Shelly Edwards Photography: February 2011

EXTRA, EXTRA, READ ALLLLLL ABOUT IT!!!!! :D JONI AND CHRISTIAN'S WEDDING THAT I SHOT IN DECEMBER IS FEATURED IN TODAY'S COPY OF THE JAMAICAN OBSERVER. RUN AND GET YOUR COPY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!!!!!! :-) You can also read it online on the Observer's website at: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/Perfect-Destination_8322221

I am SUPER DUPER TRILLED to FINALLY see my clients' pictures featured in The Vows section of the Jamaican observer because that is the only section of the paper that I ALWAYS looked forward to reading whenever I went visited my father's office in Jamaica. I would read all the previous articles trying to catch up as much as I could! A very special thanks to the editor, Mrs. Novia Mcdonald-Whyte for making my dream come through!!! :-) Special thanks also to Joni and Christian for being such fabulous clients and for putting together such a terrific wedding! :-) Thanks a lot to my most regular blog commenter, Dian Bailey for photographing the pictures below of the newspaper article and emailing them to me!!! :-)

You can relieve their dream island wedding by enjoying their slideshow at: http://www.vimeo.com/18457706

Joni and Christian's Wedding Slideshow from Shelly Edwards on Vimeo.

Nicole...Nicole...Nicole... :-) I know she is reading intently to see what I am about to say but she gave me permission to be totally open so here goes! :-) lol Nicole is a TRIP!!!! :-) lol I seriously came to the point during our phone consultation where I wished her the very best and thought that I wouldn't work with her because after exploring a range of ideas, we were unsuccessful with coming up with a theme for a unique engagement shoot that she and Vince were looking for. While I was wishing her all the best, she suggested that I do a story line highlighting their real life love story. That wasn't a new theme for me but I told her to tell me more because her story would likely be unique. When she got to the point where she mentioned incorporating Vince being in the Navy, I was TOTALLY SOLD on the idea!!!!!! :-) I had been sooo wanting to do a theme with someone in their military regalia and it was heavy on my heart longing to do a 1950's pinup look for an engagement shoot so I was thrilled at the thought that this was the couple I was so hoping for. But, she had to run the idea by Vince and get back to me so I was left with bated breath to hear his response. When she called me back and said that he loved the idea, I was like, "YES!!!!" :-) My adrenaline was in high gear as Nicole and I spent the next several weeks spending hours researching and fine tuning the story line to give an accurate account, props, attire, make up, music, locations, etc. One hurdle was finding a navy ship and the closest one was in Key West which was a 10 hours round trip drive from me. I was elated when Vince was willing to drive the 8 hours round trip from where he lives. I finally got to visit Key West plus had an awesome couple to work with: sweeet! :-)

I remember one evening after speaking with Nicole, I went to watch Tyler Perry's latest movie, For Colored Girls with my brother, Bruce and one of my female friends who was visiting from Jamaica, Kelisha. We left the movie totally shaken up and scared, especially Kelisha and I as females thinking that if that's the madness and drama that we might have to undergo for the sake of so called love, who needs that?! With my 9 years of experience as a social worker and just being a woman, I knew that the stories depicted in the movie were all to real and way too common. I also knew the other side of the coin through personal experience and many wedding clients that I have had that there is also true love without that drama. So, I had a heightened purpose in my heart to emphasize the true love between clients to show the world what true love looks like. It worked out perfectly that Nicole and Vince were the clients I was working with at the moment because Nicole's love for Vince is so deep, full of life, joyful, and has a childlike innocence with spiritual fervor! Vince is so abundantly in love with his, "brown eye girl" that he was smitten with from the first time he saw her in high school in 2001!!!! :-) It was absolutely adorable and precious to observe their interaction during our photo shoots spanning 2 days! :-) Their eyes always sparkled and their smiles/grins were non-stop the whole time especially when they looked at each other! Awwwww :-) Even though we were re-enacting their story, it wasn't fully acting because what you see is exactly who they are: one VERY HAPPY couple!!! :-) Based on the feedback I've seen on their wedding website, their Facebook pages, and my Facebook pages with many people being moved to tears, I see that our aim was accomplished: that of showing the beauty of true love. It is my hope that the world will be that much better by viewing this.

Special thanks to master hairstylist, Georgia Smith (954-588-1047) for the fantastic job she voluntarily did for both days of the shoot! I have totally admired her work since the first time I worked with her for Annika and Sheldon vintage photo shoot and she has some more free slots available for engagement shoots if you book through me ;-). Special thanks to make up artist to the stars, Keesha (SuperSpice) Barreau (954-865-5474) for the fabulous job she did with Nicole for both days of the shoot! You will remember Keesha from her engagement and wedding pictures that I photographed in November last year. A heart felt thanks to Nicole and Vince for choosing me to preserve this awesome love story that you share. It turned out to be an absolute honor and pleasure to do so and I'm happy that you stuck to what your heart was feeling in what to do for your engagement session :p lol

DO ENJOY THEIR SLIDESHOW BY: visiting http://www.vimeo.com/19055366 OR by click on the play button below

ALSO THEY APPROVED YOUR ENJOYING THEIR WEDDING WEBSITE: http://destinyfulfilled.weddingwindow.com