Alex did the honors and cut the cake for Trinity. It was every bit of de-licious! I couldn’t get over how yummy it tasted…

Thank you, Alex for blessing Trinity with your amazing cake. She is forever grateful and felt so very special to have the exact cake that she envisioned for her birthday.

The best news is yet to come: Alex is available for custom cake orders! You can contact her via phone: 239-910-5073, or email: alexandrascarsella@hotmail.com. She makes awesome cakes for all occasions and will completely blow your mind with her creativity!

Thank you for stopping by the blog today!
Love,
Stacy
Set Free Photography™

Now, for my family and friends that weren’t able to be there, here is your virtual tour. Dad: This is for you! I love you and missed you more than ever last night. I can’t wait to hold your hand and walk you through the studio this winter.

The front entrance…a big thank you going out to Shawn Bright at Signs in One Day for rocking our sign and window decals! You guys are the best!

We are looking forward to having this area landscaped by our friends, Beth & Mike, so stay tuned!

Here I am with the kiddos…this was approximately 30 minutes after my nervous breakdown. I pulled it together, but on the way to the opening I was sweating bullets and silencing my children after the boy karate chopped the girl in the neck “on accident.” The screaming in the car sent me over the edge…I almost came undone…but thankfully they could see that I was literally teetering on the edge of sanity and we had a nice, quiet ride to the studio with lots of deep breathing exercises.

I didn’t like the light there, so I asked Brandon to take another shot. Please excuse this picture…I included this for one person, and one person alone: Tashia Webber: “Does my hair look okay?” Gosh, I missed you last night!

Back to the tour (sorry!)

Here is the view from the entrance:

Another angle, showing our awesome dividers from Ikea that separate the shooting area:

Here’s a view of our sitting area & packaging station, where orders are boxed up & ribbon-tied:

My favorite chair ever…and the bathroom, which I named “the detail room.” All of the pictures in there are wedding details: shoes, dresses, flowers, rings…my favorite things!

Shooting area…not the best picture I’ve ever taken, but I wanted my Dad to have a full view of the place!

This is the viewing area, where clients come and comfortably view the photos from their session. I love offering the capability to view pictures in a large format, rather than being limited to the computer screen!

Here is our office…it is adjacent to the viewing area. Now that we put yellow accents in the viewing area, I am determined to find yellow office chairs. If you see any, please let me know!

Before everyone arrived, our dear friend Jeff presented us with the MOST amazing gift ever. EVER. It’s a Dave Matthews Band gold record, framed, engraved and dedicated to us. The lyrical quote is absolute perfection: “Turns out not where, but who you’re with that really matters.” The thoughtfulness of the gift was overwhelming…I cried…and Brandon got choked up too, you can see it in his eyes in this picture:

Thank you, Jeff & all the folks at Way FM. We are extraordinarily blessed to know you. And we love you!

I couldn’t believe the generosity of my friends, my heart was bursting last night. Here are some of the gifts we received:

Thank you to: Karen Cubler for the gorgeous (& functional!) silk bouquet from Jan at www.rentyourflowers.com. Thank you, Sharon Brotherton for the fabulous purple bouquet…Patty’s Flower Shop made a gorgeous design! And to Patty herself: thank you for such a sweet, fragrant bouquet…you are so generous, and of course…I love your work. Shout out to Bonnie! Thank you going out to Jennifer and David Rodriguez of Jaz-Mar Photography for the flowers and for being there to snap a family picture! Your grace is an inspiration, we love you guys! Thank you to Glen & Lizette…you have encouraged us from the beginning and we will always treasure your wedding memories. We love you! And finally, thank you Donlyn Turnbull for the treasure find…a vintage camera…something I have been wanting but never thought I would find! You have no idea how special that camera is to me–I can’t wait to use it for an engagement session!

p.s. you know I had to write on the cork and add it to our collection…if you don’t know about our collection, click here: corks

Thank you to Elba Plaza, of Jewels by Park Lane and to Kristen Pell of WAY FM for contributing giveaways…they were fabulous!

I am still floating on cloud nine from all of the loving support lavished upon us last night. I truly can’t express my grateful heart, I am so emotionally overwhelmed by the encouragement and kindness of you all! There are just no words to describe how blessed I feel…if I could wrap my arms around you all and give you a great big bear hug right now, I totally would! Here is a virtual one: (((hug)))

Here’s my favorite new family picture from last night, courtesy of Jaz-mar Photography:

Phew.

