Southern Style

Whenever Mary & I roll through Essex during lunch we always stop in and see our friends at Porky Pete's! Pete and Selene opened this amazing little Southern Style BBQ a couple of years ago. They have the best smoked pulled pork BBQ sandwiches I've ever tasted! They're so good, in fact, that we knew we had to have them cater our rehearsal dinner on the Becky Thatcher steam boat this October! Their shop is super cool too, with all these funky old records all over the wall and one of those dancing Elvis signs. I love it! Feels like a little bit of Memphis (actually Selene is from Nashville!) right here in the middle of CT.

Spreading the Love!!

So tonight when we got back from helping our friends Joey & Brian move in (more on this to come) we had the absolute COOLEST. EMAIL .EVER. waiting for us!!! I had emailed Tim Sanders, author of Love is the Killer App & The Likeability Factor, a few days ago about how much his books have meant to us and tonight we got this back from him! Can you believe how amazing this guy is!?!

Mentoring Session

Justin and I just finished up our mentoring session with Chris Rexon, which we are offering to raise money for Portrait House (if you want to get yourself signed up for one, you can email us at justin@theportraithouse.org ).

Chris brought along her daughter, Carrin (who is just about to graduate with a degree in photography), and we all had an amazing time hanging out & talking about everything from websites to equipment to marketing and blogs (oh my!) Chris & Carrin are just about two of the sweetest people you could ever meet! Chris has such a caring way about her and has been by far one of the strongest advocates for our CT PUG right from the very beginning. I really wish I could find the words to tell her how much her kindness has meant to us over the past five months...but somehow, I think she knows.

One of the biggest things we accomplished today was getting Chris her very own BLOG set up. She wasn't sure people would want to read what she was up to :), so cruise on over & give her some love and show her that she's wrong!!

Anna & Ben's Wedding!

First off, check out our new & super-sexy, super-sized pictures! Bigger IS better, baby!!

So, here are some highlights from the *INCREDIBLE* wedding of Anna& Ben!!!

Anna & Ben were made for each other. Anyone who is around them for even a second can tell you that. The way he looks at her...can't keep his eyes off her really...is a testament to that. It was such a blessing and a joy for Justin and I to be there with you...thank you so much for inviting us to be part of such an incredible day.

Love,
Mary & Jus

Anna had these AMAZING Jimmy Choo's...and as you can see, I was ever so slightly obsessed!

LOVE this one! I actually burst into tears when I was making the slideshow for the reception and came across it.

This one was actually taken by the *AMAZING* Amanda Harris! Amanda came along to second shoot with us, and we were absolutely blown away by her! She was always on top of everything! I think a perfect example of this was in the church...she somehow managed to get a TON of amazing shots like this one, yet she was always aware of our shots so she could duck out of the way if need be. She was like the Houdini of photographers! You can check out more of her amazing work HERE!! She was also just a complete lifesaver, going above and beyond the call of duty countless times to make our lives easier...like jumping behind the wheel when there was a parking situation in Elizabeth Park or picking up a bunch of PINK BALLOONS on her way down just because we thought they would be fun! We love you Amanda!! You definitely get the Rock Star Photographer of the Year Award! There's a trophy...it's big.

Check us out...it's just how we roll!

Playing around

We're going to be playing around with the template in blogger, so if things look a little funny you know why. Check back later to see if it looks any better!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

It's 3 years today that Justin and I have been together and less than 4 months to go until we make it official!! :) wooo hooo!!

Pay it Forward

Justin and I (and I'm sure many of you) have been so touched by the book Love is the Killer App by the amazing Tim Sanders. We first heard about it through our friends David Jay and Nathan & Amber Holritz. And we finally got to read it when the super-generous Steve DePino gave us his copy :).

It's had a HUGE impact on us, our lives, our business...and just generally the way we treat people. So at the June CT PUG meeting, we did a little presentation called "You Down with P-U-G?" and we brought 5 copies of the book to give out to some new people who were there for the first time as part of our open house.

We told them the copy was theirs to keep. All we asked was that if it had the same kind of impact on them as it did on us, they should keep their copy but go out & buy 3 more to give to people who might need it. And then they should tell those people to do the same thing. I think it'll be really cool to see how far this goes!

Thought for the Day

I'm reading this great new book, Talent is Never Enough...and I just came across a killer quote:

"Some people say that they feel burned out. The truth is that they probably never were on fire in the first place."

This is so true! And I think there is a big difference between feeling overwhelmed (which we all do from time to time) and feeling burned out. Realizing what sets us on fire and going for it is such an awesome feeling. And letting go of all that other stuff feels pretty great too!

Millie Holloman Rocked the House!!

Ok first off, can I get an AMEN to the fact that Millie Holloman TOTALLY rocked our PUG house (aka the super hospitable Steve DePino's house)?!?!?!

