Ahh, Valentine’s Day, candy hearts, little winks and super fun happy cards! Or at least that’s what it was like so many years ago when I was in elementary school. It was fun and sweet. We are bringing that all back with a twist! For a limited time we are offering no sitting fee and a complimentary set of 5×5 Valentine’s Day cards at Mari’s Paradise Images.  Cathy received an invitation to attend our event and brought her daughter Addie. What a doll! We had a great time and Addie had even taken the time to create me a really special handmade Valentine card. How stinkin’ thoughtful was that? I was so surprised and tickled! You can see it if you want, it’s hanging up in the studio! She really made my day! Anyway, enjoy Miss Addie’s Valentine Session!

Adam and his family came to visit me at the Red Dog Studio recently. We had an absolute blast! His kids Jonah, Noah and Eden were all so much fun and had such very different personalities that it made the shoot go by quickly! Eden is the sweet heart of the bunch but she was able to show her sassy and fun side. Noah was going for his GQ look, while Jonah is just a riot with fun faces and a very open and wonderful personality! I really had a ton of fun with them and hope you enjoy their images as well!I had a blast with Adam, Jonah, Noah and Eden at the Red Dog Studio!!! They were 90 to nothin’ and having a great time as we did their family photographs! Eden is so pretty. She has that fun sassy look but is so sweet too! Noah was working on his GQ look and Jonah was all fun! Enjoy!!

Johnni came all the way from New Orleans to have her pregnancy photos taken by me at the Red Dog Studio! She was positively glowing! We had a great time and hopefully little Jaxson will have some great images of when he and his mother were one together.  I can’t wait until March when he makes his debut….you know you’ll be seeing images of the little one here!!

We're waiting for you little Jaxson man!!

I love the serenity of the wind blowing her dress!

Mommy loves Jaxson!

Johnni has great eyes that make this image pop!

Waiting for her little man

I love the little shoes!

Johnni looks like a model!

Johnni's sassy look!

Here it is….the moment all of you have been waiting for. We may even add some more images that I may have forgotten!! It’s the Mari’s Paradise Images best of ‘09 Wedding Photography!! Oh okay….so you have me. I do love all of my couples and it took SOOOO long to cull through images for the best of. I wanted to put them all online, but well…I don’t think anyone has time to look at ALL of those images! So without further ado…here they are!!!!

I just loved Amanda's southern elegance at Eden State Gardens!

Ashley had some great details!!

Asha, Abby and Kelly three great girls!

Studman Elvis Jr. danced at Kara and Jason's wedding as Regina was sexy in Seaside!

Anne's Apalachicola bouquet and Tara's moonlight poses!!

Megan and Sean....awww so cute! Loren...one of the most beautiful bridals of the year!

I love guys who are man enough to show emotion!!

Sabrina and Mavi, Asha and Mike's great departure and Bethany's "breast stroke"

The Emerald Grande is a great wedding destination!

The bouquet toss is also a sporting event. Love the beautiful Ashley and flower girl!

This is how he proposed to her on the side of the road

Love the tin can phone

Linda and Chad's wedding aisle kiss...so romantic. Regina looks awesome in the Seaside Pavillion.

Vivid colors are a must!

A kiss is just a kiss....unless it's on your wedding day then it's the best in the world.

This is from a great wedding I second shot with Candice K!

I love this image.... I call it "Jump Start"

Megan and Sean wanted to do this after the first kiss at the alter. It was cute.

I love the graphics in all of these. New Orleans makes some pretty images.

I would love to see you here in the '10 Best of Weddings!~

As the new  year is beginning, I was looking through some of our ‘09 weddings. Oh we captured so many fun and happy memories and were fortunate enough to get to spend the most wonderful day of their lives with dozens of couples this year! We are truly blessed! One of our most fun memories was Ashley and Brad’s wedding in Apalachicola. Monika and I spent two wonderful days in the quaint town scouting photo locations and photographing the wedding of a very sweet and dear couple!  It was a ton of fun and Ashley and Brad along with their friends and family were just super too!! Since I was fondly reminiscing about them, I thought I would share their wedding album with you.

Just before Christmas, I had the privilege of photographing my hairdresser Shelly’s little girl Katie in the Red Dog Studio. We had so much fun!! Katie is a beautiful young lady and has beautiful features as well as (of course) some awesome hair!!

Shelly is awesome herself too!! She owns Shelly’s Style Studio in Fort Walton Beach and has been able to somehow manage the hot mess I call my own hair! Give her a call at (850) 302-0300‎ to schedule a session!!

Dance like nobody's watching

I just had to share an outtake of one of our Christmas card images. Mr. Noodles is such a good boy. He’s a 50 lb. (curvy, big boned…whatever!) Jack Rascal Terrorist!! I love his okay mom I’ll do this just for you expression!!! BTW he how Red Dog Studio got it’s name. Don’t ever tempt a jack with a paint sprayer. That’s all I’m going to say!! LOL

What a great story Seth and his parents will have to tell in years to come!! You see, Seth is the first winner of our gallery wrap contest even though he never got a single vote on the blog. WHAT?? You say, how can this be? Well let me tell you how. Pam was the instigator of all of this.  You see, Pam’s daughter Megan is good friends with Seth’s mother Theresa. Pam and her family are regulars (and I love it when they come they are so much fun!! ) and Theresa has always love their photos but was not able to get any done.  So when Pam brought her daughter and granddaughter into the studio Theresa loved the images and had a newborn of her own.  When I announced Blog-a-Pallooza Pam formulated a plan and went into action with a vengeance. She managed to hustle everyone into commenting on the blog in record time. The really awesome thing about her plan was it wasn’t to win the gallery wrap for herself, it was to see if she could trade it in on baby sessions for Theresa because she wanted her to have great baby photos. It really touched me that she felt so strongly about Theresa and her family and my photography that she would make such an effort. Needless to say, I was thrilled to have little Seth, Theresa and Levi  at the Red Dog Studio for his first formal studio portraits. He was a champ and I’m looking forward to watching him grow!!

What an adorable little family!!

Baby bottoms are sooooo cute!

Now rumor has it that Theresa likes my work so much she stalks my blog…..well, I love it when folks do that and I’m very pleased to show her some of my work that will I’m sure give her great personal pleasure

So you’re getting married soon. My friend Joanna Banks-Morgan (who by the way is an awesome wedding videographer check out Diva Productions) wrote an article for Gulf Coast Brides on what brides should do for weddings to make their day go better. She called the top photographers in the area for advice and we gave it to her. Enjoy the article and remember this issue of Gulf Coast Magazine hits the stands soon!!! Look for it out there

It’s that time of year again!! Time to clean up the kids and drag them kicking and screaming out of the house for the annual Christmas card photo. My assistant Monika brought Alex and Hanna out  (note they were not kicking and screaming, they know it is pointless) to the Red Dog Studio to do their images. I was so excited to get to work with my new lights again. Oh I love the nice even softness!! Anyway, all three of them are very attractive people and they made some beautiful images!!! Enjoy!