Kyle and Amy- Virginia Beach, VA

So this post is just a liiiiiittle late... I'm staying with the kids I take care of during the summer while their parents are out of town for a few days, so needless to say they've been keepin' me quite busy! I've got some fun pictures to post from yesterdays adventure later today...

but first things first... :0)

Kyle and Amy were married this past weekend and they had one of the most relaxed, fun weddings I've ever been to. Amy was stunning, of course, and every aspect of their wedding suited them perfectly. The ceremony and reception was at their family friends house, and made the perfect setting for a great time. One of the most special parts of the wedding was when Amy's parents surprised everyone by renewing their vows! Their 30th anniversary is today (congratulations!!!) so it was only fitting that they celebrate right along with Kyle and Amy :0) 

All the flowers were GORGEOUS! Amy wore one of the orchids in her hair.. it looked so beautiful! 

I'm such a sucker anyway for daddy/daughter moments, and this wedding was full of amazing ones.. I love this one of Amy and her dad walking in during the ceremony :0)
Just Married!!!

Love this one of them.. she wasn't too sure about being dipped at first.. but doesn't seem to mind too much by the look of it :0)
Just a nice simple portrait :0)
Hands down my favorite image from the day... I love the whole feel of this one! And check out those lashes!! So sweet :0)
First dance :0)

Her dad was so hilarious and so sweet.. caught that tear rolling down his cheek as he held his baby girl :0)
Okay how cute is this?!? They've known each other since 8th grade!! You know their parents HAD to pull out one of the old school pics :0)
Love this portrait of her did while he's giving a toast!
hahahaha Kyle I told you I'd put this one on here!! :P
This was when Amy's dad propose to her mom...  again :0)
The whole night was flawless.. complete with not only one, but two beautiful sets of vows being exchanged, cake smashed all over the place, lots of dancing by everyone including grandma, a paddle boat exit, and this beautiful sunset to complete the evening :0) 
Thanks so much for letting me be a part of your day!! Hope you have fun at the beach!! :0) 

My buddy Jacob- Virginia Beach, VA

This weekend while I was down in Virginia Beach for Kyle and Amy's wedding (which was a BLAST and I will blog sometime tomorrow :0) ) I got to spend some time with one of my favorite families. I had the pleasure of leading YoungLife with Josh and Terresa in Newport News for a few years before they moved down to Virginia Beach to work with Norfolk Academy, and before this little stud was around :0) Jacob turned 1 year back in March, and I'm so excited that Josh and Terresa are expecting a baby girl this November!!! (check out T's little baby bump below!) 

Josh was out of town, but that just gave me a chance to catch some really fun mommy shots of Terresa and Jacob. Terresa is quite the photographer herself (check out her blog too!) so it was fun me to be able to take some of her and let her have some great ones of her and her baby boy together :0) 

They live right on the ocean, and you can definitely tell this is a beach boy all the way! Check out his sweet ride down to the beach :0) 

He just wanted to make sure I was still comin' :0) 
Playing with daddy's new toy!
I love this shot of Terresa! 
I think this was definitely the favorite from the shoot hands down for both Terresa and I. Its very calming to me, and so natural for them :0) LOVE it! 
This guy is a little too brave for his own good! He kept trying to run directly into the waves! Good thing mom was there :0) Instead of letting mom pull him completely out he would just sit his little booty down so he could (at least attempt to) stay right where he was!

After getting alllll sandy it was time to hose him off! Look at those cute toes! :0) 
These next two are some of my other favorites.. I love the progression :P next thing ya know... 
hahaha with his mouth FULL of water he gives mommy that "... what??" look :0) 
There she is! Little baby girl's first appearance (of many, I'm SURE!) on the Jessica Smith Photography blog! Make sure to keep an eye out for Terresa's maternity portrait session this October! 
I loooove this picture too! Check out those gorgeous brown eyes!! Seriously. SO cute. 
ooooof course I had to put in a little nakey butt shot! What good photographer wouldn't grab this shot?? :0) He'll hate me for it one day.. but not today!!! 
Thanks for letting me hang out with you guys for a while!!! Have a blast at Saranac and I'm excited to see you when you get back! 

I wish..

I've been thinking about a couple of these all day long, the first one sort of inspired this post and then the rest just kept comin'! 

I wish everyone had something in their lives they were insanely passionate about.....

 

I wish everyone heard the words "I love you" every day. 

I wish ice cream had less calories. 

I wish babies stayed little longer. 

I wish all couples had 72 degree sunshine weather on their wedding day. 

I wish money mattered less. 

I wish flowers didn't die. 

I wish smiles were able to heal. 

