In the dizzying summer months we’ve had, I am so happy about my couples with upcoming weddings.  I’ve always been giddy about weddings but from my new perspective as a bride, I have found that I’m just having the time of my life sharing my wedding planning stories and adventures with my couples!

I met up with Erin & Ray at the Roswell Mill to stroll along the Chattahoochee with them in the park. I had just shot a wedding here the weekend before so it was a little bit deja vu for me!  Though my wedding couple didn’t have time to go all the way down to the river. ;o)  Oddly enough, it’s been almost 8 years since I had been down to the river here at this park and I was surprised by the construction of these fabulous walk ways and bridges.  The overlook landing that gives a spectacular view of the waterfall is really breathtaking!

We stopped on the way back down at this textured rock wall.  I love the lichens and vines dangling…

Down at the river bank, I asked Erin & Ray if they wanted to wade into the water. After all, he was in shorts and her in a skirt!  And it was HOT?! Right?  Yay! They went for it!  Troopers…

I just went in – pants, shoes and all.  I was wearing my Merrell canyoneering shoes for walking on slippery rocks!After a casual stroll back up to the top, we paused behind this abandoned mill structure for a little privacy…

And finally, the coolness of the bridge.  Cool for photos and cool for shade. ;o)

Thanks Erin & Ray!  I am so excited about your wedding day – OMG, this month!!!!

To see more images from their session, check out their slideshow below:

Oh baby!  I couldn’t be more pleased when I got the email from Maria about the arrival of sweet, little Eleni.  Maria and Evan are the godparents to “my” twins, Anna & Eva that I photographed growing up last year.  So when she contacted me, I was not only surprised but thrilled.  Above is the birth announcement I designed for them.

Maria said that Eleni was growing so fast, she wanted to get the newborn session in right away.  But I think this image shows just how tiny she was!  Petite beauty.  Also a shot to show scale. We will take an image of her in their living room chair at every session this year.  Right now, she is so tiny in it!

I always take some detail shots of the nursery.  This was such a gorgeous room! The colors were mauve, soft lavender, and taupe.  YUM!  Wouldn’t it be amazing if we had shots like this of our first room? The thoughtful details that our parents chose…

An angel sent from Heaven….

Fresh laundry…Daddy’s home!Baby Eleni, it was so wonderful meeting you and I’m so excited about seeing you grow up!

Here are some more images to enjoy…

I know that this was only my first wedding of the year (late start to the season this year!) but seriously, it’s already one of my favorites! Abbey & Zach could not be more beautiful, fun, and a joy to photograph! I apologize in advance for the HUGE LONG POST WITH TONS OF PHOTOS but there is simply no way to narrow them down – I love too many of them!

We started the day at Abbey’s parents’ house for getting ready shots.  Uh, excuse me?  This bathroom could be a movie set!  The lighting was incredible and it is surrounded by mirrors.  I love the shot of her and her mother here – the duality of the pose, the mirrors….you can see each of them in each other’s mirror.

So many great locations in this house to shoot details, too.  When visiting the week before, I loved this library at the top of the stairs for hanging her dress.

L-O-V-E my new 100 2.8 macro!  It’s SO good, next time I need to wipe off the finger prints! ;o)

Abbey’s emotions ran wide on her special day but she managed to always look gorgeous.  Here she is opening Zach’s wedding present…and now a bride!

Mike Warren for Shari Zellers Photography

Close up on right, Mike Warren for Shari Zellers Photography

We headed outside and all around the neighborhood for our pre-ceremony shots.  Abbey’s mom got permission for us to shoot in this adorable park next door.

Heading to the church! 

St. Ann’s is an amazing Catholic church I’d seen driving by many times but it’s even more amazing inside.  I loved the architecture and of course the lighting!  (How many churches have uplights built into the floor?!) Any way, it makes for some great shots.  While it has nothing to do with the church, I got a shot that is sometimes tough to do  – I love Zach’s expression as he sees Abbey for the first time!

