Weddings
Bellies & Babies
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Families & Kids
Posted on July 27, 2011
I love weddings. I love this job. The fact that I get to be hand picked by a couple, spend one of the most important days of their lives with them, capture the memories that they never want to forget AND I get paid for it, well, it’s truly a blessing. The reception is probably my favorite part of the entire day. I have SO much fun working my way around the floor and getting some of my favorite shots of the day. In particular, the first dance is my favorite moment. It’s pretty much the only 3-4 minutes out of the couple’s entire day that they have some semblance of privacy. They’re alone in their own world, and they are able to take a few moments to just breathe. It’s in those few moments that their smiles are the biggest, their tears may flow, and their love for each other shines the brightest. And I get to stand back and capture it all in my lens. Its so lovely.
It’s moments like those that I’m going to miss the most.
As I was driving home from a shoot the other day, I was stressing about what was next on my to do list. And what came next, and next and what I couldn’t get to for a while. Then it hit me. This…peace. I practically heard God say “That’s enough.” It was as if I had been playing tug of war with myself and I just…dropped the rope. And the biggest sense of relief came over me. Not something I could ignore.
For a few moments, I thought I was being told to stop completely. To be done with LilyBelle Photography. But, I realized that was creating a pang in my chest. I love what I do. I love the rewards and I love how it makes me feel. I don’t think I could just…stop. But I realized that I was being told to cut back. And the biggest stress for me is editing weddings. It takes up SO much of my time. I told a friend of mine earlier today, “I spend 75% of my day in front of this computer. And the other 25% is spent trying to get my kids settled with food/diapers/clothes/naps/whatever so that I CAN work.” Its true. I’ve been so completely stressed since the beginning of this year. This has been the most stressful year of my life. On top of that, I don’t do anything fun with my girls. The only time we go anywhere is if my husband is around and he pulls me away from the computer so we can have family time. Have I mentioned that I haven’t even taken their yearly pics yet this year? I’ve been so focused on work, I haven’t made much time for them. I’m missing precious time with these girls, and I’m never going to get that time back. I had to think about what was most important in life. In MY life.
So, as of now, I will not be booking any more weddings until my girls are in school full time. Obviously, those of you who are booked and those who are practically booked (Joy & Kimberly) are set in stone and I’m looking forward to these last weddings with an air of excitement and a lighter heart. I’m also going to be able to second for Jenni O’Connor from Lion’s Roar Media when she needs me to. So, if you’d like me to photograph your wedding, give her a call and book me as your second photographer!
Meanwhile, starting next year I’ll be taking more sessions and concentrating on my photography on a smaller scale. And yes, I’ll be back. Once these beautiful girls are both in school full time, I’ll be able to devote more time to my work and I’ll be eager to get back and work those dance floors the only way I know how… with my lens. 
Thank you all for your understanding!
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Posted on September 1, 2010
I don’t think I could ever explain how much I love this girl. Too much prettiness in her beautiful pettiskirt from KoolKloz and gorgeous jewelry from Stella & Dot. Just some sneak peeks of her 5 year session. I cannot wait to post more of these!
Posted on July 19, 2010
This took several tries, but I think we got it! She had a blast with this!!
Posted on May 3, 2010
Ok, so if you haven’t guessed yet from the sneak peek, Lilavabigen is the name we came up with for my daughters (Ava & Lily) and two of my nieces, Megan & Abigal (Abby is Ethan’s sister, for those who are keeping count!). Last year on a family camping trip, Megan, Ava and Abby were attached at the hip. They went everywhere together. So, we named them as a unit, Avabigen. Lily was too little to hang out, she was only about 3 months. Now, Lily’s walking and so we added her into the unit and named them Lilavabigen.
My brother (Megan’s dad) and his family live down state, so when they come up to visit, we try to make it an occasion. My sister-in-law mentioned that The Chicago Children’s Theater was putting on a play, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Other Eric Carle Favourites. (Fantastic!!) So we decided to have a girly day and get Lilavabigen together. Then we started talking about pictures and tutu’s got involved and then my super secret field, and that was it. We were set and we were SO excited! My sister Jessica got the shirts from The Children’s Place I got the tights from BabyLegs, and my mom and I were up until the wee hours of the night making tutu’s. Actually, my mom never did get sleep that night and then she proceeded to babysit Ethan while we went downtown all day and then had the session. Mom, you’re awesome. I love you!
The shoot itself went great! There was a sleeping baby 5 minutes before the shoot and there was whining and crying and lots of drama, but you’ll have that with girls. Lily isn’t fast enough to stay with the older girls, so there were a couple falls, but she’s a tough chick. There was a LOT of mud on the way to and from the field, but once we were in, it was much drier. I took about 230 pictures (not a lot for me) before it started to drizzle. Little girls + tutu’s + rain + a field = disaster. So I finished up, we piggy backed the girls out of there, and got in the cars. And then it started to pour! Can we say lucky? All in all, I think it was a fantastic shoot, one of my all time favorites for sure!
Megan & Lily
Ava & Abigail
Posted on June 12, 2009
Hooray!! We finally got Ava’s 4 year old pics done! And they turned out so cute! She was so excited to do these, and we’ve been waiting for the perfect day. Today was it! I’m going to overload you a bit though. You know you love it.
Posted on June 3, 2009
Lily turned 3 months today, so I decided to do her 3 month shots in between the craziness that was my day. It was actually my first real shoot with her, her newborn pictures were actually done by Bella Baby Photography right at the hospital. She did so well and we had so much fun! She is such a sweet little baby. She just talked to me and stared at the big lens in front of her- like she usually does. She gave me a few smiles too. I just love this little girl!
Posted on December 5, 2008
Merry Christmas!! I wanted to get out pictures done for our Christmas cards this year, so we set up in the living room and took some shots. Ava did a great job and she had fun to boot! I even got Samson and Leo in on it! I wasn’t too happy with my pictures, but that’s why I stay behind the lens usually. Maybe I’ll treat myself to a family shoot/maternity shoot from another photographer before this baby comes along. Meanwhile, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Posted on October 31, 2008
Happy Halloween! Ava was Dorothy for Halloween and she just picked up the part and ran with it! Or, skipped down the yellow brick road with it. This year she needed no coaxing to knock on those doors and ask for candy. She really did a great job. She even used her please and thank you’s! She needed some help with some of the high doorbells, but other than that, she was all over it! I may be biased, but I really think she is the prettiest Dorothy ever. Eat your heart out Judy Garland.
Posted on October 6, 2008
We took a weekend trip down to St. Louis to visit some friends. We had a great time! I haven’t been to St. Louis since I was a kid and Todd had never been. I even built up the courage to ride in the washing machines of death up to the top of the Arch! It wasn’t so bad up there. Ava didn’t seem to mind! The food was pretty good, but they I don’t think they have one hot dog or pizza joint in the entire city. Not like Chicago anyway. We survived. It was a great weekend getaway!
Posted on September 27, 2008
We went to the apple orchard a couple of days this week and we had a blast! The first day I got Ava all dressed up for pictures there, and then forgot my camera. Pregnancy brain is great. So I had to settle for pics when we got home. But I took some a few days later when we went. This was the first time for all of us to go to an apple orchard, and it was just great! The apples were beyond delicious and Ava had a great time picking them and running through the orchard. We’ll have to make this a yearly thing!