There were 45 totally amped photographers packed in with us and they brought an AMAZING energy with them. It was so great to hear that so many of you are down with our open & sharing (& hugging) agenda. :P


Millie absolutely tore it up!! She had us laughing, heck she had us rolling, but most of all...she had us thinking! I know so many people who told me they felt like they were on fire after hearing her speak and haven't been this excited about their businesses in a loooong time. I can't WAIT to see all the great things that come out of having her visit our group.

But I already know what the BEST one is: our awesome new friendship with Millie Mills. I wish all you PUGGERS could've bunked out at our place for the past few days to see all the crazy fun we got into! There was couch jumping, jim jams & "I'm makin' WAFFLES", spontaneous birthday parties, and weird dudes at Subway. It just doesn't get any better than that!

Millie, we love you with all our Ha-ha-ha-ha-hearts! And "Oh my heck," I can't wait til we come down to NC to tear it up Southern style! yeeeeee-haw!

PUG Open House

We're bloggin' from Steve Depino's place, host of this month's PUG meeting. Our open house brought in FORTY FIVE photographers!!! Millie Holloman rocked the house! More to come later.

Good Clean Irish Fun!

Check us out in all our Irish glory at Anna Liffey's for some hot trivia action! The Dot Commers (Carla, Steve & Millie) officially won....but only because they CHEATED!! No, I'm not sure how...but I know it MUST have happened! The Bomb Dot Com's (me, Jus, Paul & Krystal) want a rematch! Bring it on! It, it's just what you bring.

We are TOTAL rock stars!



This is my new favorite shot of all time!

Feelin' the Love!

Sweet! Check us out in the new issue of Brides!


And a big congrats to our friend Carlita who is also in this issue...check her out on page 100! Ooh and Leslie Dumke on pg. 72! Puggers rock!

Yay!! Millie in the House!

Yay! The awesome Millie Holloman is in town to speak at our June PUG meeting. She just flew in this morning and we hit up Moka for lunch. Tonight we're off for some Irish food & hot pub quiz action at Anna Liffeys with the crew. Madness and mayhem is sure to ensue.

Here's a pic of us in all our technology glory that I stole from Millie's blog. More self portraits will follow once we've all actually had a chance to shower! :P

First Slideshow at an Engagement Party

Yesterday we headed down to New Jersey for a seriously rockin' engagement shoot with Melanie & Brett before their engagement party that night at the Paris Inn. We had a few minutes after the shoot before we had to head off to the party... so we pulled out our favorites, ran em through ShowIt and were ready to go.

We *always* do slide shows at our weddings and they've been huge for us...but this was the first time we've actually gotten to do an engagement slide show at an event. The response was awesome! Right after we showed it we got approached about doing another wedding in Europe (we're going to Wales this September for one). What a great way to get people excited about you before you ever show up at the wedding. I think we're gonna try to find a way to do this from now on!!


This shoot was by far one of the coolest we've ever done. Melanie & Brett were so comfortable with each other & really knew how to work the camera like the total rock stars that they are. We got to try some new things & really kick it up a notch. Check it out!

Dreamin' Big!!

Our new friend, the Beautiful Scarlett, who Justin & I met while we were out in Chicago has an awesome post on her BLOG about dreaming big and having no limits. Now she wants to know, if you knew you had absolutely NO LIMITS, what top 5 things would you do? I think we should all be thinking like this every.single.day!

Think about it hard, you only get 5...and then head on over HERE to add 'em to the list. Who knows, maybe writing them on her blog for the world to see will be your first step in actually getting there!

M:)

And the winners are...

A huge congratulations to Krystal Prue of Studio Foto in winning the first ever Connecticut PUG shoot out! Her picture of fellow photographer Amy Ross won by a landslide after all 31 entries were voted on by the national Pictage community.


Krystal is such a sweetheart and has quickly become one of our best friends...and as you can see, she's a ROCKIN' hot photographer too!! You can go visit her HERE to give her a big congrats!!


We also want to give it up for Group 6 tearin' up the group shot competition. That group consisted of Paul McNerney (also of Studio Foto! talk about your power couples!), Steve DePino, Marleen Cafarelli, Autumn Thomes, and Marlene Way. Congrats guys! You are total rock stars!!


Awesome! Can't wait for the next one!

A Three Hour Tour...

What can I say? Justin and I live for adventure!! Sunday morning we woke up and decided we just wanted to drive & see where it would take us. Three hours later (add one bus ride and one fateful ferry ride to taste) we found ourselves on a little island known as Martha's Vineyard!!! It turned out to be *quite* the adventure indeed...but hey, at least we got to get some Black Dog gear out of the deal. Special thanks to Don from Sun n' Fun Rentals for helping us find a place to stay that night. If you're ever on the island, he is THE guy to go to for a rockin' Jeep rental!

Check it out!!

AWESOME CT PUG Shoot Out Video!!!

Hey guys! Check out this ROCKIN' video our friend Steve DePino(.com) just put up of the first ever CT PUG Shoot Out. How much fun are we?!

Sahra & Scott's Wedding

Here's the rockin' slideshow for the AMAZING wedding of Sahra & Scott at the 1820 House. We had such a great time guys! We'll talk soon!