I wish going to the dentist was more fun. 

I wish my godchildren weren't so far away. 

I wish Broadway shows would come to Raleigh more often. 

I wish we had west coast sunshine on the east coast. 

I wish everyone could hear about Amazing Grace and truly understand it.  

I wish every photographer could work with couples as aaaaamazing as the ones I do. 

I wish people knew how to communicate better (yeah, thats the comm major in me coming out :0) ) 

I wish every kid attending YoungLife camp this summer could walk away with a deeper understanding of God's incomparable love for them. 

I wish Raleigh was just a liiiiiittle closer to Northern Virginia and Newport News. 

I wish there were more hours in the day. 

and on that note.. back to editing Logan and Summer's wedding pictures before the next two weeks really kick in.. get ready for lots of posts!! 

I'm super excited for... 

a) Taking pictures of my little buddy Jacob on Saturday morning 

b) Kyle and Amy's wedding Saturday night

c) Evelynn's newborn session/Wharton family pictures Sunday morning

d) Spending three full days with Lauren and Sammy taking some surprise pictures for their parents!

e) Spending next Friday-Monday in Tampa with my insanely beautiful godkids Bobby and Riley and their mama (my cousin) LuLu!! I haven't seen them since last November (trust me, thats a looong time for me to stay away from them :0) ) Thats my one vacation before I move in August, and I'm definitely counting down the days until I see their beautiful faces!

July is going to be just as busy, I've literally got handfuls of new client inquiries coming in every day, so make sure you book asap as 2009 is filling up very quickly! A huge THANK YOU to all my awesome couples for the referrals :0) 

I LOVE MY 'JOB'!!! (if you wanna call it that :0) )

Logan and Summer's Wedding- Newport News, VA

I was SO excited for Summer and Logan's wedding! I had such a blast with them at their engagement session a few months back, which resulted in some of my favorite engagement shots EVER, so I knew their wedding was going to be a blast! Summer and I hit it off right away, as she graduated from the high school where I lead YoungLife all throughout college! She and Logan are such a fantastic couple; full of so much joy and love for God and each other. They had a beautiful ceremony, and their reception was probably the best one I've been to in quite a while :0) They had so many fun details and moments in their reception; I usually don't blog too many pictures from the reception, but these ones just tell such a great story of their wedding that I had to put them on here! 

Logan and his guys were a BLAST to work with.. they were literally up for anything I could possibly come up with and kept me laughing the entire time :0) 

Like I said.. they had me laughing the whole time.. :0) 
Summer looked SO glamorous!! Check out her gorgeous shoes!! The florist did an amazing job with all the flowers, they were so pink and so perfect! 
okay so I think I took just as many pictures of their cutie pie flower girl as I did the bride!! Her name is Riley, which I think is part of why I loved her so much because thats my goddaughters name! (Keep a look out for pictures of her at the end of the month when I go visit my crazy beautiful godkids :0) ) Seriously... how stinkin cute is she?!?!? 
I really love this detail shot.. love the shoes, love the flowers, love the colors of the bridesmaids dresses.. :0) 
Summer made SUCH a stunning bride! 

Just Married!!! Yay!!!

Summer and Logan are on their honeymoon in Jamaica, and it just so happened we got to the reception and there was a Jamaican band playing! How perfect! We figured they should warm up their dance moves for a few minutes before we went into the reception :0) 

I love summers hardcore face showin' off the bling!! Logan tried for one or two shots, but I guess he was just too excited to be married! 
Ha Logan needed just a minute with his new bride after their first dance....
Riley kept tryin to steal my job! :P
Okay so this was something new that I'd never seen at a reception before. They each took one of their shoes and one of each others shoes and then the DJ asked a bunch of questions, and whoever it was about they held up that shoe. So for example, I think this question was something like "Who kissed who first?" and apparently the answer was Summer :0) Others were "Who is a better dresser?" "Who is a better cook?" "Who is better with money?" and fun things like that.
This one was the best though.. the DJ said "And last and most importantly.. who is really in charge??" and Summers hand flew up, Logan hesitated a minute, hung his head, and raised Summers shoe :0) hahaha too funny!! 
Right after the cut the cake the DJ put on "Hit me with your best shot!" which they both got a kick out of :0) well.. maybe Logan more than Summer.. she still looks a little nervous :0)
A special song from the girls for Logan :0)
Have a great time in Jamaica guys!!!!
Thanks for letting me be a part of your amazing wedding!!! 

(((Okay... so this isn't my best shot ever, but oh my goodness it makes me laugh so I had to throw it in at the end :0) Her veil fell off right after the ceremony, but don't worry Logan was there to take care of it :P )))