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Jess & Justin tied the knot on Saturday at Inspirador in downtown Chandler.  Now I know what you’re thinking – why would anybody get married in the middle of July in Arizona?  Well, the date of their wedding had a lot more to do with their honeymoon plans than it did with the weather in Arizona!  As I’m writing this, the happy newlyweds are enjoying their time in beautiful San Diego for Comic Con!  Yep.  They’re just that awesome!  We’ve really gotten the chance to get to know this great pair over several dinner dates, their engagement session, bonding over a mutual love for Apple products and lots and lots of facebook commenting!  We couldn’t feel more blessed to have been there to capture their very special day.  Jess & Justin are the perfect match and their wedding was so much fun to shoot!

(Please sign the guestbook if you’d like to be notifed when the rest of their photos are online.)

Jess’ wedding dress was gorgeous – classic and beautiful, just like Jess :-)

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She rocked this cute pair of gold sandals.

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The beautiful florals were created by the ever so talented Amy of Amy’s Floral Design!

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Such a stunning bride.

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While I was over with the girls, Ryan was hanging out with Justin.  Since it only took him about 5 minutes to get ready, they had plenty of time to goof around for some portraits.  Silly, silly boys :-)  These two crack me up!

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Inspirador is such a unique venue, and in this case, it was just perfect for a wedding on a hot day because both the ceremony and reception sites were indoors.  We really loved the cool contemporary spaces and modern details.  Among our favorites were the modern light fixtures and the love quotes that line of floor of the Poet’s Lounge, where the ceremony took place.

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I absolutely love both of these shots we grabbed just before the ceremony.

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Here comes the bride!

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Justin was one happy man as he watched his bride come down the isle.

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This one makes my heart all warm & fuzzy inside :-)

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Mr. & Mrs. at last!

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Since it was like a billion degrees outside, we shot most of their portraits in the Tryst Gallery.  The exposed brick and fun art pieces served as a great backdrop.  The bridal party was small, but a good looking bunch nonetheless!

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Gotta say, Justin was all smiles the whole day!  So sweet :-)

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Rockin’ the gallery in black & white.

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LOVE this shot Ryan took.  It just might be one of my new favorite images :-)

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Couldn’t choose between these next two.  Loved them both so much!

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Jess & Justin really wanted their afternoon reception to feel fun and laid back.  They chose a summertime theme and the guests got to enjoy the music of well known Percussionist Paul McDermand on the Steel Drums.

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There were lots of laughs (and a few tears too) as the maid of honor, best man and both their dads toasted the newlyweds.

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A sweet and touching moment with Jess & her dad as they watched a slideshow of family photos.

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We snuck away for a couple shots of the rings.  Don’t you just love Justin’s custom designed ring?

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Instead of a cake, they opted for yummy cupcakes made by The Cake Cafe! Good choice!

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And a bubble filled exit wrapped things up rather nicely :-)

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For more photos from Jess & Justin’s wedding, click on the view slideshow button below!

To the happy couple: you guys ROCK!  We had so much fun spending the day with you and can’t wait to watch what God has in store for you both in the future.  We look forward to many more hang outs and a long friendship :-)  Hope you guys are having so much fun in San Diego!  Thank you for choosing us to share in such a wonderful day!

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We have a very special announcement to make!  You could have Simply Knot Photography shoot your wedding FOR FREE!  Yes, I said FREE!

So you’re probably wondering, why are we (Ryan & Denise) doing this?

We are two very lucky people :-)  We get to do something we really love (take photographs) and at the same time, we get to give our couples the gift of preserving their wedding memories forever.  We feel blessed by each and every couple that chooses us to document their day and 99% of the time, we walk away with two new friends in the process.  It’s pretty awesome.

Because we are so blessed, we want to spread the love to one very special couple by shooting their wedding FOR FREE!!!!

Here’s a little Q&A for everybody:

What will the lucky couple win?

The lucky winners will receive a wedding photography package valued at $3000.  It will include:

• 8 hours of wedding day coverage with Ryan & Denise
• an engagement session
• an online slideshow
• an online proof gallery with all their photos
• DVD of high resolution images

How do you enter?

Our ideal clients don’t just want  ”someone to take photos of their wedding”, they want someone to document who they are as a couple and what makes their love story uniquely them.  So that’s what we want to hear – YOUR love story!  Tell us your love story in 300 words or less and we will choose our favorite as the contest winners.

