If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I promised you all that I would post some photos from the Alvarado Family session…so here they are.

I love the Alvarado Family!  They are so much fun and super sweet.  I had the wonderful privilege to capture their intimate family wedding last summer in 2007. And it was beautiful!  They invited me back this year to photograph their family, but a little bit under sad circumstances.  There sweet dogie Coosa is dying and they don’t know when they might lose her.  Fortunately she is still with them today but every moment counts.  So we made sure we got the family session done in time to capture Coosa and preserve the memory of her sweet spirit.  And we had a blast doing it.  I even got the pleasure of looking a little silly as one of the tricks to get Coosa to look at the camera was for me to yell “Cookie” or “Coosa, do you want a cookie?” over and over and over again. It worked like a charm!! So fun….I’m willing to do just about anything to get the right shot.  Totally worth it to be silly!!

I hope you enjoy this little preview of their session.  We had a great time…even though all our fingers and toes were frozen by the end.  ;)

Meet Coosa!  How precious is this face?!

See I told you…such a fun family!  We laughed pretty much the whole time.  Thank you so much Alvarado Family for inviting me back to spend some time with you and capture your memories together.  I hope to see you soon. :)

I am the very first one to admit that blogging is sadly not one of my strong suits.  I really do try…but some how the days get away from me and before you know it a couple weeks have gone by.  So I am here once again to apologize for leaving you all hanging and wondering when I might post something.  I have been in the process of moving and getting settled into being back up in Washington.  But I am here now and the move went very smoothly and I couldn’t be more at peace with the decision.  On that note, I am going to try really hard at being more ontop of this blog of mine.  :)  Thanks for being patient with me and also for coming to visit me on a regular basis.

I wanted to share real quickly with you a few sweet e-mails I have received from my couples this summer as well as one from a mom.  That is the coolest by the way, when a mom takes a moment to write you.  I LOVE what I do and think I have just about the coolest job on the planet.  I don’t know how I got to be so blessed…but I’m taken it and runnin’ with it. ;) Here are a few messages I would like to share….

From Gina (Cortney’s mom):

“Hi Maija,I am Cortney’s mom and she showed me your “blog” and I was so impressed!   I can’t wait to see all the pictures but the ones I did see were incredible.  You are so gifted…Those pictures looked like they could be in a wedding magazine.  I’m sure you can tell I’m not the least bit biased either.

Thanks for a super job!”

Gina

From Sara (married Sept. 20th, 2008):

“Maija, we are speechless!! I am laughing and have tears in my eyes at the same time. They are incredible. My goodness, I am in love with what I see!! The one of Nick and Moose in the field…even more amazing than I ever expected. And the one with Nick pushing his grandmother and chasing me. That’s getting blown up and mailed to her for Christmas! They are all precious and unique and just beautiful. You do amazing work, and we are SO thankful we found you!!

Thank you again and again, we absolutely can NOT wait to see the rest!”

Thank you so again,

Sara

From Ingrid (married Aug. 1, 2008):

“Maija! hi! yes, I LOVE the pictures! thank you–i’ve been swamped with tests this week or else I would’ve written earlier to thank yoU!  I’m so excited to make prints! Thank you thank you thank you! you did a great job! i hope your move went well & you are all settled in!”

Thanks Maija!

ingrid

These are just a couple kind words that have been sent my way.  And I am humbled every day by the fact that I get to work with such fabulous people.  There is nothing like being able to live out your passion in life.  I’m thankful everyday.

I will post a few shots from a family session I did with the Alvarado family tomorrow, so be looking for those.

Thanks again for sticking with me.  Have a fantastic weekend….and don’t forget to take a few pictures along the way to preserve your memories.  :)

Oh what a joy it was to share the day with Nick and Sara.  They are such a good time.  I was blessed to be part of their celebration and to capture some of their special moments.  I mentioned before that I got the chance to shoot at Warms Springs Inn two weekends in a row.  So you will see some similar backgrounds in the shots.  But what I love about wedding photography is that each one has it’s own special moments that can only be created by that couple.  And I think you will see what I mean when you see some of these shots. :)

The beautiful and elegant Sara!

Aren’t they such a handsome couple?!  Made my job easy. :)

Okay…I have to say I was pretty excited to get this shot.  Talk about a moment in time.  They both looked my way right at that split second and I’m glad my finger was on the shutter button.  I could not have set this shot up better myself.  Way to go guys!!!

Alright…so this was another one of those unique moments to Nick and Sara’s wedding.  It’s a moment that flies by before you can even really think twice.  And this is why I do what I do and love it with a passion.  Nick and Sara, I hope you like this shot as much as I do!!  You both are too much fun!

