Brittany is 26 years old and faced with something that most of us will not face until we are in our 50s or older. She is the primary caregiver for her mother, who was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s three years ago. It was a surprising diagnosis and not something that Brittany expected to hear when she was in her early 20s. It has been a journey of ups and downs, hope and despair, but, most importantly, love.

I’ve said on this blog before that when I started my photography business, I thought I’d never shoot a wedding. I always LOVED wedding photography and would buy wedding magazines for inspiration, but for some reason I thought I wasn’t meant to photograph weddings. That all seems so silly now that weddings are one of my favorite things to shoot. I LOVE photographing weddings! Even before I was hooked on photographing actual weddings, I always dreamed of doing a styled wedding shoot. It just seemed like it would be the most fun job ever. Thus, when I received an email asking if I wanted to photograph a Kate Spade inspired styled shoot for Mobile Bay Bride Magazine, I immediately said yes and started counting down the days until the shoot.

I love meeting and working with new families! When Allison contacted me for a portrait session for her family, I literally had one date left on my calendar for fall portrait sessions. One date. With her oldest son away at college and her other two sons busy with multiple school activities, combined with Allison and her husband having busy schedules, it was not easy for her to find a date where everyone in her family was available for a portrait session. Luckily, the stars aligned and the only date I had open worked for the whole family. We marked the date on our respective calendars and I prayed that we would not get rained out because rescheduling would be tricky.

Shooting at Dauphin Island in December means you get the beach all to yourself and beautiful colors in the sky and water. This session totally spoiled me!

I love everything Christmas so this fun and festive dinner party was definitely a treat to photograph!