Million Faces Begins

Check out what happened when the P.H.A.T. (Portrait House Advisory Team) got together to kick off the Million Faces Campaign. And cruise on over to the PH Blog for a fun clip of all the action!

IT'S HERE!!! (SHOOT SAC)

Guess what came in the mail for ME today!?

Misty Water-Colored Memories....

...Of the way we were.

Our good friend Steve DePino just put up an awesome post on his blog with a lil' flashback to our first ever PUG meeting. It is so crazy to see how much this group has grown (and believe me, it wasn't so small to begin with!) and how close we've all gotten in such a short time.

You can check out his post HERE (and while you're there, spend some time checkin' out Steve's work. He's a true rock star! And well on his way to big things.)

"Thread Fashion Soiree" at Traci Romano's

Last Friday, Traci Romano hosted an amazing event for all of her brides to showcase dresses from Thread Design. Diane Case was there from Thread to give away two of their dresses and there were models (some of them were the same girls from the fashion shoot we did with Traci for Thread, Vera Wang and Saeyoung Vu) walking all around the party in the rockin' gowns.

Some of New England's top vendors were there to share their talents including Eleni's cookies from NY (yum!), KD& J Botanica's floral arrangements out of Westport (their work is incredible!), and the debut of Annabella Fine Stationery's new wedding invitation collection. I also had the pleasure of hanging out with Robin Watterson from La Bella Bride magazine who made the trip down from Providence just for the event!

Traci put together an awesome goodie bag for all the brides and we wanted to think of something just a little bit different to add, so we did these:


We often do little gifts for our brides and this is one of Mary's absolute favorites to give because it's one of HER all-time favorite things too. If at any time you stop her on the street, I guarantee you she'll have a bottle of evian spray in her bag. So for Traci, we did these bottles with our ribbon and a tag that had our logo on one side and "It's VERY refreshing!!" (y'know, like junior mints) on the other side. I like the double meaning! :)

My shoot sac cover!

I stole this from Jessica Claire's blog to show you the cover I got for my shoot sac when I was in Chicago. It's called calm (third one in the top row), but I like to think of it as imagine imaging blue :) Oh how I LOVE branding with accessories! lol

You can go HERE to get on her mailing list to find out when the site goes live AND to get 10% off your own shoot sac!

Knocked Up!!

noooo...the MOVIE silly!

Well if the past two days were laundry catch up, today will def have to be blog catch up day! We have sooo much to post so stay tuned for more on that. But first, just wanted to talk about the killer movie we just saw. Last night was date night for us so we headed off to see Knocked Up (from the same guy who brought us the 40 year old virgin). It was AWE-SOME!! We laughed, we laughed some more, we laughed til we cried, and then we just plain cried. We were seriously talking about it the rest of the night! Go see it...you'll love it!

Two thumbs wayyyyyy up!!

Spread the Love!!

Justin just posted this pic on the forums and I LOVE it!! I think it really captures our group. Just click on it to see us bigger.

The Vote is ON!!!

The shoot out pics are officially on the Pictage forums for voting. Let the games begin!! Check it out and voteHERE

Best Individual Shot?


Best Group Shot?

How Much Laundry Do We Have Left?

Count down with us as we make our way through MOUNTAINS of laundry!

3 down, 10 to go!!!
Woo hoo, 9 to go!!!
One Subway & Starbucks break later, 8 to go!!
Rollin' on to lucky #7
6 it is.
Following one half of a two-movie marathon of "cheesy 90s 'I'll save the world' action flicks" (we just finished Passenger 57...hilarious!) we're rockin out #5!!

whew! that was a looong day of laundry...but we're up, refreshed, and ready to get at it again. watch out laundry...you're barely hangin' on!

Annnnnddd....4!
Sweet, that's 3!
Two!!
one.....AND DONE!!!! yayyy!!

I hope I never see another bottle of lavender and vanilla fabric softener again!

Wine n' Weddings

After running like crazy for the past few weeks, Mary and I got to take this afternoon to just relax and hang out with our awesome clients-turned-friends, Alana & Dan. They called us up a week ago and invited us to go wine tasting with them at Jonathan Edwards Winery...little did we know when we got there that they had already bought our tickets for the ENTIRE day!! Let me tell ya...THAT was a lot of wine! Honestly, how we ever got lucky enough to have them as clients, let alone amazing friends, I will never know.




Their wedding at the Florence Griswold Museum (which btw was featured in Martha last year) is coming up pretty fast, so we got to hear about all of the UNBELIEVABLE stuff they have planned...seriously this wedding is going to be one of THE coolest ever!! I can't wait to show you all the stuff they're doing. You guys have us so pumped for the big day now...C'mon, as if we weren't already!!

While we were at the vineyard, I took this shot for the A Minute In The Life: The Simultaneous Photography Project at 2:00pm EST (I love the way the camera accidentally focused on Alana's watch!)


Now we're back home for some much needed laundry catch up. 1 2 loads down, 12 11 to go!!