Disaster Update

So...the website is back up and so is the blog. Let me know if you click on any links that don't work somewhere or find any photos missing where they should appear--just leave a comment here so I can get all my bases covered.

But email is still down. No telling when that will be fixed. Feel free to email me at melissajill@mac.com in the meantime or communicate through the comments on my blog.

Tomorrow I'm heading out of town AGAIN to take care of #55 on my list -- Go camping! I'm excited to get out of the heat and head up to northern Arizona once again. It's going to be weird, though, going a full 3 days without any contact with the outer world via email or the internet. I'm sure I'll go through some hard core withdrawals. I guess if my email is going to be down, this is a good time since I won't be able to check it the next couple days anyways. But I'm very sorry to those of you who I haven't gotten back to. Please be patient with me! Things are going to slow down and I'll be able to get on top of everything again soon.

Disaster Relief Mode

Right now I'm going through every small business owner's nightmare--my website is down, and I can't receive email! Ahhhh!!!

I'm in the process of transferring my domain to a new hosting company and it's quite an arduous process because my original domain registrar is basically out of business and is taking his time getting everything straightened out. I don't fully understand all this stuff but realized late last night that I wasn't receiving emails and then checked my website to find out it was down. So I've been scrambling ever since.

Please be patient with me as I get all this sorted out and feel free to call instead of email if you want to get through to me today.

Thanks!!

2 more guest book designs

We just finished up 2 more fabulous guest book designs. Tatum & Shane are getting married in September and Katina and Robert are getting hitched in October.

These guest books are a hot product. They're such a unique idea for a guest book to use at your wedding. And they look great filled with notes from your family and friends all over the pages.

Click here to view Tatum & Shane's guest book and here to view Katina & Robert's. Keep in mind that the actual books are 11x8 in size.

My Grandpa

This past week I got to see my 86-year-old grandpa up in Minnesota. After he put his teeth and hearing aid in, we got to sit down and talk. I think old people tell some of the best stories so I asked him about how he met my grandma (who died 10 years ago). And he told me the story of how they dated and eventually eloped! I think it's pretty cute how he tells it.



He went on to tell the story of how he served in WWII as a medic for the red cross but unfortunately my SD card ran out of space. Anyhow, the part I got is 9 minutes long so I guess that's enough to put up here. Hopefully it's not too boring for you since you don't know my grandpa :).

Laura & Nate

Yesterday I shot my cousin Laura's wedding in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. It was a rough week for Laura and Nate leading up to the wedding. Nate was in a motorcycle accident and thankfully was wearing a helmet and leather jacket but still broke his shoulder blade and bruised himself up pretty good. Pain killers helped him through the wedding. And the morning of the wedding Laura woke up struggling to swallow and went to the doctor only to find out she had mono! So they were both on drugs but the wedding went well and I honestly couldn't tell that Laura was sick. Plus Lee, Laura's brother, who was supposed to be an usher, came down with a violent flu bug on the day of the wedding and was completely out of commission. I'm still up here one more day with my aunt and uncle and now my uncle has the flu! Hopefully I won't be bringing it back to share with all of you in Arizona :).

The wedding was very simple but also very special with many family and friends in attendance.

This is my gorgeous cousin Amanda up from Nebraska:


The dress:


Getting the dress on without messing up the hair is always a fun challenge:


Laura & Nate seeing each other for the first time:


We just walked around the church grounds for portraits but I loved what I had to work with:



Laura & Nate were so sweet together.





Here's the bridal party:


The groomsmen:



The bridesmaids:


Laura's dad walked her down the isle to the country song "I loved her first." It was a tear-jerker.


The cute ring-bearer:


And the sweet flower girl:



I've never seen Laura happier:


Finally married and off to nurse each other back to health :).


If you'd like to see a slideshow with more photos from the day, click here.

Congratulations Nate & Laura!!

Life in Northern Minnesota

Today I spent some time exploring my aunt & uncle's property where I'm staying for a few days. My uncle used to run a lumber mill and used a bunch of equipment on his property over 20 years ago to build their log home. And it's still there along with a bunch of other junk that has accumulated over the years. I enjoy photographing old stuff just for the fun of it so I felt like I hit the jackpot today!

To start with, here's the beautiful log home he built:


And the driveway looking out toward the highway:


This is a tractor that my uncle claims is rare. I'll have to take his word for it.




The caterpillar's treads:


And a bunch of other rusty stuff that is foreign to me but was fun to shoot:







And old army truck cab that my uncle bought for parts:







After all that trekking through the brush, I attracted a community of wood ticks--7 is the total count that was extracted from my person. Fun stuff! Thus is life in Northern Minnesota :).

Traveling

Sorry I haven't blogged in a few days, guys. I've been scrambling to get everything wrapped up at the office and then today spent the day traveling up to Grand Rapids, Minnesota, where I'm shooting my cousin Laura's wedding on Friday. I made it even though I feared for my life a bit in this small plane I took from Minneapolis to Duluth in the midst of a rain storm. It was pretty turbulent.

It's been nice to see family today and breathe in some cool tree-scented air. My aunt and uncle live in a log house they built near a swamp and the noise from the frogs that live there is unbelievably loud. I'll have to post some photos of how beautiful it is here soon.

In other news, I sent out my May newsletter yesterday. So if you didn't receive it and are interested, just put your email address in the box to the right and you'll receive fun news from me every month.

Alex & Ryan

Saturday was Alex & Ryan's wedding. These two are a totally sweet couple who are friends of Laura & Daniel -- a couple who's wedding I shot a year and a half ago. So it was fun to see them again--happily married :).

This wedding was a dream to shoot. Even though it was hot and sunny all day, we had great light overall and beautiful places to shoot. Not to mention beautiful people :). We started out the day at a great salon in downtown Tempe -- Mood Swings. If you're getting married and looking for a salon to get ready at--check this one out--I would love the chance to shoot there again.

Here's Michelle--the maid of honor:


Alex getting her make-up done:



Next we headed to The Secret Garden, a great venue in south Phoenix. I love shooting there. My friend Sarah is the coordinator and she is a joy to work with. Also, The Secret Garden has the prettiest getting ready rooms I've seen at all the venues I've worked at.

Here's the dress:


And the shoes--one for style, one for comfort:


The girls were so funny--they really wanted the day to be peaceful and fun so they brought Uno to pass the time before getting dressed:



Alex was a gorgeous bride:



Here's Ryan hanging out with his Best Man, Scott before the wedding. I love how they're sitting the same way:


During the portraits of the guys I was working with the 2-year-old ring bearer to sit like this:


And instead, he came up with his own pose:


So hilarious!!

Here's the adorable flower girl:


Preparing the way for the bride:


The guests looked on as Alex's dad walked her down the huge staircase to get married:


Such a beautiful setting--you wouldn't know we were in Arizona except for the heat!



Some fun portraits with Alex and Ryan after the ceremony:






And the first dance:



A great moment during the father/daughter dance:


And then the par-tay!


If you haven't had enough and would like to see even more photos from the wedding, click here to see the slideshow.

Congratulations Alex & Ryan--it was such a magical day!