Tonight we are celebrating us! 3 years ago today I walked down the aisle at Salvage One in front of seven close friends and said yes to this crazy guy. It isn’t everyday that you meet the person you will fall in love with over and over again every day for the rest of your life. We are so thankful to have each other and to share in this journey together. Thank you to all of our lovely clients, friends and family who inspire and encourage us to love harder, forgive more often, and not take one moment of this life for granted.

Matt you make me laugh, dream and smile more than anyone else in this world and I am lucky to walk by your side, you handsome thing, you! Love you!

And by the way that’s us up there. . . the photos were taken at the “With Etiquette” booth at WPPI last month. Yay for Smilebooth!

Not only do we love Evanston, but we also love having the community and support that comes along with sharing a space together. The I Do Films team is creative and so much fun to be around. Our new studio is a perfect little two story house right in the heart of Evanston’s arts district. We feel so thankful for the opportunity to collaborate daily with other like-minded business owners. The second film below was created by I Do Films around the time that we made the decision to share studio space and we got recruited into this one as well. So even though these are a bit dated and shot several months back when my hair was much longer, we hope you still enjoy them!

Hello from Kadapa, India! Matt and I are here for a week documenting a wonderful ministry that we have been involved with since 2007. The Matthew 10 Team that we are working with partners with a local based ministry called Manna Ministries who takes wonderful care of us from the moment we step off the plane. They drive us around, cook us delicious meals and help schlep all of our bags around from city to city for us. They make it their purpose in life to keep us as comfortable as possible for the short time that we are here. Inevitably, we always develop close relationships with a few of the people on the Manna Ministries Staff. Already we’ve been blown away by the hospitality that we’ve been shown.

Yesterday we visited Kismathpur where Manna Ministries has one of their orphanages and schools. The grounds are pretty large consisting of a grade school, bible college, worship center, dining hall and the orphanage itself. Currently, they can accommodate about 400 kids but have high hopes of increasing that number. Alicia, from Matthew 10, along with a bunch of helpful hands last week, assembled over 400 goodie bags to hand out to all the children when we got there. Of course that was the highlight of our day. They loved all the toys and candy. There were handmade puppets, matchbox cars for the boys, silly bands and all sorts of other fun stuff. It doesn’t take much to get their little faces to light up with smiles. We visited each of their classrooms and listened to some of them sing songs or recite Bible verses. It is awesome to see how all of the kids are so grateful to have a place to call home. The kids have a lot of fun and seem happy to have each other. At night, the younger kids push their beds together in one corner of the room and sleep snuggled up next to each other. This way they stay warm and they don’t feel so alone. They are just the sweetest things you have ever seen. Sometimes I feel like snatching one of them up and bringing them home with me! On behalf of Matthew 10 and Manna Ministries we want to say thanks to all of you who support these children. Your gifts, donations and prayers go a long way.

Today Matt and I are headed to India where we are joining the Matthew 10 International Ministries group on their journey to serve the people in the city of Kadapa and most importantly share with them the love of Christ. This will be my third time traveling with this ministry and Matt’s second. Every time I come home feeling renewed and humbled by my experiences. There is something really beautiful about a country full of people who find happiness in the simplest of things. We will be traveling in some areas that are extremely poor and impoverished and it seems that there is something about those communities that allows them to have even more faith like a child. It seems there is nothing getting in the way of them fiercely believing God for miracles and healing. There is no greater feeling in the world than getting to tell these people that God created them and loves them even in the midst of their struggles.

When we step out of our normal daily routine and step into a week full of these kinds of experiences, there is, without a doubt, a major shift in the way we choose to live our own lives. International travel is one of the best ways to really get out of your comfort zone and see how other people around the world are pressing on even though their lives are much harder than ours. It’s a chance to rethink our normal responses to the things that happen in our lives and make an effort to change in areas of weakness. The trip always falls right around the holiday season which seems even more appropriate as we gather with family and friends to remember and celebrate Christ’s birth.

We feel so thankful for the opportunity to spend time with these people and photograph them. It is our goal, with our documentary work, to show the strength, beauty and wisdom that they possess rather than focus on the things that they don’t have. Working alongside the Matthew 10 team is always an honor and we can’t thank them enough for the asking us to join them again. We encourage everyone to follow their blog and visit their website which you can access here –> http://matthew10.com

Our group of 20, most of which are based out of Knoxville, TN, met in Chicago last night where we all boarded the same flight to London and then on to Hyderabad. We will then take an overnight train to Kadapa where we will spend the remainder of our week. We will be back in the U.S. on December 15th and back in the office on the 16th so all of our phone calls and emails will be returned around that time. Above are a few images from our trip to Suryapet, India in November 2009.