The wedding party is ready to, ahem, PARTAY! Let’s get outta here and head to Primrose Cottage!

Lucky for me, Abbey & Zach wanted plenty of romantics – we still worked fast so they could have fun at the reception though! A few shots outside at night right after the cake cutting is always a good time to sneak away for five minutes, too. ;o)

Not a whole lotta dance floor but they made the most of it with their first dance!

Did I say these two love to dance?  Look at ‘em!

The toasts had me cracking up.  I have not laughed that hard in a long time! What is it with men and the size of their wine glasses????

Mike Warren for Shari Zellers Photography

At the end of the night, they took off in my favorite limo (and the one Steven and I will drive off in 5 weeks!!!) from A Lovely View of Heaven!  Mike’s shot from the front of the car is amazing with the video light behind them!

Thank you guys so much for allowing me to have fun with you on your big day!  I am so loving everything!

If you want to see more, you can check out their slideshow below and their gallery, too!

Vogue. Bridals.

Jennifer seems to embody exactly what I’m referring to when I offer a different type of bridal session.  This is not your mother’s bridal portrait!

I want to make brides feel like goddesses.  Here you are young, beautiful, in the most amazing dress you’ve ever worn your whole life – and you get only 15 minutes worth of photos by yourself in it?

NOT.

This year, I’m offering FREE Vogue Bridal Sessions to ALL BRIDES!  This is in honor of my own wedding coming up in October.  Regardless of whether you book me for your wedding, I want you to have some rockin’ shots in that really make the most of how you feel and look at this incredible time in your life.  I’m certainly going to be doing a bridal session for myself as well as a Trash the Dress Session  (not intending to destroy my dress but get some shots that I wouldn’t want to do before the wedding).

Don’t be shy and certainly don’t hesitate to contact me for your session.  What do you have to lose?

Jennifer took advantage of this offer and I am so glad! She was so much fun to photograph at her engagement session with Erin and when she was the center of attention, she can really turn it on!  Despite the crushing heat of the day, Jennifer rocked it out, glam’d it up, and I was just in awe the whole time.  Just a few of my favorites!

Watch her slideshow here – you know you want to!

Now we get into the really hot part of summer!  I think technically the “Dog Days Of Summer” are later in the season but the title seemed perfect for my fun engagement session with Jennifer & Erin and their adorable fur-babies!  Yes, it was hot and we brought water for the pups and they even had their own little shaded carrier to hang out in when not in the shots!

When I met up with them, I was actually pretty excited and inspired by my own recent engagement session.  I had just come back from Mississippi where Steven and I had our session with our two dogs.  Some of the images Will captured for us were still fresh in my mind so I was looking forward to using some “doggie eye view” angles and having fun incorporating their precious babies!

This area in Alpharetta was perfect for a session as nearby within walking distance was a beautiful jogging trail and wooded park.  My favorite feature was the long wooden bridge here.

A little farther down, another bridge with some great lines for perspective!

Now we headed back to the main promenade where they were getting ready for a foodie festival.  We had to work fast to finish up – not only to get out of the way of the festival that would soon fill the area with tons of people but because we were all beginning to melt!  Erin was a super trooper for changing into jeans for us. ;o)

One last special request!  Jennifer is jumping for joy over their upcoming wedding!  I can’t wait either…;o)  It will be here before you know it!

Below here is a great slideshow of their session – click through at the end to see their whole gallery!

“J’mapplle Shari”!

is what I should have had a name tag reading!  That’s what all the volunteers and staff of the Alliance Francaise d’Atlanta were wearing on Saturday when I was shooting their annual Bastille Day celebration at Atlantic Station!  The celebration was held on the 17th & 18th floors of 201 Atlantic Station, otherwise known as the Nelson-Mullins offices.  I get to shoot here quite frequently now for Mogul PR and the view of downtown Atlanta is spectacular on the terrace.  Here was our beautiful view on Saturday…

Steven and I even had a friend take a rare photo of us together on the terrace. ;o) 

As with all things French, the food was magnifique!  Plenty of wine, h’ordourves and of course beautiful flowers.  Love the sunflowers and peacock feathers that gave an exotic but French country feeling to the affair..

