I am so blessed and honored to still be a part of the Burton-Kallis family!  After photographing Stephanie and Nicolas’s wedding in 2004, I never would have dreamed that 5 years later, I would be documenting the first year of their adorable twins, Anna & Eva.  I truly love all of them and so happy to be a part of their growing family!

November and December were a busy celebration time for the family! The girls were baptized at the Greek Orthodox church on November 14th.  This is one of my favorite churches in Atlanta -not only because it offers beautiful natural light in a round sanctuary, but because I am also given quite a bit of freedom to shoot.  Usually the church rules about photography are something like, “Don’t get in the priests’ way.”  I can handle that!  I don’t want to get in anybody’s way or block the view of the guests either!

I also enjoy all the traditions of the Greek Church. ( I once traveled to Greece for a month and felt like I’d been there before -a  total deja vu!)  Now, as I captured the girls’ baptism, I was learning and seeing new traditions I had not known of before.  They start the ceremony before they even enter the sanctuary.

After the girls are welcomed into the church, they proceeded to the altar with their proud parents bringing up the rear.  I’m not sure if they’ve ever had a double baptism here before but it was eventful – double your fun!

The babies are adorned with olive oil on certain parts of their little bodies – to make them too slippery for evil spirits to grab hold of them.

After drying off, a quick snip of their hair is an offering to God as a gift for receiving His blessings.

After circling the baptismal font, the girls are given their first Eucharist.

When the girls had been blessed and accepted as members of the church, it was time to go celebrate – GREEK STYLE! – at Kyma, one of my favorite restuarants!

Anna & Eva had several guests at their reception that were also twins!  There were three sets of twins in the house!  I love these twin boys peering into the girls’ strollers to say hi.

Stephanie’s dad, the girls’ grandfather, gave a touching toast to the families.

It was such a fun event and you can see more photos of the day in this cool slideshow below!

One Year Birthday Party!

I was invited back to join the family to celebrate Anna & Eva’s one year birthday party.  I cannot believe how time has flown by!  I KNOW it’s cliche, but seriously, one year?  I remember sitting at my desk and getting the email that they had been born – Christmas Eve Eve last year.  I was so happy for Stephanie and Nicolas!  TWO beautiful girls and each one looked like mom and dad. ;o)  Here you go – two of everything from now on! I took a few portraits of the girls with their adorable birthday outfits in front of the Christamas tree.  Custom purple and pink tutus that Stephanie ordered and how about those plushy crowns!  So freakin’ cute!!!!When the guests started arriving, the girls scrambled to see who had shown up ;o): Then it was time for cake and gifts!  Each girl had their own one-year cupcake and candle to blow out. But surprisingly, they didn’t make too much of a mess! I don’t know who had more fun with this great gift – the girls or Stephanie! ;o) Thanks so much for letting me capture the girls’ special moments this year!  I’m so proud and honored to be a part of your lives!  Check out more fun from the birthday celebration in the slideshow below!