Dayton Weddings | Echo by Design | Wedding + Portrait Photography

..Destination Las Vegas | Talking Business..

Last year I had one of the most incredible experiences in my career, I attended the conventions of all conventions for photographers! It’s call WPPI (Wedding & Portrait Photographers International) and it’s located in the sunny desert of Las Vegas, Nevada. Hosted at the MGM Grand Hotel, photographers come from all over the world for almost two weeks of non-stop education and trade show fun! For me it was like a dream come true…a kid at Disneyland for the first time was probably the equivalent.

In college our professors always pounded it into our heads to keep with the ‘now’ and pushed for continuing education, such as attending seminars and conventions like WPPI. Of course in college we could barely afford our next meal let alone try to pay for a plane ticket, hotel, convention fee, and food for a whole week in a highlight city. So last year when I finally made the push to save up to attend, I knew I would be in for a treat!

It worked out perfectly, my husband was on his college spring break the same week that the convention took place in March. So lucky for me he was able to tag along with ..Jaylene Renae.. and I. His idea of a convention was playing some of the best golf courses that Las Vegas had to offer, so he wasn’t complaining! Meanwhile, Jaylene and I cruised the trade show floors for the latest and greatest that the photography world had to offer during our seminar breaks. But for most of our time at the MGM we were plastered to those uncomfortable seats soaking up the information that only the best leading industry photographers had to offer. Not to mention the networking with other photographers that attended and were in the same boat that I was.

Looking back I never knew that I would have learned so much, but by the end of the week I’m pretty sure my brain was soup. But GREAT soup at that! I had so much information swimming around in my head, I barely knew how to take my first bite! Coming back from Las Vegas I filtered through the pages upon pages of notes that I took and information that we took from the trade show and did my best to start implementing it all right away. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to apply most of it until I really decided to take the step to be my own business. In the last few weeks I have taken steps to apply more than I could this summer when I was so blessed and busy. And even though it has taken me so long to do so, I get even more excited knowing that another WPPI for me is right around the corner!

I am happy to say that once again this year in a month I will be headed out to Las Vegas for WPPI to learn the most new, most current, most inspiring ways to make your wedding day or portrait session the absolute best that in can be! Get excited because it’s going to be awesome.

..WPPI..

love, echo

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echoes of love

..Jackson | Newborn..

A few months back Danielle emailed me and said that her and her husband Jack were expecting the arrival of their son Jackson on Christmas Eve! It is their first child and they were more than excited to have him arrive. About a week prior to Jackson being due Danielle contacted me and said that she was going to have a c-section delivery on December 15th! So we set up a date for Jackson’s newborn session, I just knew that when I was home for Christmas that I would have to set aside a few hours to capture this little guy.

Danielle and Jack couldn’t be more excited to have him here, and they have already spoiled him rotten by being first time parents. Danielle states, “Being a new parent is the best feeling in the world. It’s amazing to look at Jackson and think that we created him!” I am learning that myself right now, now that we are expecting just how much that life itself is a miracle, how tiny and how precious. The couple feels together, “Although Jackson has only been here for 4 weeks, it really feels like he’s been here forever. We don’t really remember what it was like before he was born.“

Danielle’s favorite thing about her new little man is to watch him fall asleep. She says, “He smiles so much when dozing off and has the cutest little yawn.” I’m sure for the next couple years of this sweet little baby’s life that they are going to take in all of the special moments that he has to offer.

Jackson came into the world at 8:03 a.m. weighing in at 8 pounds even and was only 19 inches long. What a sweet little thing he was…

Jack is a firefighter, thus setting the theme for his son’s new room…

Always my favorite…

This was Danielle’s idea and I loved it!

“Jack and I always knew we wanted to have a a family, but we wanted to give ourselves time to enjoy each other before having kids. We had the time to take trips together and go out with friends, but over time we would find ourselves having conversations about what we look forward to doing with our kids in the future, trips we can take with them and traditions that we look forward to. We both enjoy spending time with our families and felt the time was right to have a new addition. Jackson is absolutely amazing and has so many people that love him.“

I just LOVE this, and this is the exact same way Brad and I felt about starting a family! Thank you so much to Jack and Danielle for allowing me to capture your brand new little miracle!

..NEW PARENTS..

love, echo

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echoes of love

..Glowing | Free to be Me..

He was down on one knee at ..Marblehead Lighthouse.. as the wind swept my long brown hair across my face and met the ever flowing tears of joy. After six years of dating the love of my life asked me one of the most important questions a man could even ask a woman, “Will you be my wife?” Of course I said, “Yes!” and the journey of calling our large families began.

The morning following Brad and I’s engagement in August 2006, we attended our local church for the Sunday sermon and worship service. I had a new bounce in my step and a smile that not even the devil himself could wipe off my face. I was getting married, but not to just any man, THE man that God created just for me! As we listened on to what our Pastor had to say my brother-in-law (whom we lovingly call Bird) leaned over to my sister Nicole and stated, “Your sister is glowing.” Nicole preceded to lean over to me to enhance my excitement and shared his words that I will never forget.

