Darby & Tim

There is a poem by Horace where a well known Latin phrase originates... "Carpe diem" or - Seize the day. If you talked to a hundred people my guess would be that nearly all of them would say this is what they want most from their lives. To Seize the day. No one wants to live a life that's mediocre. Even so we often find ourselves overcome by day to day tasks, family matters, work deadlines and our goals of living a full and rich life are slowly pushed to the side. Only a select few truly live their lives with "carpe diem" as the center stone of their lives. Allow me to introduce you to Darby & Tim.

Hiking, biking, traveling, kayaking, kite boarding, sailing... you name it, Tim & Darby have done it and done it with Gusto. They first met while participating in a study abroad program in Australia nearly a decade ago and they haven't stopped celebrating life together ever since. Darby once told me that in life there are 'fun makers' and there are 'fun takers'.... Tim & Darby are certainly the makers. Within 5 minutes of being in their presence you'll find you simply can't help but smile. Their energy is magnetic. It zaps you with all of it's strength and in no time you'll find you've been inspired.... renewed with a sudden desire to live your life to the fullest possible reaches.

Sunday evening overlooking the beautiful shores of Lake Michigan, amongst their friends and family Darby & Tim became husband and wife. They made official what everyone in attendance already knew... that their hearts were forever enter twined with love, compassion and a true dedication to carpe diem. Those not in attendance may question how it took nine years to get to this bluff... but the answer to those who know Darby & Tim best is plainly clear. They were busy living their lives... seizing the day.

Darby & Tim thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of your day. It was such an incredible honor to document the love of two people I consider very dear friends! I hope you had an amazing time on your honeymoon sailing around the Caribbean. Yup.. you heard me right. How rockin is that honeymoon????



So how would you expect the wedding day to start for a couple as active as Tim & Darby? Canoeing??!?! Good guess!



One of the ring bearers and the flowergirl practicing their smiles.



Finishing the canoe trip... don't you just love her shirt? Favorite







Now you might be asking.. is that the bride doing her own hair? Yup... that's right. How many brides do you know that are relaxed enough to do their own hair the day of their wedding???





First meeting.. Tim & Darby saw each other before their ceremony since it was later in the day... I love first meetings. They're so sweet!





Something tells me these guys LOVE their uncle. Favorite



Favorite





Favorite! Love how this looks tropical... who knew Michigan was so beautiful?



A slightly more vintage feel...



AHH! Just loved this setting... could have photographed there all day.









Location, location, location... check out this ceremony setting.



If this photo doesn't make you smile then you have no heart.. there I said it. Favorite!





Darby you are gawgeous! Seriously you were looking fierce girl!



Tim was looking rather sharp as well!



Yeah how cool is it to make an exit on a chair lift? Favorite!



Tim & Darby's welcome speech included a top 10 list of reasons why you should wait until you're 30 to get married.



The Copper Box Band performed at the dance. If you are in need of a band for your wedding look no further.. these guys are awesome! No one was ready to leave the dance floor when their set came to an end.



Favorite!



And one last favorite from the day. Thanks Darby for requesting this photo!

The eyes have it....

During a recent photo session for Avery's little sister... I took a few moments to get just Avery in front of the camera. When dad told her to "show Jennifer the eyes"... this is what I got. Couldn't resist sharing!

Vacation in Thailand

Good things come to those who wait, and wait, and wait. Yeah there's really no excuse for a photographer who takes nearly a years time to edit her own vacation photos. What can I say... every year my only resolution is to spend more time taking and displaying my personal photos. One day I'll actually follow through with a new years' resolution! As we prepare to head out to door today for a quick trip to the Cayman Islands I finally have my slideshow from our trip to Thailand last year online for your viewing pleasure. (And yes, I did say the Cayman Island. For those of you that knew we were originally headed to Peru take a peek at CNN and you'll know why that trip has been postponed.)

The studio will reopen next week Thursday February 11th at 10 am. Any emails or phone calls will be answered upon our return. See you soon!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays, to those of you who don't celebrate Christmas, from all of us at Angelic Angles Photography! A big thank you goes out to everyone who participated in our food bank drive. Those of you who brought extra cans.. or who forgot their cans and still made an extra trip to drop them off before the holidays (I won't name any names :) Your generosity is much appreciated and I know it will help to feed a number of families this winter.

Interested in continuing that celebration of the holiday spirit? Then join me this Saturday evening December 23rd at the High Noon Saloon for the Cadillac Joe Memorial Winter Fest. The show starts at 8 pm and there will be loads of great music, fond memories and fun as we celebrate the life of Joe. If you've followed my blog for some time now then you already know that Joe was my father-in-law, an accomplished musician and incredible person in general. Joe passed away this July after a courageous three year battle with cancer. We held a benefit last year on this very same date to raise money for Joe's medical expenses. This year we are coming together to remember Joe, enjoy his music and all funds raised from the event will go to the UW Hospitals Cancer Center. $ 7 to get in... I hope to see you there!

