Thursday, January 10, 2013

Our Wedding: The Portraits

I first met Mandii in 2003, the year I attended the University of Montevallo, a tiny liberal arts school just south of Birmingham. We met through friends and took some of the same art classes; Mandii was then pursuing a bachelors degree in Art with a concentration in painting. Her amazing talent blew me away from the very beginning and she's continued to amaze me ever since.

It seems that there is nothing art-related that Mandii can't do -- she moved from a painting concentration to photography and began her own photography business, moving from wedding photography to maternity portraits to children's portraits. This past year she made a New Year's resolution to learn calligraphy and she has since then (beginning just in January 2012) developed her skills and now owns a calligraphy and illustration business! She just astounds me with how quickly she can pick up new skills.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Mandii's artistic abilities is how freely she shares them with those she loves. Over the course of our (ten year!) friendship, she has taken SO many beautiful portraits of me, Maggie, and now Josh. Mandii has the most generous and FUN personality that spills over into everything she does.

My favorite thing about having Mandii take my picture is how at-ease she makes me feel. No matter if I've had a month where I felt frumpy or fat, I know she'll work her magic to create photographs that make me feel gorgeous.

A couple years ago Mandii went into retirement from wedding photography, but as my bridesmaid and one of my best friends she graciously took some portraits of me and Josh on our wedding day. These pictures were taken while I was getting ready, and then right as Josh and I had our "First Look" at each other. They perfectly capture the happiness and contentment and love we were feeling that day. 



















Mandii also designed our wedding invitations (a post on that is soon to come!) and took our engagement photos. She contributed so much to make our wedding beautiful and unique. What a lady!

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