Taren & Brian: Take Two!

Every package that Justin & I offer comes with at least a short engagement shoot because we believe so much in how important they are for building friendships (not just relationships, but friendships!) with our clients and getting those fun, relaxed, trusting shots when the wedding day rolls around. But one of the add ons we've been offering is our full day, themed "Get to Know You" shoot. This starts with the "GTKY" sheet that we give to our clients, and ends with a full day of themed fun that we come up with for these couples. And sometimes, like in Taren & Brian's case, there's just SO much themed goodness that it turns into multiple days of shooting fun!

We did Taren & Brian's first shoot back in January, knowing that we would do their real themed shoot once the weather got a little nicer. These guys really just made it wayy too easy coming up with a plan for their day. For his proposal, Brian took Taren to four of their favorite places and at each place gave her a gift: an antique spoon at the pub where they had their first date, a blue shirt, a rope he borrowed from her father, and last but definitely not least...her ring! Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. So yea...we had fun with that!

People are always asking which shots are Justin's and which ones are mine, so we divided them up! We also had the amazingly talented Miss Shyla down to shoot with us, so check out her blog later for her take on things!

First up are Justin's:

And mine!

My tribute to C10ike!

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Taren & Brian, we love you guys!! We can't WAIT for the wedding!

Girl's Day Out!!

When we were away in Chicago, I missed the birthday of two of my girls: C10ike & Miss Amanda Harris. So I thought it was only fitting that we go out for some pedicure action to celebrate them being on this earth and more importantly, having them in my life! Before hitting up the salon we stopped off for a boatload of sushi....no seriously, it came to us in wooden fisherman's boat that took up the whole table. Needless to say, we were giddy. Then we plopped ourselves in the massaging chairs for 10 toes (well 30 toes in all!) of uninterrupted bliss before finishing off one glorious day with a super cheesy chick flick. It just doesn't get any better than this!

hyjinx at the movie theatre!

Just a little snapshot into our lives....

So we were just enjoying a yummy dinner of chicken & snowpeas in a peanut sauce when the "Beverly Hillbillies" Geico commercial came on (y'know, the one where they speculate that Jed really made his money by switching to Geico) when the following conversation transpired:

Justin: So how did Jed Clampett make all his money?
Mary: Seriously?
Justin: *shrugs shoulders*
Mary: Well....one day he was shootin at some food....and up through the ground came a bubblin' crude. Y'know...black gold. Texas Tea?
Justin: Well why did they have to move to Beverly Hills?
Mary: Because his kin folk TOLD him to!! Honestly, have you ever actually LISTENED to the song?!?

Yea...that's just how we rock dinner.

Ta Daa

Going all HGTV about the situation...

Going all HGTV about the situation..., originally uploaded by justinmarantz.

For the past three days since getting back from Chicago, Jus & I have
been running around like crazy getting all the stuff we would need for
our new meeting space (not to mention doing three awesome client meetings in between all that!). And today it finally all starts coming together, starting with a fresh coat of paint. We'll post the results later!

Habitat Cabaret

Last night was one of those really great "feel good" nights, when you can just see real change happening all around you. Mary and I are both proud Habitat for Humanity supporters, and so when we got a call from Traci Romano to help out with a Cabaret event to support our Greater New Haven Habitat chapter, we jumped at the opportunity to be a part of it.

Special thanks to Pat Cardozo for all of her hard work in organizing everything, and also Hope & Steve Patton who opened up their beautiful home to host the event. Here are a few shots of the amazing cabaret singer, Marie Robert:

Spread the Love... just the beginning

We just wrapped up an awesome 2nd day at the Spread the Love workshop here in Chicago! The whole crew is pretty tired right now, but I just wanted to post a handful of images from day 1. Mary and I will be in the air most of tomorrow, but will bring you guys up to speed when we get back home. (I totally stole the first 2 shots from Shyla's blog... you can check more pics there too!)

Abby, Sarah, Mary & Shlya

Day 1 shoot: We had the lovely and adorable Beth & Nick as our models.

Make-A-Wish

For 4 year old Teagan, a pair of pink cowgirl boots and a hat were just the beginning of an adventure which undoubtedly will stick with her for the rest of her life. Teagan is just one of 163,000+ kids with a life threatening medical condition, who have had their wish granted by the amazing generosity of the Make-A-Wish organization and all of its individual supporters since it began in 1980.

Last Sunday we witnessed just how amazing of a community we live in, as the CT chapter of Make-A-Wish honored Teagan and her family at the the Make-A-Wish Gala at Foxwoods, after returning from her trip to a dude ranch in Arizona. The silent and live auctions and other donations raised over $90,000 for future wishes! We were so blessed to be part of this event and witness the beauty of people who really care about the joy that they can bring to others.

A special thanks goes out to Tara Navara and her awesome team who did a fantastic job putting the event together and the amazing Shyla who came down from Boston to help us out. Here are a few images from the night: