Amanda and Tim's engagement was one of the first photography sessions I had right after coming back from my own wedding - which made it fun to try to see images from a little bit of a different perspective. It was also the first time I have met Amanda and Tim as they ventured i-95 to travel here to Wilmington from Washington D.C. I'm so glad that they had such lovely weather because I think the photos have a fall-like feeling even though they were taken in February.

When I brought them to a local estate here in Wilmington for photos, it was interesting because Amanda was saying how much the property looked like their wedding location,Evermay. We guessed that they were probably built around the same era by similar families and I was glad to have chosen a engagement session location for them that compliments their style!

The light was great to have considering it was pretty cold out!

this is my favorite of the session, i just love how the light pulls warmth into the image

thanks for visiting Wilmington, Amanda and Tim - I am very much looking forward to your wedding this summer!

We are so excited to host April Armstrong, professional children's storyteller, for the second year in a row on Saturday March 29th.   This year's storytelling event will be co-hosted with LouLou's Whimsicals, Sweetheart Boutique (formerly Studio 11), and Sugarfoot Fine Food.

Please join us for this complimentary event to particpate in fun, food and stories, and don't forget to bring a friend! 

Times: 1:00-1:30, 2:00-2:30 and 3:00-3:30 p.m.
RSVP to: rsvp@novakphotography.com
Location: Laura Novak Photography, 1905 Delaware Avenue

I am so grateful to those who keep up with what is happening at Laura Novak Photography, and consider what we do every day worth reading about.

In case you are interested in the same things I am, I thought it would be useful to share a few blogs I keep up with regularly and really enjoy:

Zen Habits -This blog offers productivity advice and so much more about living well and having a peaceful life existence

Design Sponge - unique textiles, creative home decor, innovative wall art and great design finds decorate the pages of this design blog for creative types

Bluelines - Blueprint may have been discontinued (anyone want a subscription to Martha Stewart Living?) but the magazine lives on through Bluelines, the blog that used to be Blueprint magazine

Snippet & Ink - Daily inspiration in the form of inspiration boards that are sure to... inspire

Petite Fashionista - Finally! Fashion advice for the vertically challenged. Great tips followed up with petite celebrity photos to show us how stylists conquer petite fashion.

A Mac tip every day - Even though I switched from PC to Mac several years ago (one of the best days of my life, right behind my wedding day and the day we adopted Art), everything that Apple computers are capable of just astounds me. This blog provides daily tips on all the super-sneaky-secret things you can do with a Mac.

Which blogs are your favorite to visit? I would love to hear!

I can't believe how much I missed being here at the studio in the last few weeks, and how much I loved being back to photograph the very first photo session I had last week upon returning to the studio. So in taking a little bit of a break from the daily wedding reports, here are some images from a home portrait session that I photographed last week.

I last saw this beautiful little girl just over a year ago and now she is chatting, playing and loving her new baby sister. It was such a joy to be in their home and I felt so privileged to document the growth of this family

Over this past weekend, John and I have discovered the vast social networking time warp that is Facebook. I was so curious about it because after our wedding, several of my bridesmaids started to connect there and I was wondering what all the fuss was about. I have to admit, it's pretty fun and I have found people that I haven't seen for ages from high school and college - along with tons of other photographers.

If you are a blog reader and are on Facebook, look me up!

As you can see from the below posts, I had SO much fun with the design and styling of the wedding designs. Anyone who knows me, knows that I love clothing and am a little bit of a fashionista so playing stylist was a total blast!

One thing I knew right away is that I did not want my bridesmaids purchasing brand new bridesmaid dresses. Each of my bridesmaids wore a long, black dress that they either picked out themselves or already had in their wardrobe. I really liked that people could get something they would wear again in a price range they were comfortable with!

Since the dresses didn't exactly 'match' I accessorized them! When I was at Leah C for my veil and headpiece, I found these smaller accessory hairpieces and asked Leah to make eight of them for me in a variety of pinks as bridesmaids gifts.

Here is what my Maid of Honor's hair looked like once it was styled:

and Jamie's

Leah made both combs and hairpins for me so that they would go in a variety of lengths of hair. I love Jen Dery's style with the hairpiece in it:

My friend and hair/makup artist Claudia Seyler styled everyone's hair perfectly!

My other gift to the bridesmaids were long, beautiful black onyx necklaces made by Saylor Sage which could be worn as a single strand or doubled up. If you have Saylor make bridesmaids gifts for you, be sure to ask her about her discount for brides!

Here is my childhood friend Kristy with her flowers, hairpiece and necklace. So pretty!

Hannah, the flower girl, has been in more weddings than Katherine Heigel. Well... maybe not 27, but when you are as pretty as Hannah, you end up in a lot of weddings. Hannah was in several weddings last year, so Becca (Hannah's mom) and I just chose one of the dresses Hannah wore in 2007 and added a black satin sash that I found on ebay. It worked out perfectly:

As you can probably see, it was really important to me that the people in my wedding looked great AND had fun while spending as little as their own personal money as possible. Several of them have kids and other things to worry about, so I didn't want our wedding to consume their lives.

I loved the way it came out:

Vendor Information

Bridesmaid dresses - long black dresses of each person's choice
Hairpieces - Leah C Millnery
Necklaces - Saylor Sage
Hair and Makeup - Claudia Seyler

Happy Valentine's Day! While on our honeymoon, I was thinking about what I was going to do with all the lovely accessories, hairpieces, frames, and details that were used at our wedding. Although I would love to save them for posterity the reality is that they will probably never be used again. After quite a bit of consideration, I have decided to place them for auction on ebay and donate the proceeds to charity.

Today I listed this beautiful thank you card box that Suji, one of my wedding clients from last December, made for me on ebay. We decided to donate the proceeds from this auction to St. Jude's Children's Hospital

happy bidding! more auctions to come in the next few weeks.

Speaking of auctions, bidding is still available for a photographer's mentoring session with me this March at WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International) until 10 p.m. tonight. All proceeds will be donated to Thirst Relief International: CLICK HERE to bid!

Hot off the presses! Click here to see the video recap that Tim Sudall just sent me from Video One Productions

I can't say enough great things about Video One. As a photographer, I rarely see or notice Tim when I am working with him - he is virtually invisible. In fact, Tim and I had a great laugh last summer at the end of a long wedding day when the father of a bride came up to him and said "Thanks man, you guys sounded great!" (meaning that the father thought Tim was with the band).

As a bride, it was exactly the same - Tim was virtually unnoticeable except for his friendly smile I saw from a distance throughout the day. He is classy, subtle and professional and I was thrilled to have him part of our day.

Enjoy!