Here are a few of my favorite photos from their beautiful day!
How gorgeous is Amanda??I loved Amanda’s bridemaids. They were seriously the sweetest group of girls ever!Just a few details of the gorgeous Silver Creek Country Club in Hellertown, PA.I have to end with this one because I love a good cake smash!Amanda and Neal, thank you so much for being so amazing and having me photograph your wedding day! I seriously love you guys, you are the best ever!

Here is the story of her birth.

So on Sunday, July 18th I started to have contractions. Not very regular, but I definitely noticed them, aaand they hurt. Or so I thought. My OB disagreed. According to her, I did not yet understand the level of pain I would be experiencing when I was truly “in labor”. I of course thought that was a bunch of bologna and that perhaps I was just a very polite experiencer of pain. Four days and one false alarm trip to the hospital later, I began to understand what she was talking about. All of a sudden around 7pm on July 21st the contractions got SUPER intense. This is where my practical side kicked in and I immediately ran to the bathroom, plugged in my flat iron and went to work on my hair pausing every 3 minutes to moan through a horrible contraction because there was NO WAY I was going into labor with bad hair. That’s just not how I roll. I finished my hair and called my OB and she still said I didn’t sound like I was in enough pain (crazyness!) but she agreed to call the hospital to tell them to have a room ready in case we decided to head over that night. So I decided I was going to wait as long as I possibly could stand the pain before going in. Right around 3am the contractions went bananas and were right on top of each other as my whole body began shaking uncontrollably. It was bad. And definitely time to head to the hospital. So I woke up Mikey and we headed over, me moaning and yelling like a crazy person the entire way.

When we got all checked in they told me I was only 3cm dilated and apparently my OB has a strict “must be 4cm dilated before receiving the epidural” policy that I was not aware of. Awesome. So for the next hour I dealt with the pain (note to self: take a breathing and relaxation class before having next baby) and the nurses were SO nice. Finally they checked me, I was 4 1/2 cm dilated and I got the epidural, which if you were wondering is heaven on earth.

At some point I developed a fever caused by an infection of my uterus, and when it came time to push I was so sick that I had to keep stopping to throw up and dry heave. It was pretty much horrible. I thought there was no way I was going to be able to do this and seriously told my OB that maybe we could just try sucking the baby out. She didn’t think so. But at some point something clicked and I just got in this zone and was going to make it happen with Mikey by my side motivating me and counting, through the uncontrollable shaking and the fever and the vomiting. And an hour and a half of pushing later, little Finley Grace arrived! Unfortunately, due to my fever, she also had a fever and had swallowed some meconium so she was rushed off to the NICU after a swift kiss to the cheek from me. But six hours and lots of antibiotics for both Finley and me later, she was cleared and I got to really hold my little one for the first time, and it was the most amazing feeling I’ve ever had. It IS possible to love someone who you just met THAT much.

The last nine days since she has been born have been such a crazy ride trying to figure out this new little person in our lives. Mikey has been such an amazing dad doing so much around the house and taking care of Finley every chance he can so I have more time to recover. Sleep has never meant so much to me. But it’s been amazing and I can’t wait share more and more about our daughter on here as she grows up!

Here are a few photos my amazing friend Katie of Katie McMenamin Photography took of our little Finley this week. Katie is just incredible with newborns and it’s such a gift to have these photos of our Fin!

Side Note: I am on Maternity Leave until the end of August. I’ll still be checking email every once in a while and getting completed weddings and engagement sessions to clients during that time, but am not scheduling any shoots.

A few weeks ago I met up with Amy and Aaron in Central Park to shoot their engagement session. I always want couples to pick the locations for their shoots because I want the whole shoot to be very “them”. So when Amy and Aaron told me they would love to shoot their session in Central Park I got really really excited, and really really nervous. Shooting in new locations makes me super happy, but I was nervous since I’ve never been there and had no idea what to expect. Luckily, it was the most perfectly amazing location for their session and I absolutely LOVED shooting there! Plus, Amy and Aaron are just so adorably in love and I had the greatest time spending the afternoon with them. Here are just a few of my favs!And now it’s back to vacation! Happy Saturday!!

Rebecca and Ed had an absolutely gorgeous wedding day at Downingtown Country Club. The whole day was beautifully planned by the amazing Angela Malacki of Angela Malacki Events, and it was just perfect. Here are a few of my favorites from their day!How beautiful is Rebecca?!Rebecca couldn’t help but tear up as Ed recited his vows.We then took some time to stroll the grounds of the country club for photos.Check out the groom’s cake on the right! How cool is that?I don’t think there was a dry eye in the place while Rebecca danced with her dad.Rebecca and Ed, thank you so much for having me photograph your day! I loved every minute and wish you both a lifetime of happiness as husband and wife!

The day we met up for their engagement session was the first time I met Bryan, and he and Amy couldn’t be more cute together. Bryan was a total trooper and even got in some gardens for me which always makes me happy! They brought their dog Ribby to the session for a couple of shots at the very beginning, and even though he was not so interested in me or my camera, I love this first one!

A little package arrived in the mail from my amazing clients Jen and Matt recently and I just had to blog about it because it is the sweetest thing ever. They wrote me the kindest thank you note and sent it along with this ADORABLE little sundress and hat for our little babe on the way to thank me for shooting their wedding. (I also must mention that there was also a bag of Sour Patch Kids in the package, but they were not available for photographs because they were gone in about 20 minutes. Haha!) When I opened the package I was just speechless and so moved by what a sweet and thoughtful gift they sent me when I just feel so lucky to have them as my clients. They are quite possibly two of the kindest people I have ever met, and the fact that so soon after their wedding they thanked me in such a completely thoughtful way just blows my mind. Jen and Matt, you two are beyond amazing and I thank you SO much!!

How cute is this little outfit?! Btw, I have to say I LOVE babies in hats and Finley will be wearing a hat ALL THE TIME. Love it!

Have a wonderful holiday weekend everyone! After the wedding I’m second shooting tomorrow I’ll be spending mine down the shore for family reunion weekend! YAY! Happy Friday!!

These two were packing up to leave for their cross country move to Iowa the very next morning after their session, but they were completely relaxed and so much fun during our whole session. Here are just a few of my favs!