Happy Holidays!

I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! This year was life changing for me and I will be glad to see a new year begin. It was very difficult for me in so many ways and I couldn't have gotten through it without the love of my husband, my in-laws and my extended family. It is hard to imagine that I lost both of my parents before I turned 30 this year, but I did. I have had to deal with the cards I was dealt and I am just glad that I made it through. Some of the hardships are going to bleed over into the new year, but I know with the help of the people I mentioned previously and the Lord that I can get through it. This Christmas will be very different but my husband and family are doing a lot of amazing things to make it nice for me even though I will be missing my parents and how are holidays used to be growing up. I am starting over. It is much like the first year after my husband and I got married and how we had to form new traditions of our own. It is like that for every newly married couple. You get to decide what traditions you liked or didn't like growing up and meld them with your spouse's traditions and then you get to make new traditions as well. So to all my future brides and grooms, try not to stress over the holidays about how to see everyone on both sides of your families and make sure you spend precious time together as new husbands and wives. All the best to all my past and future clients that this holiday season be the best yet! God Bless, Lizzie

And because I always post a photo with each new 

entry on my website, here is a photo I took a few years 

ago of the Pennsylvania State Capitol Building in 

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania after a snow storm. It is such 

a beautiful, wintry photo that I thought it was perfect 

to post for my holiday entry.

Green Family Christmas Portraits

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to photography my favorite family, The Greens, when they welcomed their son, Josiah (you can check out that post here). I have been friends for years with the mom and dad, Frank & Janelle, and I even photographed their wedding (you can check out that post here). What a beautiful family they have!

From left to right: Naomi, Frank (holding Josiah), 

Mia, Janelle, and Myanna.

Josiah (at 8 months old)

I loved the next series of photos of the girls. 

They all looked so beautiful! Here's Mia.

Naomi

Myanna

All the children together

Just the girls

Thanksgiving

This year was a hard year for me personally. I had my mother pass away in March (and I also had my father pass away in 2006). So, I didn't feel like I would have a place to go to for Thanksgiving to be with my family until my aunt and cousins invited me and my husband to their home. It was wonderful to spend time with everyone. I took a bunch of portraits of everybody before the meal and was then able to turn them into Christmas presents. 

This is a photo of me and my husband, Toby, 

and we later used it for our Christmas cards.

From Left to Right: my cousin Rachael, my Aunt Val, 

my cousin Mandi, Aunt Val's mom, June and up 

front and center is Bishop, Rachael's son.

Mandi and her husband, Danny

Rachael and Bishop

 Aunt Val and her fiance, Nick. Now both Nick and 

Aunt Val lost their spouses a few years ago and 

we are all so excited that they found each other.

 Nick and his two grandsons

 Nick's son's family (who drove down for the 

day from Alexandria, VA).

 After dinner who got this great shot of all of us. I love my

 family and all they have done for me this year. They have 

all truly blessed my life in so many ways!

 I couldn't do a Thanksgiving posts without a few food shots.

Here's a pecan pie.

 I made and brought the fruit salad (or ambrosia as we call 

it). I made it every year for my family's Thanksgivings, so

 it was special for me to make it this year.

 After dinner all the kids (as we are still called) went out to 

see a light show. I set up my tri-pod and ran back and forth 

to get this shot of all of us as we waited for the show to begin.

I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving with family and friends. Even though I have been through the ringer this year, I am still standing and it is because of my husband, his family and the family that I have left. Here's to new traditions!

April & Chris Get Married!

On November 19, 2011 I had the honor of photographing April and Chris' beautiful wedding at the home of Chris' parents in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. I was introduced to the happy couple last summer at Chris' cousin, Janelle's wedding (check out that wedding on my blog Janelle & Frank Get Married!). April is an amazing cater (to check out her website click on this link: Noshes and Nibbles), so I knew that her attention to detail in her work would ooze over into the attention to the details at her wedding. April did not disappoint. She handcrafted a beautiful wedding where every detail looked like it belonged in a wedding magazine. The first photos are of some of those beautiful details. All of the floral arrangements and most of the details were handmade by the bride herself! She is such a talented woman!

I loved April's accessories so I started out photographing them.

Here is a photo of all her jewelry, shoes and purse.

  

Another shot of her shoes and her maid of honor's bouquet.

Here is a shot of their invitations and the bride's bouquet.

 The groom's boutonniere and tie

 Detail shot of the bride

I loved these ring pillows that April and Chris' 

sons carried down the aisle for the ceremony.

This precious bulletin board was what the guests got to 

see when they first walked into the backyard before 

they took their seats for the ceremony.

The groom looking dashing!

 And his bride looking radiant! I loved her fur coat!

 It was an outdoor ceremony in mid-November in 

Pennsylvania, so it was cold.

The maid of honor and best man, who are also 

husband and wife. Such a great couple and their 

toast and the reception was so touching!

April and Chris opted to see each other before the wedding, 

in what has become known as "The First Look". That 

way we were able to get all the portraits done before 

the ceremony. I love it when a couple chooses to do this. 

It allows them to be able to get right to their reception instead 

of doing a lot of the portraits directly after the ceremony.

This photo is the moment when they first saw each other!

My favorite photo of the beautiful couple!

The ring bearers: one son is April's and one son is Chris'.

Such a sweet photo. April wanted this one!

 The whole new family. They all look so great!

Congratulations April and Chris! I am so excited for you and your children! May you have continued happiness, love, laughter and blessings!