Here’s what you do:

• Fill out the quick and easy ENTRY FORM
• Tell us your love story (in 500 words or less)
• Email us a digital photo of you which will be posted on the blog if you win ( studio@simplyknotphotos.com )

Are there any rules?

• One submission per couple
• Your wedding date must be available on our calendar (FYI: We are no longer accepting bookings for Sept. – Nov of 2010)
• Your wedding must take place in the Phoenix metro area (weddings in other locations are free to enter, but travel costs will not be covered as part of the prize package)
• You can’t be a relative, close friend or existing client of ours – we don’t want to be accused of favoritism!

Make sure to submit your entry on or before AUGUST 15th! We’ll announce the big winner on our blog the following week.

Can’t wait to meet all of you and read all about what makes you’re love story so special!

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Happy Birthday Baby! SHMILY

How cool was this kid?  Some things never change :-)

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The top two home improvement lessons we’ve learned so far:  1) Nothing is as easy as you think it will be . . . EVER!  No matter how easy it looks on HGTV (which we now LOVE by the way), it’s not.  And 2) keep your receipts.  You WILL buy the wrong thing at Home Depot.  There’s no point in getting mad, just accept it because it WILL happen . . . over and over again.

A small selection of our many, many new purchases. Our very first purchase was the 8 foot green ladder. Getting that into my little blue Rav4 was entertaining!

We’ve created a little graveyard of the ugliness we’ve been pulling out of the house.  Mid 90′s light fixtures anyone?

This little baby was about the ONLY thing that survived the big lighting switch out.  It was originally hung in the studio, which has kinda low ceilings to begin with, so rather than put a 6 foot and under height restriction on our clients, we decided to move it into the family room.

I know you already saw the new dinning room light, but it’s just too pretty not to post it again :-)

It’s funny that something as small as changing out light fixtures can do so much to modernize a space. This front room will be our living room with the TV on the left side wall and our couches on the right.  To add a some mood lighting, we added dimmer switches for the front pendant light as well as the one in the dinning room.  Ryan’s becoming quite the little electrician, despite his deathly fear of electrocution.  I’m not kidding people, he gets upset when I accidently shock him in the grocery store. If  it does happen, I’m not allowed to touch him until we leave the store.

We’ve had so much help from our amazing families!  Here’s a shot of Ryan’s dad Greg working on hanging one of the new lights.

Rather than do vertical blinds for the back door, we opted for curtains.  Perfect example of a project that sounds easy and turns out to be a big pain!  We had to hang the dang rod 3 times to get it at the correct height.  On top of that, it required 3 trips to Pottery barn, the second time for more curtain rings and the third time to exchange one of the panels which was not the same length as the first one even though it said it was supposed to be on the package.  A two inch difference doesn’t lie!

My favorite part of the curtain project?  The squared finials on the end of the rod.  (And learning that these were called “finials”! LOL!)

So the biggest project we’ve completed so far has been repainting our cabinets.  There was quite a bit involved in the process for what seemed like a simple change:  1) Take down cabinets doors & remove the hinges, 2) Clean all surfaces, 3) Prime all surfaces, 4) Paint all surfaces, 5) Put hardware back on and rehang everything, 6) Touch up all the nicks we made by not letting them dry long enough, etc.  Not only did we do the kitchen, we did the cabinets in both bathrooms as well.  It took about 3 weekends to get the whole thing done, but it provided lots of photo opportunities :-)

And the whole thing would have been impossible without A LOT of help!  Here’s Ryan & Greg putting the last of the hinges back on.

Here’s Ryan’s mom Lanie doing touch ups .  Lucky for us, she’s a fab artist who paints for a living.  Experience with a paint brush = a hot commodity during a painting project!  Although we were able to remove the doors and use a paint sprayer to do those, all the cabinetry that was attached to the wall had to be hand painted.

Here’s what our previously ugly kitchen cabinets looked like BEFORE.  And then DURING – the purple looking color is primer.

And now – the AFTER!  We’re certainly not pros, but it turned out pretty well.  Much better than living with a kitchen from the early 90′s at least!  (You may have noticed that all three photos were shot with completely different light, some with flash and some without.  We started out using our little point and shoot camera for the before stuff, but wanted the finished product to be better quality.  What? You don’t think that the “before & after” ads on TV do that too?  Come on now, you know it’s true. LOL!)

