Tubs and chickens and glitter, oh my!

I had the hardest time choosing what to feature in this post. Seka is a phenomenal planner and an extremely creative girl. We went back and forth with ideas that would make this engagement session shine and I am IN LOVE with the outcome!
Can hardly wait for May! Their wedding is going to blow my mind!  Martha Stewart Weddings, here we come!

Love Love Love,
Tif

P.S. check out their Save the Date {(which they made together)} Completely adorable!
And a special thanks goes out to Love Tif Bride Elizabeth for generously loaning her property out for the antics below!

Hands down, a girl in galoshes is always a good thing. But one soggy rainy day (three years ago) as Rebecca sat in Jeff’s office awaiting a meeting, she was not impressed. ”Nice boots” he said to a girl he had never met. Rebecca did not take it as a compliment. They ran into each other a few times outside of work, but didn’t interact. A coworker of Jeff’s even tried to set them up, but Rebecca held her ground. Not interested. After all, he made fun of her boots. A full year passed and Rebecca found herself in Jeff’s office again for a meeting. She heard him calling to her from down the hall. When she turned towards him, his smile was enormous and infectious. Her knees went weak. And just like that, their story began.

Every single aspect of this day was built around love. Take special note of the hand-made paper flowers. Rebecca’s favorite book is Pride and Prejudice and being the hopeless romantic that she is, she decided to make all of their flowers from the pages of that very book. Jeff meticulously cut more than 1000 pieces of paper and Rebecca folded them into the beautiful bouquets you see below. They were married in Florida’s oldest house (in St. Augustine) just as the sun began to dip behind the trees. And one of the most important details of all, Rebecca’s father Mauricio was able to walk her down the aisle and give her away. It was a blessing.

Rebecca, thank you for inviting me to be part of your day. You were absolutely radiant! I look forward to watching your love grow and your story unfold.

Love, Tif

Rebecca and Jeff decided to see each other before the ceremony. It was so sweet the way she came up behind him and prepared him for a full 20 seconds before allowing him to turn around and take her in. It was a very special moment… one that almost brought her to tears (see the way she is regaining composure in the bottom frame).

Even though they saw each other first, Jeff is still over the moon as soon as the gate swings open and he sees her appear. I love that!

During the ceremony, selected guests began popping up from their seats to give a blessing to the couple. The next photo is the couples reaction to it. I LOVE the way Jeff is looking at Rebecca here. Such love.

Janelle LOVES the way Tony writes. Shortly after they met, she began to take note of his wit and the way he so eloquently expressed himself through words on Facebook. In fact, his thoughts were perfectly aligned with her thoughts on quite a few topics. She was intrigued.
It wasn’t long before Tony extended an invitation for dinner. And in Janelle’s eyes, the night was nothing short of perfect.
A few weeks passed and they decided to take a road trip, together. It was there in a wooden cabin in the mountains of North Carolina that they fell in love. Tony continued to court Janelle with love poems and mix CD’s, laughter and exploration, healing and love.
And here they are, two years later,  happier than ever and now united as one.
Thank you for bringing me along on your journey. Janelle, I am so so happy that you found Tony. You are such a kind and gentle soul and you deserve every ounce of love that Tony gives you. And Tony, don’t ever stop loving that beautiful girl! She’s a good one!

Love, Tif

Janelle and Tony opted to see each other before the ceremony (the First Look). I love the way they both gushed with excitement when they saw each other.
I LOVE these moments!

Having a little over a month before the big day, Hillary and Jason signed on to be a Love Tif couple. It was kind of late in the planning process but I am so happy that Rebecca Ryan-Gonzalez sent them my way. (if you don’t remember Rebecca’s engagement session, take a peek here).

We met for lunch one day and I was blown away by the passion that they both had for life and living it well. They are both vegetarians and believe (as I do) that proper nutrition is the key to good health. Not only did they create an entirely veggie dinner menu, but Jason is about to launch his own hot sauce line (which they handed out as gifts to all of the guests). And Hillary designed the label! They are truly an amazing couple. Thank you for letting me come along on your journey Hillary and Jason! So much love to you!

Love, Tif

Jason made this gorgeous mailbox for Hillary.

And Hillary put this sweet book together to express her deepest love.

Hillary and Jason opted to do the First Look. You know how much I LOVE these!

Wow. Hillary, you are simply stunning!

As the reception began, they surprised everyone with a choreographed dance number. I love the way the light was caught between their hands in this shot. It’s symbolic of the power they share, together.

And this is the newest hot venture!

This is a love story for the history books. I mean seriously.
Jamie and Eddie are two of the funniest, silliest, most adorably in love people I have had the pleasure of being around.
They became friends around 9 years ago and began dating about 7 years ago. The have been through college, restaurant jobs, law school, interning, grown-up jobs and life’s little/big curve balls.

