Hailey & Cody had just booked us to shoot their wedding when they volunteered to be our models for our video shoot. We got a little preview of the love birds at Darby House but now that its closer to their wedding they were even sweeter. Loved being a part of their official engagement session, excited for their wedding in September!

Happy Mother’s Day!

On a side note… I am 9 weeks pregnant today! Our little one is the size of a grape! Blessings.

{Ashley}

I first want to tell you a little story about my engagement. I didn’t have pinterest or a lot of the blogs you see today but I had wedding magazines that I had been storing up for years. Some outdated some were recent. I also had my little notebook that I cut photos out and stuck them into, all categorized by flowers, cake, dresses, etc. I lived and breathed weddings, before and after I got married, which brings me to my point. Obsession. Oh it can get you and bite you in the butt. I somehow walked away from my wedding in awe of how beautiful and amazing it was but it went by so fast. I have things I wished I would have done but its hard to talk about. Since I shoot weddings every weekend for almost 6 to 7 months, I literally have had to bury away the “I wish I would have done this” stuff. Because again, I was obsessed. I’ll tell you one personal story and then I’m done talk about myself I went down to Cincinnati, you know, bridal row! We first went to European Bridal where I tried on several beautiful yet expensive dresses. There was a dress I tried on in Indiana that I thought I liked and we found ourselves upstairs instead of downstairs accidentally where the dresses were much more expensive. So here I was, the dreamer of all brides trying on a Lea Ann Belter dress named Haylee. I remember walking out of the dressing room thinking, I found the one. My mom, grandma and sister were all amazed, it was gorgeous. The price tag on the other hand, was not. Its hard for an obsessed wedding dreamer like myself to wrap my head around the whole picture, the big picture like a budget. Its just a dress, its the shoes, veil, moms dress, sisters dress, tuxes fro my dad and brother, venue, food, beverages, flowers, linens… need I go on? So we walked away with my little 4×6 card of the picture of the dress and walked right across the street to Bridal and Formal. I was in a state of shock that for the first time I thought I found the one but in reality couldn’t be the one, made me dizzy. I was in a sea of WHITE and I couldn’t really breathe. As if things couldn’t get worse, you have to change in this huge room so with my southern grandma that talks above a normal level, my opinionated mom and blunt sister, here I was trying on all these dresses. Right before the show started here comes my mom with this dress in a bag… “It has a bow, some sparkle like you said the other one was missing, pleads and its a great price.” Since I was still in this dizzy state of shock, I was like okay! I don’t think I pulled one dress from the rack. I kept going towards Vera Wang and Amsale which we already established that those were not in the budget. So as the show began we took the one my mom found out of the bag and I slipped it on… it was everything I wanted. Since the Lea Ann Belter was missing that little sparkle I wanted it was just perfect. How could I have found the dress of my dreams for just $700? So here is my point to this story. In all my days of dreaming I had this idea that my dress would be the most expensive thing and it wasn’t. So what got me into trouble? Say yes to the dress! That stupid little tlc show, okay so not that stupid but it did get me very confused. So months later here I was trying on dresses at stores in Columbus making myself think, there is no way the ONE is this cheap, I must go look on. So I call Bridal and Formal and tell them I have second thoughts and to my surprise my dress was coming in that weekend. So we go on down to Cincy with my dad this time and I slip on the dress with the biggest crinoline slip they had {because it needed to be bigger} and I walked out and my dad just lit up. He couldn’t stop taking pictures, said I was beautiful. How did I ever doubt that this was the one? It fit me perfectly, no alterations were needed. I had to stuff my bra a little but no one touched the dress, it was made for me. So what got me into trouble? Obsession. I couldn’t stop looking, I couldn’t stop second guessing myself.

If I was getting married today I’d have a hard time not looking at photos on pinterest. So I am putting myself in my brides shoes and thinking, how can pinterest help me not hurt me. Here are some of my tips for Pinning in a positive way!

1. Pin with Purpose! This is hard for even me, I feel like pinterest is a way to be creative yet drown out whatever is going on around you. So when getting on pinterest, pick a category and stick to it. Say “Today I’m going to be some ides for bouquets.” Getting on and pinning everything you see makes your head go a little crazy and you’ll find that your boards are a little scatter brained so having direction helps. If your colors are Navy blue and White, pin photos with that same style. Style Me Pretty has a great section on their site that shares photos of those color boards!

2. Get organized! Get those boards organized girl! Don’t just have a board that says wedding, make a boquet board, centerpiece board, wedding party board, dress board {only if you don’t have a dress}, shoes, Photo Ideas, and Vendor board {I’ll explain this one} Being organized will help when you pin with purpose, and when you meet with a vendor you’ll be able to show them what you’re talking about.

3. Vendor Board! I love this one because it involves me haha Get on those vendors blogs and pin them. You chose them for a reason so embrace their photos, ideas and creativity and share with friends who you chose. As a photographer I love seeing people pin our photos, especially my own brides. So follow your vendors and get to know them, you won’t regret it.