Putting in a dog door was especially fun since it required cutting a BIG hole in our house!  Check out the burly man wielding the saw!

Awwwww look – It’s our first HUGE hole. (tear)

A man with a saw sure draws a crowd!

And of course, my Dad (Dan) and I just had to do the old inside-outside trick.  Yep.  We’re a bunch of dorks.

Our introduction to the home improvement process has had it’s up and downs . . .

But it’s also been a lot of fun and we’ve already built a ton of great memories in our new house with people that we love.  Thanks so much to our awesome family that have been such a huge help!  Where would we be without your love, support and advice?  I think it’s safe to say that we’d be living in a much uglier house. LOL!

Lots of Love from both of us :-)

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We started our home search in January and it has been a long and very busy five months because of it, but it’s totally worth it to finally say that we are homeowners!  Our house is in Chandler only about a five minute drive from where we live now and we could not be more thrilled.  How about a little tour?  Now keep in mind, we’ve got LOTS of projects planned and we’ve actually spent the last month changing a bunch of things about the interior, but there’s a lot more on our To-Do list so you’ll probably be seeing a lot of before and after posts in the next few months.

The previous owner clearly made some poor choices in landscaping so please excuse the weed-like forrest on the left, the world’s dirtiest tree on the right and the ugly grey bushes along the front window.  Future home improvement project . . . (sigh.)

Our front door – complete with man eating Bougainvillea and more ugly landscape. LOL!

The interior – we LOVE the flooring!

Notice the room just off the front door . . .

This room will soon be the Simply Knot Photography studio space!  We’ve got BIG plans for this room.  We’ll be adding some great lighting, putting lots of our photo work on the walls and creating a comfy living room style space where we can meet with our clients.  We’ve been dreaming and waiting for this for a LONG time and can’t wait to get started!

On to the rest of the house – here’s the dining room and family room.  BTW, what’s with the “entertainment niches”?  Hate them!  We will be bidding them a fond farewell in the near future.

Another view.

Dinning room and kitchen. Doesn’t our kitchen look amazing in our “Fridge Room”. That thing is enormous!

When we bought the house, all the cabinets were a light brown color.  Yuck.  Painting them was a big project, but totally worth it – before and after photos coming soon!

Vaulted ceilings & recessed lighting – more of our  favorite features.

Apparently when they built homes in the mid 90′s the only lighting fixtures available were hideous.  One of the first changes we made was installing this cute light in the dinning room.  SO much better!

The house has 2 pretty much identical bedrooms (along with a master and our studio space.)

A quick peak at the master bathroom – just perfect for many, many future bubble baths :-)

Everyone who’s seen our backyard keeps telling us how lucky we are – it’s HUGE because we’re on a corner lot.  However, as you can see, it’s totally void of any landscaping other than patches of grass and headless sprinklers that create a lovely little geyser on the side of the house whenever they turn on!  LOL!   Now there’s a project that can wait for cooler weather :-)

Our only improvement to the backyard so far has been adding these cute red chairs . . . so we can look out into our great empty field in comfort and style.  LOL!  Molly has been over to visit and she’s mostly just scared of the yard.  What can we say?  She’s been an apartment dog all her life!  We also kinda think that the dead grass hurts her little paws :-(

So that about does it for the tour. All in all, it’s so wonderful to have a place to call our own. We feel so blessed and can’t wait to move in this weekend!

Thank you so much to the many people who have been supporting us through this process: our fabulous realtor Natalie and our mortgage broker Fred – we highly recommend both of these awesome people so if you’re in the market for a home let us know and we’d be happy to pass their info along to you.  And of course, a big thanks to our awesome family and friends that have given countless hours of advice and empathy.  We heart you guys!

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(no loves yet – be the first!)

Ryan’s cousin Steven has always talked about how much he admires our marriage.  Being a part of our wedding day at a fairly young age made a big impression on him I think.  He saw the kind of love that we share and knew that he wanted the same for himself someday.  After spending some time on Saturday with he and Chantel, his bride-to-be, I’m very certain that he’s found the one.  Chantel & Steven are one of those couples that you spend a little time with and you can’t help but say to yourself, “Yep.  These two were made for each other.”  Chantel is definitely the jelly to Steven’s peanut butter :-)  They compliment each other so well.  We had so much fun finding out what an amazing woman Chantel is and seeing the romantic side of Steven.  He’s no longer just our smart and silly cousin, he’s a man in love.

