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Whitley: 6 months

May 26, 2010 – 11:39 am

Hi everyone! Long time no post…I know. I get it. Things are rockin’ and rollin’ around here for the summer and we are in full edit mode! I have a lot to post so I wont fill you up with fluff and get right to the good stuff.

I cant believe Whitley is already 6 months old! She is growing so fast and has such a sweet personality already. Her mom and dad love her to pieces and its not hard to see why…here are some of our favorites from her session!

(I sure do love the back of a bald baby head… )

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Lauren: Pharm. D

May 12, 2010 – 10:05 am

Congrats to Lauren for her FREAKIN HUGE accomplishment! Lauren has become a good friend of ours since we shot our friends Meredith and Michael’s wedding back in December and I was SO excited when she called and asked us to shoot some “I cant believe Im finished with school!” pictures for her. We had the best time hanging around campus and taking advantage of the beautiful spring weather. Lauren, congrats friend…we are SO proud of you! Here are some of our fav’s!

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Leslie & Mark: Married!Youguys

May 11, 2010 – 9:42 am

You guys will recognize sweet Leslie from her bridal portraits a few weeks back. Well, she and her new hubs, Mark, got married a few weeks back and are now happily settled into married life. We had such a fun time with them at their wedding and could not have asked for better weather/attendants/or guest! The ceremony was at the chapel at the University of Georgia, the reception was at Foundry Park Inn, and everything went off without a hitch. There are a ba-gillion pictures so…we’ll let them do the talking for us. Enjoy!

yes please…heheheeh

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Shuman’s: Family

May 3, 2010 – 3:17 pm

I hope everyone had an awesome weekend! So…the weather wasnt great here BUT we did get to hang out with a wonderful couple for their wedding! Lindsey & Andrew will be making an appearance on the blog in the next few weeks so be sure to check in for a few of their images. We had a blast and i love love LOVE when we can get in and dance with everyone at the reception…and did we dance! heheheh

Before I continue with your regularly scheduled post, I wanted to make sure to remind everyone that THIS MONTH’S charity is Thirst Relief. I profiled their charity a few weeks back and would LOVE if you would raise your wallets and donate with us. This organization works REALLY hard to get clean water to communities that need it in Africa. Their services are invaluable to the people they reach and with every donation made, more and more water is being given to people who literally could and will die without something we take for granted most of the time…water.

Now, on to todays post! I have known Kristy since..hmmmm….2004..?? She was the head teller at the bank I worked for in college. She was the first actual client I ever had. She was the 2nd model I ever shot. She is my longest client relationship and I feel REALLY REALLY lucky to have her in my life. I cant believe her little guy is now almost 4 years old. It blows my mind how time just slips away from you when kiddos come around!

When she called about setting up their yearly session with me she mentioned that her little guy loved trains and tracks and likes being crazy outside, so we hit up some local train tracks and let the boy go free. He ran, and jumped around, and walked all over a tree that had falled, and skipped, and threw rocks, and was LOUD, and did ALL that stuff that little boys do. Regardless of all the “grown up” little boy stuff he did…at the end of the session he wouldnt let go of him mama’s leg and wanted her to hold him…made my heart happy. Kristy and Ryan are always so much fun to work with and I cant wait to see what this next year will bring them. My fingers are still crossed in hopes that they will decide to have another baby! I’ll keep you updated…hahahaahh Here are a few of our favorites.

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Leslie: Bridals

April 29, 2010 – 11:46 pm

Dont say it..I know…Ive been blog slackin’. Shesh. We have been really crazy busy and unfortunately, my poor little blog has been neglected. (sigh) But, Im hoping to redeem myself in the coming week. I have a TON to post… 2 weddings, 1 baby, 2 seniors, and 1 sweet baby birthday party. So, be on the lookout!

This is Leslie! She is SOOOOOO much fun! She and her husband, Mark, got married last weekend so now I can finally post her bridals from the end of February. Her dress was so beautiful, her hair and makeup were awesome, and this session was the prefect precursor to her big day. Here are a few of our favorites!

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Get your VOTE on!

April 14, 2010 – 11:09 am

Hey everyone!

Last month we were approached by some really cool kids at BACON Handmade neck wear about participating in a little photo contest they put together. Well…once the photographers were selected and the entires were in, they released the voting! So…click HERE to go vote for us! And check out Bacon while you are there…there ties are funky and a lot of fun!

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Catching up on the good stuff

April 12, 2010 – 10:34 am

Happy Monday everyone! I hope your weekend was awesome and that everyone was able to play outside in the wonderful weather! We shot Leslie & Mark’s BEAUTIFUL wedding Saturday and I will say that the weather could NOT have been better. It rained the day before, desolving a lot of the built up pollen and leaving beautiful clear skies behind…it was wonderful.

So….Im going to double up today to make up for falling behind with our monthly charities. So, Im posting TWO of our charites this morning! No fear, I have made our donation but just never got the chance to sit and blog it.

