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!

Kismathpur, India from Avery House on Vimeo.

The video above was made by Matt as a quick way for Matthew 10 and Manna Ministries to say thank you to all who support these children in Kismathpur. The donations and prayers go a long way. I just wanted to share it with everyone because I could watch over and over again. I love seeing those little kids smile. They are so grateful for so little.
Matt and I are have some great adventures here in India. We’ve been eating curry three times a day and couldn’t be happier about that! We’ve been surrounded by so many wonderful Indian people who are full of love and curiosity about American culture. It is always so satisfying to be able to move past the communication barriers and have real and meaningful conversations with our friends here. We have so much to learn from people in other cultures which makes international travel a completely invaluable opportunity.
Last night we joined Dr. Pete, founder of Matthew 10, as he shared the love of Christ and the message of the gospel to thousands of people here in Kadapa. No matter what religion people are, they are always eager to hear the message, whether they receive it or not. There is something about hearing the story of Christ’s death on the cross that brings us to a place of humility. It’s a reminder that there is more to life than just what we see in front of us. So much comfort lies in knowing that there is a greater love for us if we just open up and receive it. The world we live in is too hard to bear without that love and comfort and I am thankful for this time as we get to witness its power first hand. There will be three more nights where thousands of people will gather in the middle of this city to hear the story of God’s love and the hope that we can all have in Him. To a people that have nothing more than the clothes on their backs, this is an incredible thing to witness. Thank you to all who have been sending prayers and love our way. We are excited to continue to sharing what we capture.

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.

Thomas & Julia from I Do Films on Vimeo.

This film was produced by I Do Films, LLC.

Matt and I set out with a new goal this year of doing more test shoots. We knew they would help us further develop our style as artists and teach us more about what we like and don’t like. They are a challenge and sometimes not so easy to find the motivation for, especially when so much else is going on with the busy wedding season, but we know it is absolutely necessary in order to not get burned out. Since I posted one of our test shoots last week featuring Nikola (Ford) and Nicky (Elite), I thought it would be appropriate to go ahead and post this one too. A huge thanks to this fabulous pair for all of their wonderful work. As you can tell, we love collaborating with our friends over at I Do Films. It’s so exciting to mix stills with film. Because we all had so much fun working together on the Galena shoot, we decided to get together again and create another fun story, this time using the Cuneo Mansion and Gardens. We wanted the shoot to be a continuation of their dream wedding in Galena. The folks over at Cuneo are the best. The venue truly makes you feel like you are in Italy.

As always, we put a lot of emphasis on excellent hair and makeup. Having a great hair and makeup artist is an absolute must in order to get great images. It’s also important to find someone who is willing to collaborate and listen to what you want. Laura Gorman has been a friend of mine and Matt’s for several years now, mostly from catalog jobs that we’ve worked on together, and it is always a treat to get to work with her. She travels all over and is in hot demand. If you are a bride looking for good hair and makeup, call her! (Leave a comment and I’ll send you her #). She’s seriously one of the best. Plus she has her own line of cosmetics which you should definitely check out. All of the wardrobe pieces in this shoot, including jewelry, are J.Crew. And as always, enjoy the short film above by Lori and Matt of I Do Films! Be sure to check out their blog too.

Photographer: AveryHouse
Cinematographer: I Do Films
Hair & Makeup: Laura Gorman
Wardrobe: JCrew
Flowers: Heffernen Morgan
Menu cards: Engaging Events by Ali
Venue: Cuneo Mansion
Talent: Nikola and Nicky

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!

Video by I Do Films.

The power of taking time to shoot for yourself cannot be measured when you own and run a photography business day in and day out. Matt and I love what we do. We love shooting weddings and we love getting to work with our clients. But there is something really special about getting to shoot for no one else but us. When we take time to shoot for ourselves we are giving ourselves the space we need to experiment and grow. It is during these shoots that we build on and develop our own personal style. We get to be ourselves without the constraints of a timeline. Ultimately, it is a chance for us to collaborate and more accurately define who we are as artists. Taking time for shoots like this are absolutely necessary in order to not get burned out and to keep your ideas fresh.

The images above are from a test shoot that we styled and produced ourselves alongside I Do Films in Galena, IL. Be sure to watch the short film below. Also, a special thanks to the people below that helped make this shoot so fun.

Photographers: AveryHouse

Cinematographers: I Do Films

Producer: Elan from I Do Films

Hair/Makeup Artist: Laura Gorman

Talent: Nikola Z from Ford and Nicky A from Elite

The Train Station from I Do Films on Vimeo.

Surrounding yourself with talented people, especially on a shoot like this, is vital.  Stevi produced the shoot by coordinating travel, lining up models, hair and makup.  She really made my job easy. I have to say the same for Kerry Crawford (makeup artist), Julius Toussaint (hair stylist), Courtney Rust (wardrobe stylist), and of course our models Shirley and Kathryn from Ford Models, all of whom are professionals and masters at their craft.  We focused on having a good time and collaborating on looks so everyone came out happy and had great images for their books. The images below are from the first scene on the roof of the apartment where we were staying.

Special thanks to the crew for making this such a fun shoot!

• Photographer: Matt Savage / www.averyhouse.net
• Producer: Stevi Savage / www.averyhouse.net
• Wardrobe Stylist: Courtney Rust / www.courtneyrust.com
• Makeup Artist: Kerry Crawford / www.kerrymakeup.com
• Hair Stylist: Julius Toussaint / www.hairormakeupusa.com
• Models: Kathryn & Shirley from Ford Women’s Division New York / www.fordmodels.com