This post is so full of LOVE! WOW! We are so incredibly blessed to have couples in our lives who are so willing to share their love and trust us to document this AMAZING time in their lives! We are so grateful for all of our AMAZING couples who have made this year extra special for us! (Both our Liz and Ryan couples and our Amazing Life Together couples!) What a year!As a small gesture of our thanks for all of our AMAZING couples and the support of all of you, we are having a special print sale! Now through Cyber Monday receive 20% off all prints ordered from our couple’s photo galleries! This is for our couples AND all of their family and friends too!!! You all mean so much to us!
Spread the word! We hope this provides an awesome opportunity for you to take some time to relive the AMAZING memories of these special moments! We are so beyond grateful for you! Thank you for touching our lives in a special way with your love and support!
A few weeks ago we received a package we had not been expecting! We opened the package and it was a handful of The Knot Magazine that featured Laura and Richie’sBrittland Estates wedding! SO EXCITING! We knew it was going to be featured, but wasn’t quite sure of the release date! Let’s just say it was an awesome surprise and so much fun to have it in our hands!
The next day, we received another package we had not been expecting! We opened the package and it was a handful of Inspire Weddings & Marriage! Ohh my goodness! This one we had been anticipating so much because we were featured as Contributors!!! We wrote an article for the magazine! How crazy is that?!?! Not only did they feature the article, but it was illustrated with Jessie and Mike’s engagement session! What an incredibly special honor! The extra exciting thing is that we will be contributing to their magazine on a regular basis! SO crazy exciting! Their editors and team have such a beautiful mission to help inspire AMAZING marriages and we are so excited to be a part of their efforts! Go get this magazine friends… married or not! ;)
And then the next day… crazy week, my friends… we received another package we had definitely not been expecting! We opened the package and it was The Knot (NATIONAL MAGAZINE!) Eeeek! Months ago we had been contacted by one of their editors asking us if they could use one of the images from Lisa and Matt’s wedding at the Peabody Library. Of course, honored, we said yes! But to be completely honest, the lead time for print publications is so long (months!) and so much can change in that time, that we never fully believe it is happening until we have the magazines in our hands! ;) Well, we have them in our hands and it is real! ;) The picture is pretty small… lol… but one of our images is featured in a national magazine! What an honor!
That wraps up our crazy week of mail! ;) But definitely doesn’t wrap up all of the excitement and gratitude that is in our hearts when we see our images and our couples spreading their love around the world! Here are a few other recent publications featuring Liz and Ryan photography! ;)
I can’t even begin to describe how grateful I am to you all for your love, support, thoughts, prayers, texts, cards, flowers, cookies, visits, magazines, cozy PJs, a Birchbox, and so many other sweet treats that rocked my world over the past few weeks while recovering from surgery!! I could feel the prayers!… and every single time I would start to get in a rut or feel the anxiety, the mail would come and there would be the sweetest, most thoughtful card/gift or I would receive a text that just made my day.
The last few weeks have been hard. I am not going to sugarcoat that one. But God is good my friends. And I am feeling more and more like myself daily! I still have a few weeks of lifting restrictions and not overdoing it, but I am blow-drying my own hair again ;) and getting out and about warms my heart! ;) In fact, we have a wedding on Saturday and I am more than excited to get the camera in my hands! ;) Through the ups and downs post surgery, Ryan and I have learned SO MANY life lessons! Seriously, this down time has been so much more than just healing my body!
We blogged about a few of the lessons over at AMAZING Life Together (and we invite you to definitely check out the posts: The Perfectly Imperfect Valentine’s Day, You are right where you are suppose to be. I think?, We have the choice, It is hard being taken care of). But one big one that we have not yet shared is my realization that you can never tell someone you love them or are thinking about them too often! ;) Honestly, how many times have you thought of someone and said, I should send them a note… and then you never do because of a variety of reasons. Next time you think of someone… you should let them know! Even if it is just a text! Every single text, call, note, visit, email, FB message etc. MADE MY DAY! Even though I may not have responded immediately or sent a thank you note as quickly as I would have liked… I pray that you all know just how much every single touch meant to me… and us really!! ;) Ohh so lesson number 2 for this post… when you send that text or note, etc… if they don’t respond right away, don’t be discouraged. Just know in your heart that YOU made their day. For sure.
