Sasha & Barry

Sasha & Barry's wedding was a joy to photograph:) Sasha put a lot of time and craftiness into planning her wedding, which made all the little details that much more fun. She embroidered the table numbers, ordered the bridesmaid gorgeous jewelry from Etsy, as well as the custom cake toppers complete with their dog, Gus! How cute? Following her progress on her blog, Charmingly Domestic, was fun, and being able to see the complete vision was perfection! The reception at Bay 7 was fabulous! I love Durham, and everything that has been doing downtown, especially at American Tobacco. After the wedding the whole party moved down to Tyler's! One of the many things that Sasha and I both agree strongly about, is how freakin' cool Durham is:) Thank you for inviting me to your fabulous wedding!

Sasha's Bridal Portraits

I can't wait to photograph Sasha's wedding in just 2 weeks! I have been following her wedding planning on her thoroughly enjoyable blog, Charmingly Domestic. Watching her artfully craft her guestbook, make her fabulous invitations, and sew her own table numbers has only made me anticipate her wedding even more...and now it is almost here! It has been fun to watch the progress that she has been making and how much she did on her own:) Very inspiring. Her wedding reception is taking place at the very chic Bay 7 in Durham's American Tobacco district...a venue I have been dying to photograph! We are also going to stop by our high school, Durham School of the Arts, for photos before we head over to the party, another great idea from Sasha...can't wait!

Back in the South

It seems that all of my blog posts lately have started off with me trying to explain why I have been the worst blogger ever as of late. So I won't bore you with that again, but I can tell you what I have been up too. I am now officially back in NC (whoot, whoot!) and part of the Tamara Lackey Photography team! This blog is not going away, but I will be blogging on Tamara's site much more frequently. You can click here to view my posts on Tamara's blog. It is really nice working in a creative environment surrounded by cool and talented women:) I am really looking forward to building a name for myself as part of her team, but I also wanted to make a quick shout-out to all my clients that believed in me and trusted me even as a young photographer with so much still to learn! I hope that some of you will follow me to my new studio! I will say that I hope that the day never comes that I think that I think that I know it all. It is much more interesting to discover new things on a regular basis than to never be surprised by anything:) So, every blog post needs a photo, so here is a photo from my first session with Tamara Lackey Photography. You may recognize this lovely family from previous posts...thank you for following me to NC!

E & K

Erin is a friend from the DSA days, and it has been a long time since we have seen each other. Last time I saw Erin we were both fresh out of high school! It is crazy how fast 7 years can fly by, huh? Well, Erin was exactly how I remembered her...hilariously funny and gorgeous all at the same time...and now married to an awesome guy to boot! Thank you so much for including me in your so perfectly North Carolina barbecue and wedding celebration!

Had To Tues | Jessica Arden Photography

So, this Tuesday what I have to do is explain myself...I mentioned that I started a new job and have been traveling a lot this summer. Not all of my sessions are making it up here, and I have hardly had time to look at my personal images from my trips! So things are busy and awesome and cray-cray:) I am phasing out Jessica Arden Photography and phasing into senior associate photographer for Tamara Lackey! I am also in the meantime living in Frederick and Durham in between trips...I have a suitcase that hasn't been fully unpacked in over a month, that lives in my trunk most of the time:)
Here are some photos of what I have been up to:
My girl, Tenley, you know:)The long awaited and fabulous wedding of Wilmara & Alex! Thank you guys so much for everything!

Fun with the fam at OBX:

Tenley Recap

Watching Tenley grow has been such a joy!

Off the Grid

I have been all over the place lately...Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Illinois in the past 2 weeks! Since my last post I have eaten at Superdawg in Chicago, had a wonderful 80th birthday celebration with my Grandparents and all of their girls, and started working for Tamara Lackey Photography! It has been a whirlwind of fun and there is more to come...I am off to NC again tomorrow and I will be OBX bound by Sunday:) I love this photo of my gorgeous Grandma and her 3 lovely daughters.

I would also like the say that John Scarlata will be sorely missed by many. He was the kind of person you wish you could be more like...inspiring, kind and so funny:) I am so grateful that I was able to know him. Rest in peace.