Recently in an interview, I was asked, “What inspires you?”
Ever since, I’ve been answering that question in my mind. It’s such a broad question, almost silly as there is just so much that inspires me.
I’ve come to the conclusion that inspiration to me isn’t a tangible object or scene, it’s a feeling.
xoxo. . .
Carla and Jason were married Memorial Day weekend in Martha’s Vineyard and their theme, “Save the date, save a dog.” Today, their wedding story has been featured on Best Friends Animal Society.
Thanks to Nicki Fenderson from the Pixel Chicks for making Best Friends aware of this wonderful event!
There are a number of ways you can incorporate Best Friends into your wedding, anniversary, birthday party or any other celebration. Instead of party favors, for instance, you can let your guests know that you’ve made a donation to the animals as part of the celebration. Best Friends can also set up a gift event for your wedding, in which you include small cards with your invitations that let your guests know they can make a gift donation to Best Friends to celebrate your special day. For more information, or if you’d like to individualize how you involve Best Friends in your celebration, email donations@bestfriends.org or call (435) 644-2001 ext. 4801.
by Melissa
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Recently, I had posted a entry called home that mentioned a reading during a ceremony that struck me. I discovered that the reader actually wrote this incredible-ness and has granted me permission to share this with you. Caroline and Mike were married on June 26, 2010 at the beautiful First Church in Wenham, Massachusetts. Stepping into this church, you feel history, you sense the past and I felt aware of what came before us. Leaving this church, I was so moved by this place and their heartfelt ceremony. Here is the reading by the writer and reader, Nathaniel Boyle.
{Home}
Consider your home. Ask yourself how many homes you have had in your life. How many times have you thought “I am at home.” And I don’t mean how many houses, or apartments, or walls you’ve lived within but instead how many moments in your life have you felt at home within yourself. Because a home is more than a place.
Consider what makes a home. If something brings you happiness, if it provides a warmth, if it gives safety, and if inside you find peace, then, are you home? You can find those feelings and still not find yourself at home. This is because we don’t find homes, we create them. And a home requires a special response — a unique, very rare ingredient — from you.
Love. Love is the reciprocal value that transforms those feelings into something greater. You’re never truly home until you love something. Love makes a home.
Don’t just make each other happy, embody each other’s happiness at the end of each day.
Don’t just keep each other warm, light fires in the winds of your hearts and burst stars in the nights of your minds.
Don’t just bring each other peace, declare armistice for the great wars within yourselves.
Don’t just keep each other safe, make each other invulnerable.
You will always have two homes in your life. Where you come from and where you are going. As you will always love the place you came from, you will never stop loving one another. Make a temple of the place that you have created between your hearts and call that home.
Imagine knowing that no matter which direction the world turns, no matter how hard it shakes you, your future will always be your home. Makes you the luckiest person in the world.
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I think it is such a nice touch to allow someone close to you to create something so meaningful for your wedding day. It’s a great way for your guests to remember your special day and creates a special connection with the person who delivers the message.
Please feel free to view Caroline and Mike’s wedding day slideshow.
A full post, coming soon . . .
xoxo . . .
by Melissa
3 comments
I love this!! What a wonderful wedding!August 18, 2010 – 9:10 pm
These are Beautiful Melissa!!!!! 
What a gorgeous wedding.August 4, 2010 – 9:21 am
This slideshow is beautiful (and even made me tear up a bit) – I’ve been to this church years ago and you’re right – history oozes from the walls August 4, 2010 – 8:43 am
I sneaked away from the studio last week and treated myself to a long overdue mani-pedi. When I go to a salon of any kind, I allow myself to indulge in US or People magazine. Nowadays, when I flip through I barely know who so and so is anymore. I can’t tell if I’m getting old or it’s just that in my day to day life, I don’t care about that world. I noticed this time that there was a lot of reports of relationships ending or couples I thought were married were actually getting married to new people. I don’t know where these folks find the time to be so busy with ending and beginning relationships so quickly but it is just celebrity gossip. However, I do feel like this gossip, this type of news can have an affect on how women in particular view relationships. To me, these magazines, these reports, do not shed a pretty light. It’s all about who did what to who and what they wore while doing it.
This got me thinking about how society tends to focus on negativity, thrive and magnify bad news. It can leave you a little hopeless and disgusted. Luckily, I see real relationships evolving as my profession. My clients are my celebrity world. They are what I have as a window into real life, real deal relationships. I travel from place to place and intimately point my camera into the world of real couples everyday. I see what it’s like for them to hug, kiss and connect in front of me.
At first, it can be quite awkward, exposing your relationship to me and the camera. Nothing can prepare you for what it feels like and expectations can be high so there is a lot of emotion that can be stirred to the surface. My job is to peal away those layers of feeling uncomfortable and allow you to trust that it’s perfectly okay to just be yourselves.
Vanessa and Chris found me over the winter and I have had the pleasure of getting to know them for a few months. We spent an evening together at Fort Williams Park where they were engaged. There are many photographs from this session that I love and will share. They have something that I haven’t seen before. I can’t put it into words but it would be nice to hear more about what these photographs feel like in our day to day news stories . . .
V+C, thank you for sharing your love with me. I’m so looking forward to your August wedding day.
xoxo . . .
by Melissa
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Ahhhhh, Leo. He’s just what a girl needs by her side while she’s flying through wedding season. He’s always happy, he’s always love. The boy wakes up and he’s love, he goes for a walk and he’s love, he eats his breakfast, he takes a nap, he takes a walk to the studio, he eats a treat out of his kong, he lays in the sun, he freaks the heck out when he sees another dog, he naps again, he goes home, he eats dinner and then plays a bit before turning in well before I hit the bed. He’s love.
He’s also lost a bit of weight. This was Leo when we moved to Maine : Leo then
And this is Leo today.
Dr. Kate, his vet couldn’t believe how awesome he looks. He’s a fit, trim and healthy man and she says he looks exactly how a Pug should look weight wise. He’s gone on a lot of walks to reach this high level of Pug awesomeness. There isn’t a week that goes by where someone yells to us on the street, “Hey, he looks exactly like Frank!” {From the movie, Men in Black}
I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me but WhatEV – Leo is totally cuter!
xoxo . . .
by Melissa
2 comments
i LOVE leo! looking svelt these days…August 14, 2010 – 4:55 pm
LOVE him! He’s probably thanking you for not putting one of those floppy hats on him for this shoot lol!July 16, 2010 – 1:09 pm
by Melissa
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