After things cleared out, Brandon and I took some time for a little dancing…and the kids snapped some pictures. These images are blurry and precious, kind of like the entire day!

If you missed the event, it would be my pleasure to give you personal tour! Thank you for stopping by the blog today.
Love, Stacy
www.setfreephotography.com

This is one of my favorite shots…this lamp is the FIRST thing that I bought for the studio. The color pallette started with the lamp shades, and everything fell into place after that…if you look closely, you can see the entire place.

Thank you for reading the blog today and for all of the support we have received in our latest adventure! We are very excited to share our new digs with you and who knows? maybe you will find a picture of you (or your baby) on the walls!

Lots of Love,
Stacy
Set Free Photography ®

www.setfreephotography.com

About the shoot–it was for a catalog that Lace & Roses is putting together for the Bridal Show coming up at Harborside on July 11th. I hope you will stop by their booth and meet Ashley & Lacey–they are fabulous! I’ve watched them both in action and I was amazed. They can lace dresses and do alterations like nobody’s business…they make it look easy…only it’s NOT easy…it’s not easy at all!

Let me introduce our bride models:
Lauren, Christine and Chelsea

And our groom models:
Andrew & Nate

Kicking things off, we have Christine in a gorgeous gown with a flower strap…and guess what? It’s removable. Love that! Then we have Christine with her “bridesmaids” and here’s something fun: the sash is interchangeable! Choose your matching color and you are coordinated in a snap!

Lauren just made my lens fog, she is so smokin hot…I loved her in every dress, and she has such great looks! I wish I had that great of a “serious” face. Oh, and someone better hold me back from buying those pink shoes! I want them!

Chelsea and Nate had great chemistry…they laughed like a real married couple does after they say their vows. Don’t tell Chelsea I said that, though…she won’t be sporting her own wedding dress for a looong time. Right, C?

Here they are again, Mr. & Mrs. Chemistry:

I love this picture because we found a wine cellar and it completely fit in with the feel of this dress. But the wine cellar isn’t what “makes” this picture. It’s the chemistry. I’m tellin’ ya…wow!

One of my favorite images–Andrew & Christine. I believe them. I really believe that they are happily in love with each other.

I love this picture. I don’t know exactly why, but I just do.

Christine gave me the idea to shoot wide with the chandelier in the shot…thanks, Christine! Your idea rocked!

Chelsea + Ruffles = Sassy

We worked hard for this image, it was a group effort…Ashley tamed the wind and we got it. I was doing the happy dance and clapping a very annoying clap.

A celebratory hug was in order.

A high five, too:

Don’t you just feel like putting on a wedding dress and twirling around?
Here’s the info for Lace and Roses:
website: www.laceandrosesbridal.com

They are located at:
11742 Metro Parkway
Fort Myers, FL

And their phone number is: 239-489-2845

The gorgeous hair & makeup was done by the talented girls at Studio RK. They really did an amazing job creating a “bridal” feel. I personally go there for my hair & nails and I will never, ever, ever, ever go anywhere else. Not ever. Debby (hair) and Pam (nails) are two of my favorite people…they introduced me to Keratin and Shellac and my life has forever improved.
Studio RK Website: www.studiorksalon.com
Phone: 239-489-4144
Address: 6420 Plantation Park Court
Fort Myers, FL 33966

Thanks for stopping by on Wedding Wednesday, I hope you have found my resources useful.
Love, Stacy
www.setfreephotography.com

I am now a proud Gold Club Member at the Ice Cream Club in Cape Coral, in the Surfside Shops…when you join, you get discounts and free ice cream on your birthday! I have to report: this is the Best. Ice Cream. Ever.

I had the Banana Cream Pie flavor and oh my…yum! The cookie dough rocked my world, too…and I don’t even like cookie dough.

If you haven’t already, check them out…and if you are a member you will love the Gold Member Appreciation Day coming up on February 12th. It is all day, from 11am-9pm…great discounts on all sizes!

I hope to see you there! I’ll be the one with the Banana Cream Pie on a sugar cone.