4. Be Realistic! Oh this is the hard one… because lets face it… we all have a dream house board! So I’ll be honest, when I see Ohio brides pinning beach weddings I think to myself… seriously? You getting hitched on Alum Creek beach? Unless you’re getting hitched up in Lake Erie lets be realistic, there will be no beach pictures taken. So you can have a pretty picture board but be realistic and look at photos that may relate to your wedding. Look at your own photographers photos and pin their photos. You’ll most likely have photos similar to those since they are taking your pictures and not Jasmine Star. I love seeing photos that inspire my brides, gives me a taste for what their style is so posing and lighting I love to see but for your own good, be realistic. When you see photos with that yummy lighting, right before the sun kisses the earth… remember that if you’re taking your photos at 12 in the afternoon, it’ll be slightly difficult to get that look. So do your research, ask your photographer how you can get that look achieved in your wedding photos. If they are anything like me… they’ll jump on the chance to get you outside at sunset!

5. Delete! When you buy that dress, you delete that wedding dress board!

6. Follow the Pros! Check out pros on pinterest like myself and other vendors in your area. You can also follow some bloggers like Style Me Pretty  Martha Stewart Weddings   Ruffled   You’ll benefit so much from following pinners like them!

7. Look up those Ryan Gosling “Hey Girl” photos… you will die they are so funny.

Okay so I hope I didn’t talk too much and someone gets something out of this! I tend to overshare and talk a little more then usual when just typing away. With that said, happy pinning!

{Ashley}

{Coty & Ashley}

Kate & Andy did opt for a First look, so our photos are a little out of order! Love it when a groom spins his bride around to get a full look of her dress.

Our little family is growing, by two little feet. We’re excited to say that we have a little bundle of joy coming and the sweet due date is 12.12.12… yes just like Molly which was 1.11.11. I guess Coty and I have a knack for having babies due on special dates. Not that Molly wanted to come on that date but it was for for 36 weeks to look forward to such a fun date. I still cannot believe Molly will be a big sister, we’ll have another car seat to add to the back of the car and not to mention the bottles. Its definitely surreal to do this again. I could do without the morning sickness though. I keep pinching myself that we’ll have two kids come this time next year.

Back in 2010 I would pinch myself knowing that when I’d book a wedding in June of 2011 we would have a 6 month old! I find myself doing the same thing for 2013, and its a beautiful thing. Coty and I strive ourselves on being a family business. We do almost everything ourselves and every photo is personally taken by us, edited by us and sent to you by us. We’re truly a husband and wife business and I think that is what attracts our clients to booking Henry Photography for their weddings. I love that when the morning sickness came on, the partner God gave me for this life and business is an amazing one. Coty is such a hard worker, so dilligant & not ADD like me. Although I’ve said, being ADD comes in my favor being an artist! I’m just very thankful for his nature in this business and in my life. He plays his dad role very well but also edits the heck out of a wedding.

So here we are again, adding to our little family. Flexibility and faith are key when working as a couple.  I keep reminding myself… I’m doing a huge job over here… I’m creating a person! I love that I’ll be able to say this now. “Oh just shooting a wedding… all while making a person.” Its a blessing and a miracle to be a woman and create a sweet little baby. Since the baby is due in December, we luckily have not booked any weddings for December just yet so we’re thankful that we are able to just keep the month closed. We also are hesitant to book any weddings in November because Molly was 4 weeks early. We spoke to our doctor and we’re taking ever precaution to keep this baby in there as long as possible but God already has a plan and since I’m a planner myself… we just want to give our couple’s the best we can give. Knowing there is a chance we can go early we are only opening up November 3rd & 10th. I also do a lot of portraits in October so all those Christmas portraits and cards will have to be booked and finished by November 10th. Again, the whole reason I’m even thinking about all this is because I want the best for our clients and I’d like to give myself some time to relax before the baby comes. To make things easier I probably will have some set dates for portraits sessions that way I can get them all shot in a couple days and get them edited and sent to clients in a timely fashion. Those dates will be released late summer.

Please keep us in your prayers as we embark on this new crazy adventure!

We are now running a very sweet little special for those moms-to-be! For the woman who wants those last moments of pregnancy and the very beginning of motherhood documented, this is the package for her!

For $300 you get two amazing sessions! You’ll first have your maternity session and then shortly after baby arrives we’ll do a newborn session. You’ll also get a high res. edited disc of both sessions.  We’ll also put all your beautiful photos online for you to share your photos with family & friends. With this bundle you save over $320! I always suggest that around 30 weeks is the best time for a maternity session and usually within the first 10 days of your sweet baby’s life is the best time for a newborn shoot. Call or email us now to book this session, you won’t regret capturing these sweet moments in yours and your baby’s life.

info@henryphotography.com | 614-719-9904

Styling: MMJ Events

Cake: Enticing Icing and Custom Cakes

Linens: Connie Duglin

Paper: Top That Designs