hey hey

I drove down from Missoula MT and pulled into the driveway of Marlena’s parents property in the Bitterroot and her mom came out to greet me, and let me know they were still getting ready. Because they pretty much shut down the bar the night before. And instantly I was assured we’re the right match!

This world is kinda crazy small. When I drove up I knew this house. I’d been here before. A couple summers ago my bride, Christine, had rented this property to get ready at. Turns her mom and Marlena’s mom hit it off and Marlena knew she wanted to get married in Montana she asked Christine for vendors. Christine, you’re the best! And Marlena had it all figured out. Her mom contacted me before they were even engaged. Letting me on the secrets that were about to happen, how she wanted me and her dream of a snowy winter engagement in Montana. And then we surprised Marlena with all of it after they were engaged 🙂

When I left for Europe a few weeks ago there was snow. When I returned there wasn’t any. And there was talks of a little and I mean a VERY little amount coming Christmas Eve. I began to get a little bummed as I wanted Marlena and Ryan to have their winter engagement, and they were coming all the way from California for it. Well, Christmas miracle and we woke up to a good blanket of snow on Christmas morning. Just in time for their session.

This session is one of my all time faves. Marlena braving the cold in her sexy black dress. And her dad making a little fire for them to cozy up by later on a little bench covered in a fur blanket. A little adventure walk to another area of the property. And they’re absolute naturals in front of the camera. I can’t wait for their wedding this summer!!!!!!!!!

I vote that this bench and fire stay out by frozen pond all winter! So cozy!

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Karri emailed me months ago and said “You photograph things in the way that I think I would photograph things, if I were a photographer.” And it quickly turned into a conversation of where should she get married. It’s crazy how specializing my business to mountain weddings now has brides contacting me saying “I need to get married in the mountains, where do you think I should get married?” But I love it. I loved helping Karri so much that I even said yes to photographing on the only weekend I had planned off for the summer for my birthday. And it was WORTH IT!

Their wedding was perfect and intimate. In a quiet corner of Glacier National Park. Just their immediate family with them, only 17 of them total. A simple ceremony on the balcony with the most stunning view. And a boat cruise on the lake to end the evening.  Dancing on the deck of the boat as the sun began to set on the other side of the mountains.  Love doesn’t get better than this. Then finishing off the day wandering the area around the hotel, breathing in the crisp & cool glacier air in awe of our surroundings! Congratulations Karri & Jay!!! What an amazing way to start the rest of your lives. It couldn’t be better in my opinion! XOXO.

        Does it get more romantic than your first dance on a boat on Swiftcurrent Lake in Glacier National Park as the sun is setting and a light lake breeze?! Ceremony & Reception – Many Glacier Hotel | Glacier National Park
Coordinator – Glacier Park Weddings
Florist – Mum’s Flowers
Dress – Angelique’s Bridal in Blaine, MN
Vests – Pleasant Hills Saddle Shop in Rogers, MN
Cake – Sweet Notions
Boat Cruise – Glacier Park Boat Company

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12 hours after arriving in Santa Barbara, California for the UNITED 2014 Conference I ran into Kevin Sturm. He’s such an amazing guy who heads up planning UNITED. He comes to me and says “Hey! So did you talk to Meg? Cause I’m wondering if you two can move your talk up to Monday at 1?”

My response –  “Pshh ya of course we can! We’ll figure it out.”

Inside… HOLY SHIT!  Meg Courtney and I had some amazing opportunities over the last few weeks to talk at UNITED 2014 and also at WPPI about Specialism and designing a business that cares about you. Meg and I aren’t planners. There is no secret to that. We thrive on spontaneity and impulsiveness. Thus why we said YES we’d love to talk on Monday (which is TOMORROW) instead of Wednesday. But the truth is, our talk wasn’t ready. We spent days over skype building an outline. And really it didn’t take us days, we just would get distracted by sunshine and guacamole. Living in different countries and the two of us ALWAYS on the road we decided to make an outline and then Sunday before UNITED we’d sit down and put together our talk. We’d have 3 days to get it together. No big deal.

Well now we had 24 hours. So we went shopping.

While shopping we were reminded of a conversation with our business coach, Jeff Jochum.  He once told us to just get drunk and things will flow and before we know it we’ll have our talk. So we hit up the hotel bar for appetizers and drinks. Although we forgot to order the appetizers, oops! And 2 hours later we had one slide made, an intro video and a $110 bar
tab. A run in the ocean, comfy clothes, and food had us back on track. Sitting in the lobby til 3am.

We went through each point that we wanted to make and who should take the lead on that point. And up came ‘Giving your business a purpose.’ We quickly decided I would take the lead on that point. Ya, ya. Cool.

This last year I discovered and began owning my purpose. And I’ve shared it with others, one-on-one or in small groups. But I had yet to share it with a room of 100 or more people staring at me. It’s personal. I played it off to Meg that ya I could do it and not cry. Honestly I didn’t know if I could. But, if I did, oh well. This is me unapologetically being me. Authentic and raw. And the first time I shared it, I cried. And the response has been overwhelming. I shared it again at WPPI and now I’m sharing it here. To encourage you to find your purpose.

