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This past April, I took on the responsibility of throwing together my High School’s ten year reunion for my graduating class. Of course being the person I am, I didn’t want to just coordinate a reunion. I wanted to have the opportunity to donate some of the proceeds to a local charity as I am a big believer in helping your local community. So together along with an alumni from Gulf Coast High School, we threw a successful charity/reunion bash! I decided to combine both schools (Gulf Coast and Barron Collier) just because it only seemed only right since they spent half of their high school careers at Barron before having to transfer over to the newly built high school. The charity we decided to donate to was known as The Wishing Well. An organization that helped fulfill wishes for terminally ill children in Collier and Lee County. They were in need of a good fund raiser for 2010 and were a perfect match for our reunion.

The night of the event went smoothly! It was held at the acclaimed Naples Hilton Resort where rooms were discounted to guests who attended the event. We had volunteers from The Wishing Well sell raffle tickets, angels, and homemade bracelets to help raise funds. We even had a wonderful silent auction with great prizes donated from companies such as Shula’s, The Hilton, Nordstroms, Gulfshore Life Magazine, and Saks Fifth Ave.

I do have to take the time though and say a special thank you to the following people. Some of them I have worked with repeatedly in the wedding industry and have become friends of mine. I cannot say thank you enough to their generousity and help in making this charity reunion the bit hit that it was:

Rob from Black Tie Entertainment: Thank you so much for donating your DJ (Randy) for my event. Even though that evening you were slammed with numerous events, you still were able to pull a helping hand out for mine. Many…Many Thanks!!

Dave & Tom from Artistic Science: These guys flew all the way from California to install and program enough lighting and effects to make some of the top Miami nightclubs jealous. You guys were kind and professional and wowed just about everyone that walked into that room. Many thanks to you all!!

Vicki Torbush from The Wishing Well: Thank you for your volunteers and your experience. I could not of pulled this off without the help of your volunteers. Thank You!

Karen Vasquez from Kakes by Karen: This woman is a sweet, kind, and talented person. She stayed up into the wee morning hours baking and decorating our cake which was a donation to our event. I love Karen and I know a lot of my very own clients do as well. Thank you Karen so much for the gorgeous and delicious cake!! Everyone was ecstatic over it…even one of my old vegan friends!! She couldn’t resist falling off of the vegan bandwagon for the two minutes that it took to shove the cake slice into her mouth! LOL You are the best!!

….almost done…I swear!

Paige Simpson and Liz Sanders from the Hilton: You put up with a lot from both E’Lise, Vicki, and I and I wanted to thank you sincerely. You were on your toes throughout the entire process and made sure that everything would be perfect and for a great price!!

Special thanks to E’Lise Tozzi Oliveri!! You were definitely my rock through this whole thing! Thank you for putting up with my stressful mess and helping put the word out to all of the alumni. Could not of done this without you that is for sure!! Especially the awesome slide show you put together for the event! Thank you to your sister n law as well (Summer), who made a plethora of delicious sweets for our party!

And I cannot end this thank you post with out saying thanks to my dear husband and family who I did have attend the event. You have all helped me put this thing together and it was only fitting that you enjoy the fruit of your labor that evening!

Okay I am done writing….here are some great photos from this past Saturday (August 28th):

For many of you facebook fans, you already know that we have moved to a larger home in Naples. We are so blessed to be able to grow at this pace within these tough economic times. What started once as a crazy idea on the back of my parents porch with nothing but a dream and a camera turned quickly into an award winning, successful, business! And now to add to that blessed success is a move to a gorgeous lakeside villa in Naples. Twice the size of our old place which means we are now designing a custom designed office for client meetings {Yes…no more Starbucks rendezvous} and a Studio equipped with backdrops and props.

I of course will be posting pics and would be CRAZY not to. I cannot wait to share the photos with you!!!! So thank you to all of my past and current clients for making this possible…I love you all and feel privileged that a large majority of you still keep in contact with me! YAY!

For now….I must go and slap some paint on a few walls…nothing spells fun like paint splatter.

Ciao!

I had the privilege of being able to go on a week long family vacation! This included one day in Tampa, three days in Disney World and the rest vegging out at home. It is incredibly rare for me to have a week off to re-energize and I made sure to cherish every moment! I can’t express how much fun we had at Disney!! All photos below besides the logos and illustrated maps/flags, were taken by Matt and I!

Here is the book design I have put together for my personal collection! Tomorrow is Monday and my first day back to work, full of editing, deadlines, photo shoots, and album designs! I LOVE MY JOB!!

Since day one of being a wedding photographer, I have always lived for the moment when a past bride emails me regarding their wedding pics. Especially when it is a bride who felt she had to email me six months later just because she wanted to make sure I understood how much of an amazing job I did at her wedding. If it wasn’t for my utility bills and mounting costs of raising a four year old, I could so live off of happy tears, thank you letters, and hugs. *sigh* This is why I am in the business of photographing joy and delivering smiles. Thanks Stefanie for the belated thank you email!!

So I had about an hour of downtime this morning and since I LOVE my clients, past and present, I decided to design a business card for their new business in Tampa. Aura at Bohemian Vintage is just another bride turned friend in my line of work.

Here is the business card for their new store:

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