A Birthday to Remember (Chester County Children's Photographer)

This little beauty is Amelia Eileen. She turned 2 last week and her family threw her a "pink" party.


But, this was no ordinary pink party. You see Amelia Eileen is the namesake of her great grandmother and her very brave grandmother Eileen who fought breast cancer for five years before losing the battle in July of 2004.


Her pink party was breast cancer awareness themed to honor a grandmother that never had the joy of seeing her beautiful face. In lieu of gifts (because Amelia has plenty of toys) guests were asked to donate to the Philadelphia 3 Day Walk in hopes that Amelia might be able to live in a world where she doesn't lose her loved ones to cancer.


No pink detail was left undone. It was pink perfection with a hopeful theme.


The kids were able to decorate breast cancer ribbon cookies with all sorts of pink and white sweets. Above Amelia is getting loved on by her great grandmother as she contemplates decorating and eating another cookie.


Her handsome brother enjoyed playing basketball and running around with his cousins and friends, and he wore his pink breast cancer awareness t-shirt well.


It was a rainy day, but there was enough of a break in the rain to blow bubbles...


contemplate what to do next...


and smash an Abby Cadabby pinata until the candy was flowing.


Then it was time for CAKE! Apparently Amelia had been practicing blowing out her candles, but when the moment arrived she was shy and needed help from her mommy and daddy.


She certainly wasn't shy when it came to eating her very pink cupcake.


Who doesn't love a frosting face, especially one as precious as this?

It was such a wonderful party and I was so honored to be a part of it and get to reconnect with Amelia's wonderful mommy, Gail, who is a dear college friend that I haven't seen in years.


A few months ago Gail created a sitting area and garden with memorial plaques for both of her parents who lost their lives far too early to cancer. It is a beautiful area and Amelia spent some time playing there during her party. As I watched her dance around I thought to myself, no child should have to grow up without their grandparents. And, cancer should not be able to rob anyone of treasured moments with parents, siblings, children or friends. We must find a cure!



I believe that Amelia's grandmother, Eileen, was smiling down on her that day and somehow she knew it.

Thank you Gail and family for including me in this beautiful day. It was great to see you again and I look forward to connecting again soon.



For more information on finding a cure or making a donation to help find a cure click here.

Cozier Preview (Chester County Children's Photographer)

This beauty is the daughter of a very good friend that I have known since college. We lost touch for a few years, but thankfully through the wonders of Facebook we were able to reconnect. It was so great to see her again and meet her husband and daughter. I was so honored that she traveled up from the DC area to have me take these pictures. It is always so special for me to get to take pictures of people that I know and love.
The rain threatened, but we won and I am SO glad that we managed to elude the rain long enough to get the session in.
Coziers...enjoy your preview! Can't wait to see you again...hopefully soon.

A Preview of Kaylie (Chester County Children's Photographer)

This precious little pea was so much fun to photograph. Her smile was contagious and she was having a wonderful time enjoying the beautiful day.
Kaylie, you did a great job on your first photo shoot! I sure hope your Mommy and Daddy enjoy these preview pictures.

Newborn Preview (Chester County Newborn Photographer)

This beautiful new addition to the world was such a joy to photograph. She belongs to two fantastic parents who obviously have hearts overflowing with love for her.
She was very alert and wanted to be awake for nearly the entire session, but based on the shots she gave me, thank goodness for that. What a beauty!

I sincerely hope her family will enjoy seeing a preview of the results of her first photo shoot.

Leah & Ian (Chester County Engagement Photographer)

My great friend Leah is getting married! AND, she is marrying my brother-in-law, Ian, so we will now forever be sisters. How cool is that?

Here's the engagement story.

One Friday morning in April, Leah woke up on her day off, went downstairs to have breakfast and saw a large bouquet of roses sitting on the counter. The card attached told her to get ready because Ian was coming to pick her up.
He arrived and they took a short drive to a Wendell August, a local forge.

She wasn't sure why they were there and when she asked, he told her that he had arranged for them to go on a tour. It seemed a little odd to her, but she followed him in (albeit with low expectations). Immediately she was impressed with the beautiful work that was displayed in their show room.

They started the tour and the guide showed them how they start with a raw piece of metal, one of their artists creates a design or lettering to be printed/etched in, then it is fired where it becomes soot black and finally it is cleaned and shined. They stopped at one point and the guide showed her a little plaque that had just been fired. Finally, the tour was over and as she began to turn and leave, the guide said, "Wait, let me show you what a finished piece looks like that has just been completed. This is the little soot covered plaque that you saw before."

She grabbed the plaque and this is what she saw.

When she looked over at Ian he was down on one knee.

He proposed and of course, she accepted.

But, that wasn't the end of the story.

Ian had the whole day planned out. Leah initially told him that she needed to call and cancel lunch with a friend and coming over to play with my kids, but those were set up beforehand just to throw her off.

They went to lunch at Simon Pearce on the Brandywine River, then they went to Chadds Ford Winery for a tasting and tour and that was followed by dinner at Harry's Savoy in Wilmington, where they first got together at my wedding.

As if that wasn't enough, when Leah got home there were roses in her room.

It was a day they will never forget!

For their engagement pictures we returned to Main Street Exton where Wendell-August is located. It was a beautiful day and that location is perfect for an array of great shots.

Congratulations Leah and Ian...can't wait for the big day!