So….that being said, I am happy to announce that the charity selected for April was the International Justice Misson or IJM as its better known. This organization fights against injustice for victims of abuse…especially children that are forced in to the sex trade industry in LOTS of countries. This is a much more real and prevelant problem that most people would expect and having seen documentaries that IJM has put together and spoken first hand with someone who has worked for them, this organization has my heart. Having riley completely changed my heart for children and I realized that they are so delicate (both emotionally and physically) and that they are to be protected and cherished and loved on…not beaten, abused, used for sex, and left feeling hopeless and alone. The real truth is that Jesus is Hope…and IJM offers Jesus. And they do an amazing job saving these kids and (more importantly) following up with them…making sure that they arent left asking “okay..whats next?” If you are interested in learning more about IJM or want to donate to this organization go HERE or straight ot their website at www.ijm.org.

Knowing how busy we are going to be in the next month, Im going to go ahead and post our next charity! The charity for May is an organization called Thirst Relief! Thirst Relief responds to the worlds water crisis. They focus primarily in Africa and South America (and more recently on Haiti) providing clean water for drinking to those in need. Water is something we all take for granted and Im so excited about being able to help spread awareness about this organization! You can check them out or donate HERE…or by going to their website at www.thirstrelief.org.

NOW…on to pictures…

THIS is Halston! Halston is our intern, Hannah, boyfriend. We had a blast shooting his senior pictures right here at my house. Hannah did great shooting too and although I’d never met Halston before, he was super easy going and was a great sport about us taking our time with him. Here are some of our favorites…and of course I HAD to grab some pictures of he and Hannah together…

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Taaaa daaaa!!!

March 31, 2010 – 9:30 am

Hey everyone! Just a quick note to let you know that our new website is finally done!!!! HOORAY! This thing has been a labor of love for..well..Im too embarrassed to tell you exactly how long BUT…for a while and we are so excited its up and ready to view. Thanks soooo much to Samantha at bludomain…she seriously helped me soooo much its not even funny. Thanks to our intern Hannah for being awesome and working on this site so much over the last few months…and thanks to my husband for looking at it a million and one times to make sure it was exactly what we wanted. Our old site will be converted into a new Portraits site and the new site is going to be used strictly for weddings and couples and brides (oh my!). Anywho…its still the same ole link so..take a look and we hope you guys love it as much as we do!

www.melissapepin.com

By Melissa Pepin | Posted in Engagement, Wedding, bridals, children, commercial, family portraits, life, maternity, seniors | no comments No Comments | Add a Comment

Casey & Bret: Destination Wedding-Portland, OR

March 25, 2010 – 9:06 pm

Everyone, meet Casey & Bret! Seriously…I cant say enough about these too! Their wedding was so much fun and absolutely, 150% worth going to the other side of the country for.

Casey is the wedding and events guru at Foundry Park Inn and Spa in Athens and we love working with her for tons of our fabulous brides…so when she asked ME to shoot her wedding I was floored! She works with the best of the best all of the time and it might have made me feel really special for her to ask us to cover one of the most important days of her life. hehehe Brett is a chef at the Classic Center in Athens and as it turns out, I shoot at one of his former jobs a lot! He’s got a passion for food and needless to say…he’s a man after Anthony & I’s heart… When Casey told me their plan was to get married in Portland, I was beyond excited! Portland is one of my favorite cities in the whole wide world…its the city that literally changed my life and (in my opinion) prepared my heart for Anthony…my heart lets out a big sigh just thinking about it. So…Portland makes my heart happy and Im so glad that now for Casey and Bret…it does the same thing for them!

Casey’s dress was awesome, her funky & fun flower accent (you’ll see!) was another fabulous piece by the ladies at Gardenia Floral Design, and Brett look debonair in his dressy/casual attire. These two fit into the city perfectly! The affair went off without a hitch and the weather was wonderful for some outdoor city shots. We grab more pictures of the two of these love birds in our room at the amazing Hotel Vintage Plaza, which is also where their wedding ceremony/reception took place…(*side note: Heather (the HVP’s wedding guru)…you are amazing. ). We had such a blast…and so did all of their family and friends. Portland just MIGHT have a few more regular visitors after this event…

Casey & Bret…you guys are rock stars and we had so much fun with you too! Lets hurry and plan your next trip out west that we are invited on okay?! Here is your preview, enjoy.

I LOVE this…THIS is what makes me love my job. Its the little sweet ways our couples love on each other that get me every time….(insert happy sigh here).

So…her dress was hot…what else can I say???

Again…Heather was terrific.

Making it official…

Casey wore her grandmothers earrings…they fit the outfit perfectly!

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The Skogen’s: Family session!

March 23, 2010 – 8:13 pm

Hey everyone! Meet the Skogen family, alllllllll the way from California for this session. Ok…so the session is not the ONLY reason they came to Athens but Im so glad that Kate contacted me about setting up a session for her family while they were in town for a surprise visit. *Side note: Kate is a crazy good graphic designer and she does amazing work so, check her out HERE!

What was supposed to be our fun, beautiful outing for some family pictures turned into a pretty cruddy day weather wise…so with a few changes in our plan we pressed through and I love love LOVE what we got. This family exudes love and care for each other…I promise you its contagious! And their little guy is a doll face! He made me want to run home and snuggle Riley right away. We had such a great time hanging out, swinging,and jumping through puddles. I cant wait to see what Kate does with these images!

Kate & Chris & baby A….thank you SO much for braving the craziness of Georgia weather with me! You guys are true rock stars and I cant wait to do it again. Give lots of kisses to your beautiful lil guy for me and tell him to keep eating those bananas.

Here are some of my favorites…