When I asked Eddie describe his love for Jamie, he literally melted my heart. He said she is loving and compassionate with the most enormous heart of anyone, she is quirky, smart, loyal and drop dead gorgeous just to name a few. He had his dream girl. Eddie proposed to Jamie on the day they signed the papers to buy their first house back in 2009. They walked through the front door and Eddie told Jamie how much he loved her and explained that he wanted to wait until he could buy her a house and a ring to ask her to be his wife. (swoon)
But in the middle of their story, a curve ball came their way. Eddie had been experiencing the symptoms of a rare condition called Acromegaly. He had a tumor on his pituitary gland right near his brain and it was affecting life in every way. He endured 6 years with constant pain before they figured out the problem. Finally in April of this year, Eddie had  surgery to remove the tumor that had transformed his life. When he awoke from surgery, he was a new man. Right back to the fun, playful, quirky jokester he had always been before this speed bump slowed him down. And throughout all of this, Jamie showed Eddie just how powerful her love was. She was there, by his side, for everything.

And now with all of that behind them, they are ready to just sit back and enjoy what’s ahead. The life that they have made together and the family they will build, together.

Thank you for being such a fantastic couple. I had soooooo much fun photographing this engagement session.
Nothing but clear skies ahead for this love.

Love, Tif

Janelle and I have known each other for a few years now and I am so happy to see her in LOVE! (It truly is wonderful to see you all glowy and giddy!)
The wedding is almost here and I am so excited for you and Tony!

Love, Tif

After reading this fascinating blog post by Seth Godin, it had me thinking about the difference between relationships we build with people we call vendors and people we call artists. It’s really quite a stark contrast.

I often get emails from potential clients asking for nothing more than my numbers. “How much do you charge?” While finances are an important piece of information when planning a wedding, should they be the first question you ask? What about personality? After all, you will be spending the entire day with this person. You should definitely ensure you like who they are as a person. What about their artistic vision? How important is creating something new and exciting to them? Are they passionate about what they do and excited to be working with you?

There are definitely people you will hire as vendors to fulfill your needs on the big day. But when choosing a photographer, you are selecting an artist whose work you have fallen in love with. You are trusting this one person to preserve the magic of your day in pictures and deliver something you will never tire of looking at. As Seth said “you are hiring someone that will dig deeper to put something on the table that you can’t possible write a spec for”. You are hiring an artist.  Happy hunting!

 
Love, Tif

I am so excited to announce Style Me Pretty has invited Love Tif to become an exclusive member in their Little Black Book!

This is such an honor and I am looking forward to connecting with all of the avid SMP readers! You can check out my profile here!

These two beautiful people actually worried that their session might be too awkward, but I think  you will see they were wrong. They were adorable! Thanks for selecting me to capture your story! I can’t wait for your wedding in October!

This BCBG dress is beyond sexy. It’s flirty and fun and Rebecca rocked it out!

xoxo

Love, Tif

What began as a bit of “research” for her latest book, somehow turned into a match made in online heaven. His profile read: “I have a tan, all my teeth and can easily see my belly button. I read books without pictures, watch movies with dialogue and don’t consider KFC an ethnic food. I’m looking for a girl who appreciates the finer things in life but is willing to settle for me.” She was instantly intrigued. Fascinated to be exact. This guy sounded interesting. They met and spent hours talking on their first date.  Sally sat across the table from Ed and could not contain her interest. He was smart, funny and a handsome devil! Score one for Sally and for online dating.

Fast forward one year…Sally had been touring the country speaking about her book Fascinate for quite some time so when a speaking engagement in Las Vegas came up, her love Ed decided to join her. As she spoke to a captive audience one night about how we need to fascinate in order to win our prospect, Ed stood up and turned to a large handwritten sign on a flip-chart that said “WILL YOU MARRY ME?”.  ((insert swoon here))

Minister John Marshall and I were the only ones at this intimate St. Augustine ceremony, but that’s all that was needed. Sally and Ed had their big love to fill every room they entered. As you will see, Sally is a bride of the boldest kind. She is fearless and fascinating and Ed compliments her beautifully.

Sally and Ed will be flying off to the Dominican Republic in June for an intimate family ceremony on the beach, but May 20th is their official wedding day and I got to spend it with them. For that, I am so so grateful and I want say to Crazy Bitch (ED) and Tart Baby (SALLY), I wish you all of the love in the world and many happy years united together in this thing we call love. You two are the bomb!

Love, Tif

When Ed handed Minister John the “rings”, I remember him saying something to the effect of them sparing no expense on those beauties! I personally thought
the skull mood ring was a nice touch. We checked Ed before the ceremony and the ring said he was feeling romantic. Pretty accurate, don’t ya think? :)

Sally has the best smile, ever! Pure joy and oh so beautiful!

Seriously… this kiss could not have been any more perfect! A tangible feeling flowing from one soul to another.

After the ceremony, Sally switched into her saucy bride attire and Ed swapped his black tie for a hot pink one. Absolutely LOVED the transformation from sweet to saucy!