A Midtown Mobile Maternity Session

Wedding days are day one of a new life together. They’re day one of a new family. When a bride and groom walk down the aisle at the end of their ceremony, they are walking into their future life together. I always love witnessing this moment and capturing it forever with my camera.

I remember Alex and Taylor’s wedding like it was yesterday. It was a hot, but beautiful, June day. I was so excited to get to photograph my cousin and his wife-to-be as a bride and groom! Since I was the second photographer at their wedding, I’ve never shared any of the images here on the blog, but I definitely need to dig into my archives and pull out my favorites sometime in the near future!

You know how they say that a woman glows when she’s expecting? Well, Taylor definitely has the mommy-to-be glow! In fact, I suspected she was pregnant shortly before she announced the news to our extended family. There was just something that seemed different about her, an extra bit of joy in her already cheerful nature. And she still had that glow the day of this maternity session!

Taylor has such a great eye for decorating and I absolutely adore the nursery that she and Alex have put together for their little one. We decided to do their maternity portraits at their home. I loved shooting in the nursery and was equally excited that their neighborhood has plenty of beautiful trees and shrubs. I found one spot where the light was so dreamy that we stayed there for most of the outside photos. I always say that background is secondary to good light and it’s SO true! Be sure to scroll down to see the dreamy, golden light!

Taylor asked if we could include these books by Jimmy Fallon in their portraits. I thought it was such a cute idea! They’re definitely in preparation mode!

Can we talk about how sweet the name Henry is?! Paired with the middle name, Wallace, it sounds positively regal!

See Alex & Taylor’s Gender Reveal!

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A Lifestyle Family Session

There were few things my Pop loved more than a good conversation about Alabama football. He was born in Boston, but claimed the South as his home in 1955. That was the year he and my grandmother moved to Mobile. After Mass on Sundays, you could frequently find Pop talking with someone about Alabama football and you could often find Johnny Williams in that conversation too.

Mobile is not that small of a city, but it often feels like a small town. I knew Mr. Johnny my whole life and knew his children grew up knowing my parents, aunts and uncles. But I didn’t really get to know the family beyond Mr. Johnny and his sweet wife, Sandra, until I photographed their granddaughter’s wedding a couple years ago. It is such a JOY to get to serve a family that you’ve known for years on such a special day. It’s even more special to get to document another milestone for the same family!

This family session was in celebration of the newest member of the Williams family. Baby John bears his late great-grandfather’s name, carrying it on for another generation. I’m sure he’ll also inherit his great-grandfather’s sense of fun, which his father and grandfather also share.

I loved visiting this family’s beautiful home for this session just a few weeks after John’s arrival! He was only one month old the day of this shoot. This tiny stage is so fleeting! Even though he was only a few weeks old, John was awake for most of the session. He is already so very expressive and I think he’s going to have so much fun keeping up with his big sister as he grows up! Congratulations Williams family and thank you for having me document this special season!

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A Gender Reveal Portrait Session

One of the things I love most about being a wedding photographer is getting to bear witness to one of the most special days of a couple’s life. I say one of the ‘most special’ because I know that other special days will come after that day. The day a couple finds out they’re expecting their first child is certainly one of those most special days, as is the day they find out if they’re having a boy or a girl.

I first met Samantha in 2016 when she was newly engaged to Robby. It’s hard to believe that’s been three years ago already! Samantha is one of the sweetest brides I’ve ever worked with. When she asked me if I could do a gender reveal portrait session to celebrate their growing family, I said yes faster than buttercream icing will melt on a humid summer wedding day!

It is such a joy to work with clients who love photos as much as I do and Samantha certainly shares my love of pictures! I absolutely loved her idea for this reveal. She incorporated both an exploding golf ball and confetti into the reveal. Only her friend who ordered the reveal items knew the gender prior to this shoot. Samantha and Robby wore the color that matched their guess of the gender. Seriously, it was the cutest!

While they initially intended to surprise everyone with their happy news via the photos, Samantha couldn’t keep the secret from her parents. They ended up coming to the session so that they could see the reveal in person. I love that her dad was able to record the moment as I took these photos!

I know y’all are dying to know if it’s going to be a boy or a girl, so scroll down to see the big reveal! Samantha and Robby, congratulations and thank you for trusting me with your very special memories! This was too much fun!!!

It’s a GIRL!!!

Samantha and her sweet parents right after the reveal! I love how close these three are.

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A Lifestyle Family Session

Whew! This spring wedding season has been the busiest one yet! I’m hitting pause on the wedding marathon (because 8 weddings in a row with only one break weekend is literally a marathon!) to share this sweet lifestyle family session with y’all. When Chelsea contacted me about booking this family session, my calendar for May was already pretty full. This booking was literally the second to the last I took on for the month. Y’all, spring is INSANE for photographers!!! Think about it – babies, engagements, weddings, graduations, the beginning of summer – all that happens in May and all of those things tend to involve photography! Some days I open my Inbox and it looks like an explosion happened. I won’t even mention the DMs on social media, or the phone calls. Yes, it’s a happy problem to have, but at times it can give your brain sensory overload.