And no self-respecting French celebration would be complete without DESSERT!  OMG, I had to try so hard not to partake – I only had the creme brulee, ok?  And some mixed fruit that was put out for the crepe station! Agggghhhh!  Formidable!

This event is held every year to raise money for the Alliance Francaise d’Atlanta.  The monies raised go towards education and resources to foster intellectual and artistic exchanges between the French-speaking world and local communities.  The foundation offers classes in language and cooking and sponsors several trips to France each year.  In order to raise money, the Bastille Day tickets include the array of food and drink as well as entertainment and both silent and live auctions for bidding on fine art, dining, and luxury items like destination villas and fine jewelry!  I wish I had some money to donate!  Some of the items up for bidding were amaaaaaaazing. Really wanted that week in the Tuscan villa…

My favorite items though had to be the jewelry from Baccarrat!  I had no idea that they made such beautiful pieces.  One set was auctioned off for $800 and retailed at over $2,000!  I loved it!

There was also a magician, Rick Silver, performing astounding tricks (awesome slight of hand Rick, you amazed me and Steven!) and my favorite caricature artist, Tony Smith, was on hand whipping out lightning fast likenesses of the guests!Daniel Wolff, President speaking before the crowd prior to the live auction event.

And the auction begins!

At night after the auction, the crowd boogied down to some great music and the beautiful view of the city got even more breathtaking at night.

Here’s all the lovely ladies of the Alliance Francaise d’Atlanta!  Your hard work made for a spectacular and successful event!  Vive La France!

To see all the images of this event and order prints, please visit the online gallery here: http://pictage.com/871404

Summer lovin’ – they’ve got it!  Octavia & Kane – one of my hottest couples – made me feel even hotter on this steamy engagement session!  I applaud them for braving this heat wave for their session – it was a record high for early June but they made it look so cool, didn’t they?  No complaints, just smiles…and well, sultry looks.

They are going to be so easy to shoot on their wedding day since they both not only look like models, they move like they really know what they’re doing! And the love is so evident…

They showed me this great corridor in the warehouse office district near Rathbun’s. Great grundgy architecture and rusted metal elements were fun to play with.  Also, there were little nooks and crannies with gardens and dappled sunlight.

Just outside I spotted this crumbling brick wall. We braved the direct sun for a couple of fashion shots. They ROCKED IT!

And you can’t miss the graffiti in this neighborhood.  It’s actually art -

At this point, we had to find some shade – all three of us!  Just outside the compound was just enough of a patch to sneak into.

I can’t wait for the wedding in September when these two will be ALL dressed up and gorgeous!

To see more of their engagement session, check out this slideshow below:

Well, what an amazing event and definitely worth getting up early on a Saturday morning for this night owl!  For the first time, I was invited to shoot the “Dream Ride for Kids” hosted each year by Ferrari-Maserati of Atlanta and sponsored by several local Atlanta businesses to benefit Camp Sunshine, CURE, and the Atlanta Ronald McDonald House.  The owners of fine and exotic vehicles from all over the country give rides to children from these organizations for the ride of their dreams!  From Season’s 52 at Perimeter Mall to the dealership in Alpharetta, these cars traveled up 400 via a HUGE police escort – officers from Roswell, Marietta, Alpharetta, and Dunwoody provided smooth sailing and well, er, very very speedy deliveries! 

The children had fun walking around, looking at the cars and talking to the owners before everyone was matched up with a driver and car.

One lucky little lady even got a Ferrari Teddy Bear from her driver!  As if riding in his baby blue Ferrari convertible wasn’t enough – that grin is going to last for a long, long time.

;o)

Then it was time to load up and peel out!

So, I drove up 400 with them, about a third of the way into the group of 70+ cars – slowing down to get some side shots out my window of the kids giving me the thumbs up and waving. NEXT year, I think I’ll shoot from the back of our pick up and have Steven drive me! That was TOUGH!  I was steering with one hand, shooting with the other – not easy and very dangerous but I survived!