(Please sign the guestbook if you’d like to be notifed when the rest of their photos are online.)

Their engagement session was actually a gift from Steven’s mom Linda (also known as our fabulous aunt), so we actually knew that we’d be hanging out with them even before THEY did!  These two met at the dorms at Arizona State University so that’s where we headed to start the session.  This first one was taken right outside Steven’s old dorm room where they had their first kiss.  So cute!

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We were a little worried that Steven would feel weird being all cute in front of us, but we found out pretty quickly that wouldn’t be the case.  They were affectionate the whole day!

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Our second stop was a beautiful and serene garden in another part of the campus.  There’s just something about Chantel’s playful feet that makes me love this one.  I know . . . I’m weird.

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Steven: you scored yourself one gorgeous gal!  Well done!

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You’re not lookin’ too bad yourself there cuz!

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This is one of my favorites from the whole session :-)

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There were so many fun backdrops to shoot on campus!  We had a blast wandering around together and hearing all their fun memories from each place.

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Next we headed to downtown Phoenix to relive a few engagement night memories with the lovebirds.  And as you probably already guessed, I was super excited when Chantel whipped out these AWESOME yellow heels!

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The night Steven proposed, they went to see a show at the Orpheum Theater and then took a walk down to the Arizona Center.  In this very spot just a week earlier, they stood underneath the thousands of sparkling lights, and he asked her to marry him.  And of course, she said yes!  Our little Steven is such a romantic!

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Just love the emotion in this shot.

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I couldn’t decide between these two – I just love them both!  And for the record, we didn’t ask Chantel to run around downtown without her shoes on.  It was actually her idea after walking a few blocks and they just happened to make awesome props for the photos!

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Brilliant colors to compliment a equally, if not more brilliant couple :-)  If you’ve never had a chance to check out the Orpheum Theater before, you should.  It’s an amazing 1920′s building with incredible details and architecture.

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A-dor-a-ble!

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This one is probably my absolute favorite.  There’s just something about the whole scene that is just perfect.

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Couldn’t pass up the chance for a little silliness too!  Now THAT’S more like the Steven we know!

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On our way back towards the car, we arrived at this intersection just in time to do a couple quick shots as the Light Rail sped past.  Love the motion of the train.

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Click the slideshow button below for more images of this GREAT couple!

Steven & Chantel: we had a blast hanging out with you guys!  Thanks for letting us capture your sweet love for each other :-)  Can’t wait to watch you two become man & wife and enter into the most exciting journey of your lives.  We love you guys!

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Hands down, our favorite part of the trip was our hotel room at the Wynn.  It was FAB-U-LOUS!  We absolutely loved the bright, modern decor and the roomy floor plan.  If you’re ever looking for a hotel on the strip don’t pass this one up!  Ours was a standard room, but it completely exceeded our expectations.

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Floor to ceiling windows overlooking the strip – YES PLEASE!

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And to top it all off . . . custom room keys :-)

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Check out this awesome section of the lobby at The Bellagio.  Love the multi-colored tulips and the way the light was hitting the fountain.

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Silly Gotcher self portrait :-)  I think we were sitting in the back of a “boat” at Margaritaville when this was taken.  Mmmmmmm.  My mouth starts to water just thinking about their burgers.

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Many of our favorite Vegas activities involved eating.  Wichcraft at The MGM Grand has AMAZING sandwiches.

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Love this one of my handsome hubby :-)  And if you look real close, you can see my reflection in the windows.  Yes, I was laying on the ground IN VEGAS to take a photo.  Not to worry, I made sure to shower when we got back to the hotel.  Ha ha!

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(no loves yet – be the first!)

If you know me at all, you pretty much know that I’m a HUGE Beatles fan.  The Mirage is home to an AMAZING Cirque du Soleil show called “Love” that consists entirely of Beatles music!  We saw the show a couple years ago and spent a small fortune at the gift shop at the time.  Item one on my Vegas To-Do List was to replace my well worn t-shirt.

This place is Beatles fan HEAVEN!!!! I loved walking around hearing everyone else in the store softly singing along to “Here Comes the Sun” and “Revolution”. It’s such a cool feeling to know you share a passion with complete strangers.  Makes you feel kinda warm and fuzzy inside :-)

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How cool is this hallway leading to the theater?

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Rockin’ it fun house mirror style!

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We also spent a few hours at the Secret Garden & Dolphin Habitat.  Dolphins are pretty much the coolest, happiest creatures ever!  We could have watched these guys all day.

