Hi guys! Ah! It's so good to be back on the blog!! We got to spend this weekend with the amazing Natalie + Shane for their gorgeous winter wedding. I totally stressed a little, because last week it warmed up and melted all that beautiful snow we spent the winter accumulating, but we got a great dusting right before the wedding, so that was super rad. Now, those of you who have been with us here in the blog world for a while know we've tried a few different things out, and last year we rocked out the slide show to make our posts a little shorter.

Well, as much as we loved the slideshows, I honestly can't listen to those songs again this year over and over and over while putting them together, so in an attempt to maintain my sanity, we're going to try out a different format for our wedding posts this year. The idea is our couples can still get to see as many photos as there were in the slideshow, but hopefully without overloading your load times. Let us know what you think!

I love it already. Also - wow, what a weekend. It's always great to get to the first wedding of the year and then have it go amazingly. Honestly, it is nerve-wracking after taking so much time off to make sure the pregnancy went well to shoot again, and I couldn't imagine a better couple to have come back to. Also, can we just celebrate a little that we got through the day without labor beginning?? I was at least 90 percent sure our luck was going to have regular contractions start as Natalie was halfway own the aisle.

Yeah - we do have that kinda luck, and admittedly, at first I wasn't worried at all, but the night before it hit me, and I barely slept. I kept worrying that would happen, but of course, it didn't, so now that we've got the wedding all wrapped up, we're just waiting on the kid to decide to make his debut :)

So, Natalie got ready at her parent's new house - they'd moved in the week prior, and I can't even imagine trying to deal with a move and your daughter getting married within two weeks, but they did, and I have a ridiculous amount of respect for them. The house was amazing to get ready in - the light was just stunning, and I had a blast getting to shoot again. It's funny - when we took this winter off to hopefully fit a kid in our break, I really didn't think I'd miss shooting too much, but I was so, so happy to get the cameras back in my hands.

Also, Natalie + Shane's dog is the cutest and most ridiculous dog ever - check out that last shot. Seriously, Natalie is standing there doing her last-minute prep, and she just walks over and lays her head down on her train, like, ah, there's mommy. Maybe it's my hormones going nuts, but I'm pretty sure I audibly awwww-ed. :)

Hah - that's awesome! And even more awesome that Natalie was the kind of uber even-keeled bride that that sort of thing wouldn't bother at all. I told you it was going to feel good getting back to it. After all, our job is something we love and get to do passionately. That's a good thing to miss.

Also awesome? Finally getting to shoot inside the Hellenic Orthodox Church on Delaware! (You know - the Greek Festival!) We drive by it daily as it's literally around the corner from our house, but we'd never shot inside it before, so we were both pretty stoked about finally getting to shoot inside.

That was definitely nice. Also nice? Walking into a room full of guys from Tennessee. I grew up in Nashville, and it was pretty cool and comforting to hear that particular brand of southern accent all day long. I think Natalie and my lovely wife can attest to just how awesome guys from Tennessee are. Right? Right?

Ha - yeah :) Guys from Tennessee are my favorite. Actually, how weird is this - other than you and Shane, I've never known any other guys from Tennessee (I'm so old - I can't write that without singing the Fugees :) We're such dorks - I swear, one time, Rich and I were in Florida and drove past A-1A (Beach Front Avenue!) and about lost our minds - as well as burst into song).

You're so old you just confused the Fugees with Arrested Development. Really? You're 30 - that's way too soon for this stuff. And what on earth does that have to do with Vanilla Ice? You just had the laptop for the last 20 minutes and that''s what you wrote. In the middle of this GORGEOUS ceremony :).

After the ceremony and some family shots, my nine-months-pregnant wife decided we all needed to go snow-shoeing in the park before heading downtown for some more photos and the reception. Honey, I'm sorry I was bitching about it in the car. It was completely worth it.

Natalie - YOU LOOKED AMAZING!

We only shot for a couple minutes due to, you know, halfway freezing our bride. As we went to get Natalie and Shane back in the limo, etc, the limo driver (and yeah, we kindof know all the limo drivers in Buffalo at this point) was laughing at us, and kindof amazed we got a couple out there in the snow. But like I told him - it's not about us at all. Natalie wanted winter photos to go with her winter wedding, and she was all about giving us a chance. It's SO incredibly important to have clients who get what we want to do with them and work with us to make it all happen. How shots from a wedding day go have everything to do with what incredible couples like Natalie and Shane make of it. We're just there and we're incredibly happy to share this.

Thank you guys - big time.

For real - it wasn't until I had them in the snowy woods set up that I remembered on their e-shoot, it was about 75 out and poor Natalie was freezing every time we got her in the shade. It totally makes me laugh that she had a winter wedding, but she was RIDICULOUS about handling the cold. If I had bare shoulders/arms/toes, I would've been as complainy as my dear husband was in the car (but really, it was so pretty! And the cold lasts for 15 minutes, the photos last forever :) ), but Natalie didn't complain at all.

Also, you're mean. Seriously, yes, I confused the Fugees with Arrested Development. Because I'm old. And senile. And the fact that I started singing that when writing just reminded me of that time we burst into Vanilla Ice when seeing the actual A-1A. It was fun for me. Sorry my life is so pathetic that my happy memories are apparently not anything you even remember. Seriously, it was fun for me - I can only think of a handful of times my life was like a musical where I was in a situation where people actually burst into song, and that was one of them. Another - at Oktoberfest in Munich where the group I was with burst into Afternoon Delight and my high school textiles class where we burst into song and actually danced around the room with looms. Yes, they were highlights of my life. And yes, that's very, very sad.

Also, I'm totally smitten with this next shot of yours, love...

And then we headed downtown for some city shots with the group of barely dressed/from the south winter troopers. You guys rocked.

We only shoot a handful of winter weddings every year, and due to our pregnancy this was the only one we took, and I'm so, so, so happy we got to shoot one because there is something so romantic about winter, to me. And you get to do awesome things like have your girls have muffs instead of flowers. Major win!

Natalie, you = stunning.

Reception at the Hyatt, and to round out a perfect day, we got to work with our friends the Franks from 17 Video and Ricco from Premiere Sound who was actually the best man to Alyssa's maid-of-honor at Alyssa's sister's wedding, and his brother Jim who, oddly enough, sold us our studio and whose parents live next to Murphy's grandparents. Phew. Gotta love Buffalo, right? Also, major, major props to kick assBuffalo Wedding Photographer Sean Lata who backed us up at the reception with our awesome shooter friend Michele so Alyssa could take a break. Michele, Sean - we owe you guys and a big thank you for making the day a success.

Seriously, they were the best ever to help us out so I could waddle my house-shaped self to a break. :) Natalie + Shane - thanks, again, for being so awesome, trusting us, being cold with us, having great family and friends and having such a fun day. We were so, so excited to start the year with you guys!

And now we're breaking from shooting/blogging since we're due this week, and hopefully, little man will make his entrance. We did promise quite a few folks we'd post after he arrives, so we'll have that coming, but then we'll be back to work, for real, in April. Thanks for stopping by, and we're really looking forward to an amazing year!