Engage 10 {Day One} from Cloud Nine Creative on Vimeo.

Engage ’10 {Day 2 + 3} from Cloud Nine Creative on Vimeo.

After attending Engage!10 during the first week of October in Palm Beach, FL I can confidently say that The Breakers Hotel is a perfect place to host your destination wedding. I was constantly impressed by their hospitality and the property lends itself to be one of the most relaxing places I’ve ever visited. A huge thanks to them for hosting this conference and going out of their way to make our stay nothing short of unforgettable. Engage is a luxury wedding business summit held twice a year where wedding entrepreneurs from all over the world gather to share ideas, network and hear the industry’s leaders speak on current trends, business practices and all sorts of other helpful information that motivates and inspires. Matt and I both attended the last Engage that was held in Grand Cayman back in June which you can see here. As I look over my notes from both of the events, I feel honored to have had the opportunity to learn from people such as Liene Stevens from Think Splendid, Bryan Rafanelli, David Beahm, Mindy Weiss, Cindy Novotny, Sean Low, Todd Fiscus and many others. Not to mention all the new friendships that were made over the course of event. Rebecca Grinnals and Kathryn Arce are the ladies to thank for it all. Their talent amazes me. I have to admit that it wasn’t quite the same this time without Matt there with me but I had a wonderful time with all of my girlfriends, old and new, who made the trip so fun and memorable. I can’t wait for Engage!11!
P.s. Bruce from Cloud Nine Creative shot the awesome videos above. I thought I would share them as well to give you an even better idea of what Engage is all about. Enjoy and Happy Monday!

What better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than with one of your best girlfriends and a little pup? We unfortunately don’t have a dog but would like to adopt this one of Kathryn’s named Baily… he was so cute! This was part two of our shoot in the East Village of New York City. You can view part one here. We had this idea of going to the dog park in Tompkins Park so Kathryn had her husband bring Baily down and it made the shoot even more fun. Shirley and Kathryn are literally best friends and it shows, they have so much energy and chemistry with one another. This is key when shooting fun lifestyle work; that your subjects are completely care free and up for just having fun. It also helps that they are extremely talented at their jobs. We wanted to keep things fun so I shot almost all of our shoot at a true 35mm so you feel like you are right there with them.
Thanks to Ford Models, Courtney Rust for wardrobe styling, Kerry Crawford for makeup and Julius Toussaint for hair.

Some of the conversations we shared with other attendees left us dreaming bigger than we ever have before.  Without big goals and dreams, we will never be able to fully grow into the person that we are called to be.  We also feel that while working with your spouse is great, it is an even bigger challenge to constantly make sure we are growing together and always open to respecting each other’s perspectives.

Taking time to travel and attend a conference like Engage is a great way for us to feel challenged and refreshed.   Thank you to everyone who made our experience unforgettable.  We’ll let the photos below tell the rest of the story!

A little video recap from our friends at I Do Films

engage!10 Cayman Islands from I Do Films on Vimeo.

This film was produced by I Do Films, LLC.

Visit these blogs for more Engage!10 recaps:

(if you want to add your recap to this list email me, contact@averyhouse.net)

• Lara Casey
• 14 Stories
• Momental Designs
• Bridal Bar
• Celebrations
• Jasmine Star
• Elegance & Simplicity
• I Do Films
• Splendid Communications
• Elizabeth Anne Designs

In other news, we were excited to wake up several times last week to find that we were featured on some great blogs. Be sure to check them all out and add them to your RSS feeds as they are some of our favorites. We’re also excited to announce that the girls at Junebug Weddings just launched a new photography section including some of the world’s top photographers. We were thrilled when they asked us to be a part of it as we are in the company of so many other talented artists. If you are a bride or know of anyone planning a wedding, be sure to send them over to Junebug. The site is full of lots of helpful resources and tips.

We have 3 days this week to cram in lots of work before we leave for a wedding in Stillwater, OK on Friday. Then on Sunday we’re off to Engage!10 Grand Cayman for a week of learning and networking at the world’s leading luxury wedding business summit. Can’t wait!

1.// Elizabeth Anne Designs featured Paul and Katie’s DIY peacock feather inspired wedding at Hidden Falls Ranch, TX.

2.// Cake and Pictures featured Lia and Jake's military wedding that Matt shot with Tony in honor of Memorial Day Weekend.