And because a post without a photo is just not my style.... here's one to put you in the holiday mood.

Studio Closing...

Be safe out there everyone! The studio will be closed Wednesday December 9th due to the blizzard warning and incredible snow predictions. Should the weather/roads clear up we may open late but please call ahead to make sure you don't make an unnecessary trip. We will be adding studio hours Friday to give you an extra day this week for holiday order or greeting card pick ups. Remember Wednesday is also our cutoff date for holiday orders. So if your snowed in and enjoying a day off of work... click over to our online gallery and finish up your holiday shopping! Then try your hand at building a snowman... don't forget to take a picture though. I'll want to see how it turns out! And because a post without a photo is terribly boring... here's one for you to enjoy of my adorable nephew Tristan. Don't you just love that hair?!?! Couldn't resist doing something a little more unique with him. I think his expression says he wasn't really loving my hairstyle... :)

Giving Thanks.....

It would be easy this year to Not see the many blessings in my life. It certainly hasn't been an easy year, and each holiday only makes the absences and trials of the past year all the more evident in my heart. But to not pay witness to the many blessings in my life would mean I'd gone blind. For if you laid all of my many blessings out in a row they would put the Black Friday sales lines to shame. I am truly, truly a lucky girl. I am thankful every day for Aaron and my incredible family and friends. They are one amazing bunch and I certainly don't tell them often enough.

This year I'm especially thankful for the amazing couples and families I have the opportunity to work with. I know I say it all the time but it's so true that I have the very best clients or friends as I prefer to think of them. Each newborn I get to snuggle or first kiss I get to witness is a true blessing. There is nothing more exciting to me then to see a wedding client return for photos once their family begins to grow. This year I give thanks for having a career that allows me to share in these incredible life milestones. A huge thank you to all of my incredible clients, 'friends'!


Jamie & Chad - married 1 year... about to start their new family together any day now!!

Amber and Jason - celebrated their 5th anniversary this year

Andrea & Paco - married 2 years ago

Beth & Colin - welcomed their new addition just a year after their wedding

Laura & Brian - will celebrate 5 years this spring

Amy and Pete just celebrated their 6th anniversary last month

Hope and Josh married for 6 years!

Heidi & Kevin - married in August two years ago

Megan & Brandon - married 4 years

Studio Hours

Just a quick note to clients... the studio will be closed this week Thursday November 5th. Due to a scheduling conflict both myself and Jamie will be out of town. The studio will reopen our regularly scheduled hours next week Monday at 10:00 am. I will be out of town until Tuesday so emails and voicemails may not be responded to until my return. If you'd like to reach Jamie at the studio on Monday you can reach her at 608-257-1244.

I will be hitting the road for a long weekend with my husband and his band. They have a couple of gigs in Atlanta and since I have a wedding free weekend I decided to play the role of band groupie. :) In addition to their normal weekend of gigging this trip is unique because they will be doing a photo shoot in Atlanta to promote their recent clothing endorsement with Riejuno. Imagine my excitement when I learned their photographer will be non other then Hannibal Matthews! I am stoked to get a behind the scenes look at Mr. Matthews in action. If your not familiar with his work check out his website.... if your a Reality TV junkie or you like HipHop your sure to recognize some of the celebrities on his site. So until I return I'll work on my hip hop slang and leave you with this photo of a scary monster who recently visited my studio....

Catch you on the flip side. Okay, that's about as hip hop as I go. :)

Welcome Back!

Yes, yes, welcome back... I know you probably thought this blog was just going to sit and collect dust from here on out but believe it our not, I'm back. Obviously this summer has been difficult for me on a personal level. As a result of having to take some time off from work for family issues I decided to forgo the blog posts for a while and focus on editing only to get my sessions turned around as quickly as possible. I'm finally starting to feel like things are nearly back on track.. so consider this post my official welcome back party. And yes, in case your wondering.. I can totally throw myself a welcome back party... any excuse to party seems viable to me.

Although most of my summer wedding clients have already seen their wedding photos I'm planning to post the highlights of their day here as well. I just have to share the awesome couples that I had the pleasure of photographing this year. They are in one word 'incredible'! Not only do I work with amazing brides and grooms, I also have the delight of working with a lot of great seniors. Our first year in the studio far exceeded our expectations and we photographed THREE times the number of seniors that we did last year! So many wonderful personalities will be graduating in 2010. So until our next post, for your enjoyment here are just a few of the many stunning faces we saw this summer....