So I made a promise to myself. I was going to draw a line in the sand and limit the non-wedding/engagement May bookings I took on. It’s the only way that I can serve my clients to the best of my abilities. Loving what you do makes it really, really hard to say no. I’m so glad Chelsea did contact me about this session well in advance because I adore photographing her family! My last session with them was just a year ago and it’s amazing to see how this sweet family has grown in that short period of time. When baby Lucy arrived earlier this month they became a party of five! To say that Lucy’s older siblings are excited about their baby sister is a HUGE understatement. I can tell these siblings are going to be the three musketeers growing up! Mom and dad better watch out, haha!

I don’t photograph family sessions that often these days because my calendar is mostly filled with weddings, editorial and commercial work. This was a nice change of pace and so much fun! I love getting to visit client homes for sessions like this one. I love getting to incorporate a family’s home into their images. It makes the photographs so personal. Fun fact, I remember watching Chelsea renovate this house on the Today’s Homeowner TV show several years ago (Chelsea is one of the co-hosts and also hosts her own web series, Checking in With Chelsea). It was so neat seeing this home in person! I love how she decorated the nursery in light tones. It made the perfect setting for a lot of the photos! Scroll to the bottom of this post for a link to Chelsea’s blog where you can see the full nursery tour!

Y’all, between that new baby smell and those newborn yawns (the cutest thing ever), this session had me smiling the entire time. Prepare yourself for all the sweetness! Meet sweet Lucy.

She’s not too sure about the camera yet. 😉

Big brother, Gus, has figured out how to climb into the baby’s crib…not sure if his parents knew he could do that so quickly prior to this shoot. He was quite proud of himself!

See the full tour of Lucy’s adorable nursery on Chelsea’s blog.

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Baby Makes Three!

A little over three years ago I received an email from a photographer looking for work as a second shooter. My good friend and fellow wedding photographer, Jennie Tewell, sent him my way. I had been looking for someone to work with me on a few weddings, so the email was quite timely. We arranged a meeting at Carpe Diem. I didn’t know what to expect. At the time I was an associate photographer with Jennie’s business and new to weddings. I wasn’t even sure how I should conduct the meeting. Was it an interview? That didn’t seem right. I finally decided to approach our meeting as I would if I were just grabbing a cup of coffee with a friend.

I walked into the crowded coffee shop in Springhill and found him sitting at a table by the front window. “Hi, I’m Jacob,” he said as he reached out his hand to shake mine. I don’t remember how long we met for, but I do remember that about five minutes into our conversation I found out Jacob is from Memphis. “I have family up that way,” was my reply. That led to Jacob asking me if I was related to a Michael Gelineau. I love small-world moments, but this one had me in disbelief. It turns out that Jacob grew up playing baseball and my uncle, who lives in Memphis, was one of his coaches. How in the world do our paths end up crossing out of all the other photographers in Mobile he could have contacted?! I took it as a sign that we were meant to work together.

Three years later, Jacob and I have photographed a slew of weddings together. In fact, I think I’ve worked more weddings with him than I have with any other photographer. At this point, he can practically read my mind. One thing I learned about Jacob at our first meeting, is how much he adores his sweet wife, Aubrey. He absolutely lights up every time he talks about her. I felt like I knew her long before we actually met. Last fall, Aubrey worked as my assistant on one of my weddings. It was so much fun working with both of them on the same day!

At the end of an insanely busy season last fall, I told Jacob that I wanted to do a portrait session for him and Aubrey as a thank you for all his hard work throughout the year. As it turns out, they had a special surprise to share by the time that session date arrived. On our first wedding together for this year, Jacob told me that Aubrey is expecting their first child! I am SO excited for these two and was so happy that we could incorporate some baby announcement photos into their portrait session! Talk about perfect timing!

Now that they have shared the news with their family and friends, I’m excited to share some of my favorites from their session. Fun fact, even though Jacob is a photographer, it’s been quite a while since he and Aubrey have had a formal portrait session! Jacob said it was definitely weird being on the other side of things and not having a camera in his hand. I absolutely LOVED getting to photograph them during this special season in their lives. I am so thankful to call them friends and can’t wait to meet their little one later this year!

Carpe Diem is one of Jacob and Aubrey’s favorite spots in town. They’re regular visitors to this little coffee shop, so of course we had to work it into some of their portraits. I still can’t believe that we were able to get a few shots in without anyone on the porch. This place is always so busy! These turned out to be some of my favorites too!

Aubrey’s Hair Styled by Mackenzie Smith at Cara & Company Salon