I hope I can make your day right now by saying you are AMAZING! And you helped me get through these last few weeks of recovery! THANK YOU!
Side note… I did receive the pathology reports and in the doctor’s words “it was a homerun.” They confirmed that it was a muscinous cyst that did not have any cancer within it, but certainly had a likelihood that it could have developed into cancer in the future. They feel incredibly strongly that they got the whole cyst and everything they needed to take along with the tail of my Pancreas, AND they were able to keep my spleen! ;) WAHOO!). Seriously, I can’t say this enough… God is good. There is a reason that everything happens in life and although it may be difficult at times, God is just preparing us for something greater. I feel incredibly blessed and we are so grateful!
Since I know you all are incredible prayers… please continue to pray for everyone who may be going through a hard time or are faced with health challenges! We all know someone or multiple people facing trials right now… please keep them close to your heart!
As we run around making the final preparations for our family and friends to arrive, (you know, cleaning the bathrooms, finishing the laundry, placing fresh flowers around the house, ohh and cooking the turkey too!) we wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU!
This past weekend, Ryan and I were eating our first Thanksgiving dinner of the year at MeMe’s house in PA. We were surrounded by our family and definitely in our happy place! Even though it is often completely crazy… seriously at one point I just stopped to listen and realized that there were about 30 conversations going on at once all in the same room and the volume level was over the top… it is definitely happy and I would not want it any other way!
I was chatting with my Uncle and at one point he said, you sure do meet a whole lot of great people doing what you do, don’t you?! Without hesitation, I said absolutely! We often talk about our Liz and Ryan family that has been created since the start of our business, but I am not sure I have honestly taken the moment to really think about that completely! When we started our business, we were excited about the idea of meeting other couples who were in the same life stage as us. However, we have been blessed beyond imagineable with a whole community of people who make our hearts happy on a daily basis!
This year in particular, I feel like our Liz and Ryan family has grown incredibly and has become closer than ever! Between our couples, their parents, their siblings, their friends, our fellow photographers, our blog readers, our fellow wedding professionals and inspirers… and everyone who has come into our lives through our business, we have one AMAZINGly beautiful Liz and Ryan family! You all have been there to support us in every way and we are so incredibly grateful for you!!
So today, on one of my favorite days of the year… we want to say Thank You to ALL of our family and friends… including ALL OF YOU whom we consider a part of the Liz and Ryan family! As you think about what you are thankful for today, please take a moment and recognize that you are one the many blessings in our lives that we are thanking God for today and everyday! Thank you for making our hearts smile!
Happy Thanksgiving (AND Happy Thanksgivukkah to all of our Jewish friends!) from our hearts to yours!!!
This past weekend was a bit tough… ok, really tough. I woke up with a 102 degree fever on Friday morning and found myself admitted to the hospital by Friday afternoon. After two romantic date night evenings in the hospital (wink, wink), we finally made our way home yesterday! Thank God for that blessing! ;)
I have learned quite a bit over the past few days… many lessons I am still learning for sure through this recovery. However, one thing that has become overly clear is the power of positive thinking and my need to be extra confident throughout the tough times that God is guiding me through this life. He is right by my side and He is doing so many AMAZING things throughout this journey!
After a bit of a low point yesterday that was full of emotion (yes, tears and all!), Ryan reminded me that God is going to take care of me. God IS taking care of me right now. When I took some time to think about the positives in my life, instead of focusing on the challenges, my whole perspective changed! God IS so good and He has blessed us with so many AMAZING blessings to remind us of that daily!!