When I was 12 years old my dad passed away at the age of 33 from a massive heart attack. THIRTY THREE YEARS OLD. I am my fathers daughter to the core. And honestly, for most of my life that scared me. He didn’t leave behind a legacy. I can’t tell you much about him. He didn’t change the world. He didn’t make a huge impact on people and their lives. He had a lot of friends, but didn’t make a difference. He worked A LOT. Sometimes 4 remote jobs at once. And not his dream jobs. He didn’t pursue any passion. And he was unhappy. As much as he tried to play off he was happy, he wasn’t. He suppressed his unhappiness with more work and lots of alcohol. Don’t get me wrong, he wasn’t a bad person. But he did show me a life I didn’t want. Yet I’m like him in so many ways. I feared I would be the same way. Until I decided that wasn’t for me. I would CHOOSE something else. That I would use this as the push to live differently. His life showed me how short this life is. And I’m damn certain it’s going to be sweet. My 5 year old, my family, my friends, my clients, will have something to share about me when I’m gone. They will know what I stood for. And I will have impacted their lives in some way. I refuse to just exist. 

I jump before I can talk myself out of it, because I don’t want to miss out. I’d rather make the wrong decision quickly than the right one too late. I believe in taking chances, there is no better time than the present. I believe that a failure isn’t failing, unless you don’t get back up. I believe in living out loud. Why not? What have you got to lose? Great reward is only found with great risk.

I dare people to do epic shit. To stop overthinking and live in the moment. You’re only guaranteed now. I show them how. And I give them that little push to do it. Once they do, they do it on there own from there out. They just need to believe they’re capable. They, YOU, are.

Photography just happens to be the tool I’m using to share that. To reach people. To dare them. It’s more than just a photo. I’m focused on encouraging, pushing, DARING people to (as my friend Andrew calls it) have “an attitude of reckless abandon towards enjoying life.” It’s much richer when you do. I don’t want you to let it pass you by.

Don’t just exist. Have purpose, focus, reason. Why do you do what you do? Live a life you are proud of. A life that you’d be proud of your children to live, and share. This life is yours for the taking. What are you doing with it? Are you proud of it? What are you leaving behind? What will others remember about you? I know this isn’t easy to answer. But it’s beyond worth it to think about it and discover what it is.

Yes, I’m daring you right now! 😉

Thank you so much to Mary Marantz, Suzy Van Dyke, Alyssa Turner, Jeremy Kester, Maggie Henriques, & Matthew Coppersmith for snapping some pics of us and sharing. We appreciate you and everyone else SO much!

And I have to gives some serious love to my business coach, Jeff Jochum. Papa Jeff. He is like a father to me. I even bum him for coffee money as if I really am his kid 😉  He helped me break down these walls of fear that I put up. Thinking I was protecting myself from living a life like my father when really putting up those walls I was living the exact same life. I’m living life to it’s fullest because of him. Thank you, Papa.

Interested in getting help with finding the WHO and WHY of you? Check out http://teamxbiz.com

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I can hardly call what I do a “job.” This is just me living life. And when I end the day looking like this… I ended it right.

Don’t ask what I wore home.

Some people like to call these sessions Trash the Dress Sessions. I prefer Day After. I don’t know if you’ve ever checked out a wedding dress after a wedding but, it’s trashed. They get sooooo dirty from dancing all night and 92% end up with broken bustles, rips, etc. More often then not a Day After session cleans it 😉

Heather and Travis were married in August. And a few days before their wedding I posted Caty & Andy’s Day After session in Glacier. As soon as Heather saw the post, she wanted a session. She had to have a day of randomness in her wedding dress.  Heather & Travis came to town this weekend and we said…. let’s do it. And by we I mean Heather and I did. We fed Travis beer and promised him this would be the last bit of photos, promise. He was a champ and survived.

I have crazy and adventurous couples. I wouldn’t have it any other way. But sometimes on the wedding day we don’t have the time to run out somewhere awesome and get a little crazy.  If we did this stuff on the actual wedding day… my life would be complete haha. But it’s difficult. So some of my couples have decided Day After is the way to go. Get dressed up one last time and go crazy. There’s no pressure, no time frame. Just adventure. And it might look a little something like this.

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I want you to think of someone that you admire. Someone you look up to. Someone you’re inspired by. It could be someone you know. Or, it might be someone you’ve never met. Some who deeply inspire me I have never met.

In life we work to build a safe haven. A place of comfort. A place we feel secure and taken care of. And then we build a wall around it as to not let people in. And we live there. Too scared to leave to it, yet always dreaming of more.

Now back to those that we admire, that inspire us. I’ve come to find that these people have 2 things in common.

1. They take chances. Even with great risk. They would risk it all for that which fulfills them. They gladly give up comfort for a life of happiness.

2. They allow themselves to be vulnerable. Being vulnerable actually allows them to take greater chances. It is the cornerstone of love, happiness, creativity, courage, empathy and on and on and on. I read somewhere that vulnerability is “where courage & fear meet.” It’s “life asking you…. are you all in.”

I know how hard it is to break down your walls and be vulnerable. Our walls are like a candy coating. Most are a thin coating like the candy coating on an m&m. My wall was once described as a jawbreaker coating. It isn’t easy, not in the slightest. However I found the more I allowed myself to be vulnerable, the more alive I felt. Once we break down our walls we have to leave this place of comfort. Take those chances. The greater joys of living can only come with great risk. They don’t just appear on your doorstep. Are you all in?

A CHALLENGE to you – Over the next few days get to know someone. Maybe someone you know. An acquaintance. Someone you’ve never met. Dig into their life. Their passions. Their dreams. Be the hand they need for a little push to chase after it. Help them define the first steps. And be their encouragement. I think that while encouraging someone else to live their dreams, you’ll gain the courage to chase after your own. Others will be inspired by you. It’s a domino effect. You just have to start it.

Life is meant to be lived. Not sheltered behind walls in safe haven. Go.

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