3.// Oprah.com featured a few images from our Wedding Trends event with Debi Lilly from A Perfect Event this past winter.

4.// A few weeks ago, we photographed our friend and amazing food photographer, Stephen Hamilton. He caught us off guard and had his wonderful assistant, Regina, grab a quick interview of us. We weren't prepared for that but were excited to be featured on his "Who's Hungry?" blog. Click here to watch the interview.  P.s. No, Matt does not have makeup on. We had just gotten back from our cruise so he was really tan. I know, it looks like he bronzed his nose!

Recently Matt and I have been traveling and spending time with so many of our amazingly talented friends (new and old). We have tried to make it a point to surround ourselves with people who are excited about facing challenges and living their dreams. There are so many opportunities that await us if we only keep an open mind and stay out of our comfort zone. One of the most exciting experiences for us was in Las Vegas a couple weeks ago where we joined 14,000 other photographers for the world’s largest wedding and portrait photography trade show, WPPI. It was awesome. One of our favorite partners, Pictage, who provide our online gallery service was organizing a small event called “Lens and Learn” involving a few of the country’s most well known wedding photographers (all of whom we admire and look up to). Our wonderful friend, Kenny Kim, invited us to come along and we will be forever thankful. The event was an experience we won’t forget and will always be inspired by. For a whole day, we joined the other photographers in teaching a group of kids from the Las Vegas Boys and Girls Clubs about photography. We spent time talking and goofing around with the kids before we broke into groups so that a few of the photographers could share their own personal stories of why they chose their career and the ins and outs of shooting a camera, composing an image, etc. The kids were encouraged to ask questions and one of my favorites was from a little guy who said in disbelief.. “So people can actually make money taking pictures?!” At that moment I realized just how powerful the day was for those kids. Some of them may have never been inspired to learn about photography or any other art form before that day. Afterward, we all went to a nearby Preserve for an organized photo scavenger hunt. The day was so fun for us.
Jim Collins, the CEO of Pictage, was the visionary for the project and after hearing him share his heart for why he wanted to do the event, we totally felt a connection to what he was saying. He knows that he has the ability to help people and he has a passion for it and isn’t afraid to get out and work hard to accomplish his goals. The success of the day put a huge smile on his face that made me so happy and so thankful to be there. Fortunately, Ron Dawson, was there to capture footage and interview some of the photographers. It is a beautiful production.
So all of this being said, Matt and I want to send a huge thank you to Kenny Kim (w/o him we wouldn’t have had the opportunity), Pictage, Jim Collins, all of the kids from the Boys and Girls Club, Canon (who donated the cameras for the scavenger hunt, and all of the other photographers and people that came out to help. We were inspired and motivated to get up and live our dreams, help people and most importantly not let anything hold us back from being ourselves. We feel so proud and so blessed to be a part of this community.
Enjoy the video!

Lens & Learn – Inspiring Kids Through Photography from Ron Dawson on Vimeo.

Pictage brought out some of the top photographers in the country to teach kids at the Boys & Girls Club of Las Vegas about photography. Co-sponsored by Canon USA.

Directed & edited by Ron Dawson
http://daredreamer.net
Shot with Canon EOS 7D & DP Slider

Photographers involved:
Mike Colón
Zach & Jody Gray
Will Jacks
Kenny Kim
Mike Larson
Justin & Mary Marantz
Chelsea Nicole
Shawn Reeder
Ray Santana
Matt & Stevi Savage
René Tate

Event documentary photographers:
Joe Buissink
Monty Jessop

One of my favorite memories was on our recent trip to Italy. Matt and I were out walking one night when the near by gelateria cranked up the new George Michael album. There were only a few strangers walking by when Matt grabbed my umbrella and toboggan and ran out to the middle of the street and began dancing like I’d never seen before. I stood there with joy and happiness watching him be as serious as he could be, knowing that he was dancing just to see me smile. I thought, “Wow, I am so lucky! I can’t believe I got to marry this guy. He is perfect.” After a few minutes, the rest of our friends came down and all 10 of us joined Matt and danced as hard as we could to George Michael. It was an awesome moment. One that I will never forget. We had no cares. Only freedom. And I’m sure the gelato man was thoroughly entertained. To be ourselves completely in front of each other without fear of embarrassment is a wonderful thing. It’s one of my favorite parts of being married.

Happy Anniversary my Love. Everyday I get to wake up next to you is the best day of my life.

These photos were taken last week in Las Vegas by Jory Cordy.