Instead of focusing on the details of the rough couple of days (one day maybe we can chat about that if you would like- but honestly right now I need to focus on the GREAT things happening! ;) ), I decided to create a Gratitude List today. I am going to share 5 things that are definitely on my list today. It would make my heart smile so big if you all could add to my list. I need to focus on the positives and the more I think about it, I think we all could, right?
Just a few of the things I am incredibly grateful that God has blessed me with today.
1. Ryan. Ok, I know that seems obvious, but I am even more than grateful for him today than ever. Ryan has been by my side- doing EVERYTHING for me! Seriously, everything (including even blow-drying my hair!)!! At any point I started to feel anxious or scared, God gave him every word I needed to hear to give me strength. I am so incredibly grateful!
2. Photographs. Twelve years ago yesterday, Ryan and I started dating. ;) So fun, right?!?! That is magical to even think about. This morning, a photograph of Ryan and I, that is on a box I had made for Ryan which sits in our bedroom, caught the corner of my eye. The photo looked VERY similar to a photo that Ryan and I just took on Saturday when they let us out of the hospital for some fresh air (see below!). As I looked closer at the photo, I realized it was a photo from the location where we started dating! ;) And the memories of our fun picnic adventure 12 years ago came flooding back. I am so grateful for that photo and the memories that come along with it!
3. Fresh Air! Ahhh! Seriously, the weather was absolutely gorgeous this weekend in MD. The skies were bright blue with big white puffy clouds! When I went into the hospital on Friday, the air was still a bit sticky from the 90+ degree days we had last week. Every time the nurses and doctors would come in, they would mention how great the weather was (not in a mean way- just to share their gratitude and excitement for me to get out to enjoy it!). I could not wait to get outside and take a deep breath of the cool crisp air that had moved in! On Saturday, they gave me permission to take a step outside and soak it all in! Since I have been home, the windows have been wide open and those deep breaths have never felt so good! ;) So grateful for the fresh air that surrounds us!
4. Nurses, Doctors, and others who are passionate about their jobs! God definitely had His hands in building a team that was going to take care of me. Dr. Keith, and all of the other nurses, doctors, techs, etc were so caring and so AMAZING. Dr. Keith went out of her way in so many ways to make sure she was there. Staying late on Friday… coming in the morning and afternoon on Saturday… and then again bright and early on Sunday! She was not on call and not suppose to be working, but she made sure she was there! That was incredible to me and definitely an AMAZING example of dedication that is more than appreciated! I am so grateful for every dedicated professional who is using their God-given talents to make a difference in people’s lives.
5. Comfort. The comfort of home is pretty remarkable. However, it is not the stuff… it is the people that surround you. It is the family and friends… those that are physically near and those that are not, but are certainly close to your heart. My immediate family and many of my close friends live out of state, but the past few days have brought everyone even closer to my heart. I am reminded of the incredible gift of friendships we have been given… from years past to very recent. We have family that surrounds us always (near and far) and for that I could not be more grateful.
This girl is well on her way to a speedy recovery! ;) (haha… had to share that!) But really- THANK YOU to everyone who sent their well wishes by text, email, phone, FB, blog comments, sweet treats, flowers, visits, etc. You all have lifted my spirits and have given Ryan an energy boost when he needed it most, too! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
The gratitude in my heart is overflowing and that is so HAPPY! Seriously, that is the best medicine!!! Please please please take a moment today to think about what you are grateful for and say an extra special prayer to God thanking Him for those blessings in your life!! Please leave a few in the comments and I will be sure to thank Him along with you!
As a small gesture of our thanks for all of our AMAZING couples and the support of all of you, we are having a special print sale! Now through Cyber Monday receive 20% off all prints ordered from our couple’s photo galleries! This is for our couples AND all of their family and friends too!!! You all mean so much to us!
Spread the word! We hope this provides an awesome opportunity for you to take some time to relive the AMAZING memories of these special moments! We are so beyond grateful for you! Thank you for touching our lives in a special way with your love and support!