I just thought Sara looked really sweet in this setting.  Snapped it when she wasn’t looking ;)

Fun shot with the ladies and their umbrellas!  I have to admit I really like when there are umbrellas involved. 

The whole crew!

Seriously…does it get any more fun than this?!  So cute!!!

Just beautiful is all I have to say….;)

I love the way they are looking at each other here while sharing their vows.  With loving eyes locked.

I grabbed this shot right after they threw blessing stones into the river that everyone put into a basket for them at the end.  It was a really sweet idea. 

Okay, so I have to say I am a little frustrated right now, because in my process of posting this blog I was not able to load a few extra photos that I wanted to add.  I don’t know why, it’s just simply technology deciding to tweak on me.  But I hope you all find what you see enjoyable and get a taste of how fun Nick and Sara were on their wedding day.

Thank you again Sara and Nick for being so ridiculously fun and inviting at your wedding.  I couldn’t think of a better way to end my summer months of shooting weddings.  Your wedding was a true celebration that I will always remember.  I look forward to seeing you again as your family grows.  ;)

Okay, I am back and FINALLY posting some pictures for you all. Again, this summer has just been a crazy one…and I am thankful for everyone that was part of the journey.  Cortney and Tim got married at the beautiful location of Warm Springs Inn down by the river in Wenatchee.  Such a sweet location….and in my next post you might notice some similarities because I had the chance to shoot there two weekends in a row!

Cortney and Tim were such a delight to work with.

There is something beautiful (well, of course that would be Cortney), enchanting and mysterious about this photo.  Almost like a dream.

Again…pure joy while getting ready.  This will always be one of my favorite things about a wedding day…put on the dress to complete the masterpiece of a bride.

I know…I know Cortney has her eyes closed, but that has never stopped me from loving a photo.  I thought this was a sweet moment of laughter.  :)

The beautiful Cortney….Tim was helping me make her laugh.  You can see her excitement to marry him.

And of course the handsome Tim!!  I loved his brown tux.  It fit the surroundings and him perfectly!

This dilapidated barn is so perfect for photos.  One of the great back drops at Warms Springs Inn.

They danced down the isle together after the ceremony was done.  So Cute!

Okay, so I couldn’t decide with photo I like more of the “throwing of rose petals and blowing of bubble”…so I picked two just for the heck of it!  ;)

Sweet grandma! Classic!

They had a “treat table” instead of a cake.  That way everyone can have something different.  Very cool.

I thought this picture was so sweet, because Cortney pretty much sang the whole first dance song to her love Tim.

Thank you Tim and Cortney for inviting me to be part of your day.  I truly enjoyed the celebration and I so look forward to staying in touch. ;)

I am quickly posting this to my blog to make sure that all of you who are so kind as to follow my blog know that I am still alive.  I realize that I haven’t posted on my blog since Sept. 19th..yikes!!  No one told me that was almost three weeks ago.  :) jk.  Where does the time go?!!! This summer has been an immense blessing to me and I can’t thank everyone enough for making it so much fun and a learning experience at the same time.  I have grown much as a photographer and as an individual, which I am daily grateful for.  I have two weddings that I still need to post and hope to have those up in the next week so you can continue to view the fun from the summer.  :)

In some of my big news….I’M MOVING!!  Most of you who know me, know that I have been living down in San Diego, CA for the past 2 1/2 years, of which has been a joyful journey.  But life has lead me to making the decision to move back up to Washington State, where I am originally from. All I can say, is my family is ecstatic!  They can hardly contain themselves!!  Oh what a joy it is to be loved. :) Anyway, with that being said, I leave for San Diego tomorrow and will be in the process of packing up my life down there and finalizing all the details over the next two weeks.  Then I will be heading back up here in my trusty car stuffed to the brim with all I have to my name (which isn’t much by the way, and I have to say I am quite glad I have learned to live simply).  No U-Haul truck needed…..

I will fill you all in more later.  But for now, I just wanted to make sure everyone knew I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth…nor have I stopped doing what I love to do, which of course is capturing people’s life moments.  I am in the mix of editing thousands of photos as well as continuely taking more. 

Thank you all for stopping by and I will be back again soon…I promise it won’t be 3 weeks before my next post!!! :)

Cheers and God bless,

Maija

I can’t believe it has already been 9 days since my last post.  But here I am with bells on and some fun shots from Alysea and Luke’s wedding.  I was able to be a part of their sweet and intimate family wedding on Sept. 6th…and it was a joy to be there.  It brings such delight to my heart to watch two people so in love start on their journey together.  During the ceremony (and after) the tears were flowing for both Luke and Alysea.  It was beautiful.

I hope you enjoy (as always) this little preview.  Though I was with Alysea and Luke for a shorter time frame than most of my weddings, we were really able to get a good time in with just the two of them for photos.  Which is one of the reason it’s kind of fun to do the smaller, intimate weddings.  ;)

Ahhh…pure joy!

