. Between driving through the rolling fields in farm country, to strolling through the gorgeous downtown of small town Easton, to taking in the beautiful beautiful beautiful waterfront views in Oxford and enjoying an absolutely perfect sunset picnic… we had quite an AMAZING few days on The Eastern Shore! As we enjoyed a pumpkin spice latte (that was totally worth a thousand bucks) at a cute coffee shop in Easton, we dreamed of a future that would continue to leave us surrounded everyday with moments of awe in the company of amazing people!
We look forward to many many more adventures to the Eastern Shore in our near future! (More to share soon from last weekend, but we could not end this post without a HUGE thanks to Molly & Adil and their amazing families who made us feel like family! and to Ann and Gary, our hosts, for making us feel at home!) We are so grateful!
When Kara and Mike told us that the perfect picture they could imagine of themselves was growing old together like in the scene of Up, my heart jumped a bit!! First of all… LOVE that movie. And second of all, whenever we see a super cute old couple together, we always get super excited and just want to squeeze them tight!
Life is certainly an adventure!!! And when Kara and Mike referenced Up, we couldn’t help but be reminded of how AMAZING it is to know you have found that person with whom you want to share that adventure!
Kara and Mike love to go on adventures together… especially when they involve Annapolis! Not only is it the place where they got engaged, but it is also the place that they have shared many special moments together!… including the first time Mike met Kara’s parents and just happened to be standing in front of Zachary’s Jewelers! We won’t talk about what happened next… lol… but Kara and Mike just love to stroll through the streets and end their perfect date with Storm Bros. Ice Cream by the water!
What a blast it was for us to be able to share in one of their perfect dates together!! Kara and Mike, we hope these photos always remind you that you have certainly found a special adventure partner in each other! Here’s to a life full of amazing adventures!!!