We arrived at the dealership and I jumped out to get cars pulling in and all the fun stuff they had waiting for the kids.  An Army helicopter, miniature ponies and a cook out in the service bay! The line up of cars around the dealership was impressive.  These folks love doing this every year for the kids and it shows – they come from all over the US!

There was also a silent auction (some really great items!) and the Atlanta Falcons Cheerleaders were on hand to take votes for the People’s Choice Award for best car/driver!

When it was time for the helicopter to take off and return to base, the drivers moved their cars and everyone gathered for the “show”….

This event was sooooo much fun that I’m marking it on my calendar for next year!  Hopefully, I can shoot a wedding in the evening afterwards! ;o)

Take a look at even more of the fun in this slideshow below, then click through to see the gallery on Facebook!

I have shot soooo many engagement sessions at Stone Mountain so when Meredith and Todd wanted to have their session in this park, I had to ask my standard request:  “Is this place special to you?”  They answered with a resounding “YES!” This is where Todd proposed to Meredith!  The magical location where they decided to spend the rest of their lives together is right here at Stone Mountain Park! So, of course I gave in.

It could not have been a prettier spring day.  And as such, the park was very crowded so we were sharing this location with two other photographers!  One had a family of about 15 people to shoot – whew!  After the shot above on the Grist Mill bridge, I came around the corner to spy on them giggling and hugging – a completely natural moment.  And when they are facing the camera? Man, they are SO photogenic!  Kinda makes me cry a little…in a good way.

I love using the stone walkway across the stream and it was so busy, we had to wait a few moments for the area to clear.  After they got out to the center, Todd almost lost his balance!  Love these expressions!  These are shot from the same bridge above..

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A special request from mom, with the Grist Mill behind them…

Next we headed to another favorite location – the covered bridge! It was just down a path nearby that Todd actually proposed.  So many ways to use this quaint architecture. But I like the criss crosses in B&W the best…

Now usually, we go to the top of the lawn to shoot some pics with the carving on the face of the mountain.  Remember I said it was busy? Well, the park was also the site of a HUGEMUNGOUS Latin-American Festival and the lawn was completely full of tents…and loud music heard all over the park. Not the prettiest view, eh? So I got down low an’ shot up high!  I love the clouds that day!My request in going to Stone Mountain was to take them to a little garden off the beaten path.  I found this area a few years ago and was struck by the cool rock formations as the base of the mountain.  It’s a natural formation that creates a great set.

The light was also really beautiful under there from the sun hitting the rock face and bouncing back down to this area.

Thanks Todd & Meredith for a really fun time and we’re almost there!

Check out some more images from their session in this slideshow!

Oh my, spring is in the air and that means we are crazy busy crankin’ out the engagement sessions and bridals! There are going to be sooooo many amazing images to come – I can’t wait to share them all!

We’ll start by really getting the romance going with Brittney & Theo.  I am so excited about shooting their “Big Fat Greek Wedding” in St. Augustine this summer!  But first, the oh so spring-y engagement session at Lenox Park!

We met up and it turned out to be the most gorgeous spring day – one of those days where you are so happy to be alive and doing a job you love. ;o)

Brittney and Theo came ready to have fun with a bounce in their step and some surprises up their sleeves.  I didn’t expect him to suddenly pick her up and swing her around! And yet, they had some quiet intimate moments, too.  Love this one in the grass…Lenox park is a fun location to shoot as there’s some unique spots of both nature and architecture. This area where the creek starts just behind the lake always gets the most beautiful sunlight! You have to be careful though…the rocks can be a little slippery with the moss covering them.  Brittney is hanging on the Theo for dear life!

Now this is a sultry look that says, “Yep, he’s MINE.”  and he says, “Yep, I’m hers.”…Be sure to check out their slideshow below for some more fun!

Can’t wait to see you this weekend at the engagement party!!!!!