Oh, I could not have planned the moment better.  I love kids!

I love the sweet tears in her eyes.  There were a lot of tears from both of them….which of course I am a sucker for. ;)

Alysea’s mom had her fair share of tears as well.  Mom’s are so great…I know I am thankful for mine every day!

Isn’t this shot so romantic?!  We went out in the field right next to where they got married and had some fun.

Since Alysea and Luke had a very intimate wedding with just family, we had some extra time with just the two of them to get tons of fun shots.  I enjoy that so much, because I don’t always get this kind of time with my couples.  I was in my height of glory!

Oh…I LOVE this shot of Alysea.  So beautiful!  I really liked how she chose to wear an accent color for her necklace.

The very handsome Luke!

I just wanted to add this shot on at the end because it was the view from where they were married up at Mountain Spring Lodge.  So gorgeous up at this sight.  I highly recommend to anyone that is getting married to look into this location.

Thank you Alysea and Luke for inviting me to be part of your very special day.  You both were great to work with and easy to photograph.  I hope we can keep in touch and maybe meet up again to capture more of your life moments!!!

I have to apologize for my lack of blogging the past couple weeks.  The summer has swamped me with images to sift through and I’m still taking them.  Holy cow…what a summer it has been!! Thanks for sticking with me and to all my couples and clients for their great patience with me.

Well, I got to capture another beautiful wedding at Mt. Springs Lodge.  I love this location. Meg and Mike were a fun couple to work with and it was a great family event.  I hope you enjoy the little sneak peek below.

Love these dancing photos!

I was really lucky to get connected with Beidit.  I say this because, though I have wanted to for a while, I haven’t spent much time taking senior portraits.  About 90% of my business is weddings, but Beidit found my website and liked what she saw…..and I am so glad she called me, because I had a BLAST!!!  I hope that I get the chance to work with other great seniors like Beidit in the near future.

Seniors of 2009/2010….give me a ring!!!  I would love to talk with you.

Enjoy this preview from her session that we had together about a week ago…..

Thank you Beidit for trusting me to capture some shots of you for your senior year.  I had such a wonderful time with you and your family that tagged along.  :)

Okay….so I was blessed to work the Lisa and Mark a year and a half ago when they made it official. And boy was it memorable. In short…this is what happened…they were planning to get married at Mountain Springs Lodge in Leavenworth, WA in December of 2006.  But when a MAJOR storm hit the area with massive snow and wind, their plans changed.  Much of the area lost power and Mountain Springs was hit as well.  With mountain passes full of snow and no electricity to see much of anything, Lisa and Mark made the very bold move of changing their wedding location 2 and 1/2 hours away to Seattle the DAY before the wedding.  I know…crazy but they totally pulled it off!!!  The family came together beautifully and made the phone calls and plans that needed to be made and the wedding went off without a hitch.  And I was there for the ride.  They asked if I would make the trek over to Seattle to be there for the day…and I said “OF COURSE!”   I hopped on the train at 5:45am and arrived in Seattle mid-morning and celebrated the rest of the day with them.  Needless to say I will never forget Lisa and Mark. :) They were such a wonderful couple to work with and I feel so honored that they invited me back to work with them again.

Lisa and Mark have added darling Quinn to their family and I had the chance to capture a few shots of these sweet cheeks.  I hope you all enjoy the little nibble of the family pics!

I was able to be part of a sweet wedding at the Sleeping Lady in Leavenworth, WA. Even though I was only there for a couple hours…I had a great time capturing some special moments for Sophie and Stan on their wedding day. And their adorable little girl was so amazing…look how sweet she is in this first picture. :)

Enjoy the little preview of a wedding in the woods!

I thought this was a cute picture…Sophie’s daughter was letting her voice be heard, saying “I’m hot and tired Mom!”. :) Did I mention that it was 106 degrees that day?! Talk about hot.

Some fun shots of the instruments being played during the ceremony.

My favorite part of photography is capturing the emotion of the day….but a close second would be capturing the unique detail put together by each group. I loved these sweet name tags for the place settings.

No they aren’t headless :) …just a creative angle to the wedding of Sophie and her sister standing next to her.

I love this shot of one of the little girls at the wedding watching from the middle of the isle. If only grown-ups could be more brave. It’s the best seat in the house!

The Kiss!

Sophie and Stan walking down the isle with just the right touch of bubbles. The bubbles were a hit with everyone…not just the kids.

Sophie’s mother! Love this shot of her. :)

Just a sweet picture of a darling baby and her mama that I thought I would throw in.

Thank you Sophie and Stan for inviting me to be a part of your day. I wish you all the best in your new journey together! :)