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Llama anyone?

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Now, the total dollar amount of Ryan’s BlackJack winnings may not seem like much at first glance, but when you consider that he started with $5 it’s pretty impressive.  An 1130% increase is something to be proud of!  Way to go honey :-)

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Thanks again to our awesome couple Nerina & David who invited us to capture their special day and gave a reason to hang out in “sin city” for a few days.  We had a blast!

(I have to apologize in advance for the poor quality of the photos in this post. Dodge Theater doesn’t allow pro cameras so we had to settle for our old point in shoot.)

We met up with our friends, future clients and fellow Team Coco members Ashley & Jesse before the show.   These guys are awesome!   Ashley & I have known each other for a long time and used to be co-workers at United Blood Services.  We’ll be headed to San Francisco in September to shoot their wedding.  Can’t wait!

Showing off our awesome Conan gear!

Here’s a few shots from the show:

Before Conan came out, they showed a video of what he’s been up to since the show ended.  HILARIOUS!

Conan tried to win over the crowd by coming out in a Phoenix Suns jersey.

Lots of old Late Night regulars made appearances like La Bamba, Andy & some other furry friends.

“A night of music, comedy, hugging and the occasional awkward silence.” - TeamCoco.com

Here’s a short little video we took on our camera. Conan is talking about the fact that he’s not legally able to appear on TV until November because of his settlement contract with NBC.

The show was so fun and had lots of great laughs!  I guess this will have to tide us over for a few more months until his new show starts on TBS.  Until then, “Go Team Coco!”  By the way, if you don’t already, you should totally follow him on twitter: @ConanObrien.  Funny, funny stuff.

Sorry that we’ve been neglecting our blog a bit these last few weeks, but we are happy to report that there’s another REALLY BIG goal in the works that’s been taking up a lot of our time.  More to come soon!

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(no loves yet – be the first!)

Last Saturday we spent the day wandering around Jerome with Audrey & Aaron shooting their engagement session. It was one of those times where we were reminded how awesome our job is :-) I mean seriously, how cute are these two? Sorry Aaron, I know that all this “cute” talk might do some serious damage to your street cred, but I just can’t see any way around it. Love will do that to you buddy! You’re just going to have to blame it on your sweet fiance.

“He had me at Purple Rain.” According to Audrey, one of her first memories of Aaron was him belting out a seriously sad Prince tune while working on a class project at University of Phoenix. Her response to his sad little serenade was to say, “Wow. Never do that again!” And of course, as it so often does, this seemingly insignificant exchange of playful banter was just the beginning of a wonderful love story.

(Please sign the guestbook if you’d like to be notifed when the rest of their photos are online.)

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Audrey – you’re adorable!

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I love the expressive feet that Audrey was rockin’ in this next shot . . . not to mention the stylin’ black heels!

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I couldn’t decide between these two so I just had to post them both.

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At one point we asked them to walk down this stair case so we could shoot them walking back up hand in hand. They got about half way down and then flashed us this little pose :-) I love it! One of my favorites from the whole day! Workin’ the BLUE STEEL!!! For those of you who have not seen Zoolander, you’re missing out. It’s hilarious!

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Silliness immediately followed by sweetness :-)

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As you can tell, there was a good amount of laugher happening. You just can’t help but love these guys, right?

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We stopped in an artsy little shop for a quick change and a little “Mojo To Go” . . .

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But of course, we couldn’t miss out on a few shots before heading back out.

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Totally love the way Audrey & Aaron are looking at each other in these two and the way the images mirror each other so well.

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Back to the streets to soak up some more of Jerome’s small town charm.

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Totally love the edgy feel and angle of this next shot. How awesome is it when a couple can go from model serious one moment . . .

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. . . to hilariousness the next! Oh yeah! :-) They balance each other perfectly.

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There are just so many cool places in this town!

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I just love the textures of the red door – even in black and white, it adds so much interest to the image.

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This one has to be my favorite of the entire day! They were having so much fun together and that makes our jobs so easy.

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It only seems right to end with one more shot that includes a little more playfulness. So fun you guys!

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There are so many more great images from this session so make sure to click on the “view slideshow” button below! And just a reminder to all of our readers – we love comments so leave us some!

To Audrey & Aaron: we can’t wait to be a part of your big day! You guys were so much fun and we had a blast spending time with you. It’s gonna be awesome!

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