A year and a half later I married my husband with our families gathered round as the pouring rain came down on the church that was around us. A friend told me that it was raining because God couldn’t have been happier about the union that just took place. I believed it, and even though it was raining outside I knew I was GLOWING!

So fast forward to almost three years later in present time, life couldn’t be much better. I have a fantastic supportive husband who would go to the ends of the Earth for me, a thriving business with the best clients in the whole world, and a brand new miracle of life headed our way.

That’s right, Brad and I are expecting our first child! It was as much as a surprise to us that I’m sure it is to all of you. After keeping it a secret for what felt like so long, we finally had the chance to see with our own eyes that we weren’t dreaming. Friday morning during the ultrasound I watched my husband’s face light up with the biggest smile I have ever seen. I will never forget it and it will be one of those memories to hold onto for a lifetime. After we had a chance to tell a few more friends my sweet sweet husband looked at me in all seriousness and said, “Your glowing. I can tell in your skin complexion that you are glowing.” He almost had me in tears because I hadn’t heard those words since the day after we got engaged. The moment was perfect.

So I give to you for the first time, Baby D…

Because of your excitement I am sure that all of you have so many questions!! So I have provided the answers to the most common here:

How did you find out?

Unexpectedly! Brad was in Little Rock traveling for work with the Air Force and I teased him the night before he left that I may be pregnant. Little did I know just how true that was! I rushed to the local store to get a few home tests when ‘that’ didn’t arrive.

How did we react when we first found out?

I sat in shock for about 10 seconds and then burst into tears. It wasn’t suppose to happen for four more months! I had commitments for the time frame when I was due. I called Brad and asked him where he was, he said he had just gotten in his hotel room. He knew I was upset and asked why. I proceeded to break out in tears once again mumbling that I was pregnant. He too was in complete shock!

When are we due?

We are due August 15th. I’m officially 9 weeks along.

How have I been feeling?

I can tell you that I absolutely feel fantastic! I have had absolutely no morning sickness and besides being slightly tired every now and then I feel just about as good as I could possibly feel. Still exercising and doing any normal day activities to keep me and the baby healthy. Luckily I haven’t had any serious weight gain and still fit into the clothes in my wardrobe. (So the 20 pounds that I lost this last year was for a pretty good cause!) I’m thankful for no crazy cravings so far and lucky for me I’m still eating what I normally would eat. French fries are my only repulsion thus far.

How did we tell our families?

The first to find out were my parents. When me and my four sisters were little the book “Green Eggs and Ham” was all of ours favorite. So I matched that book with “Are you my Mother?” both by Dr. Suess and sandwiched a picture frame with the announcement of Baby’s due date in the middle.

Brad’s parents found out with a soft Tigger and Pooh blanket that Brad had purchased Baby D for Christmas along with the picture frame annoucing the due date. We then drove to Toledo to tell Brad’s older sister Laura and her husband Nick who are just 5 weeks ahead of us and celebrated with dinner.

The rest of our sisters and grandparents found out at each of the Christmas parties with a picture announcing the due date. Friends found out in similar fashion in person, through phone, or a mass text. Brad and are thankful to have a great network of friends and fortunately for our sanity and our cell phone bill we couldn’t call everyone!

Needless to say everyone is ecstatic, and as Brad and I have people find out we get more and more excited!

Will we find out the Baby’s gender?

Thus far we have decided to wait to find out. Before I was pregnant I was all about finding out and planning ahead, because that is what I do. My whole business is planned almost a year in advance, thus life following right behind it! But being that this pregnancy may be teaching me that you can’t always plan ahead in every situation, we are probably going to wait.

So FINALLY the big surprise has been revealed! If you have any questions for me feel free to ask!

..BABY D..

love, echo

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echoes of love

..Goals for 2011 | Talking Business..

An intersting fact for you: a Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. Last year EchobyDesign’s blog

was viewed 13,000 times! That fills just about 31 747s. I find that pretty crazy and oh so amazing all at the same time. So I will once again thank you for your support in last year’s endevors and hope you continue on with what will be a fantastic 2011! In one of my last posts on accomplishments I mentioned that one of the ways to stick to your goals was to share them, to have them out in the open, and to clearly make them known. The percentage of success is just that much higher because you have thought and even dreamed them already to life.

Goals:

Improve on my overall EBD Brand.
Keep my website current and up to date.
Blog on a regular basis/schedule. Keep you coming back for more!
Work on my grammar when writing.
Provide a more friendly online housing site.
Order sample albums/products for your viewing.
Keep up and continually raise customer service/overall client satisfaction.
Design and showcase wedding albums when provided with wedding day images.
Limit Sunday shoots to special cicumstances.
Improve my overall photography skills.
Continue to invest in great equipment to better your wedding day and portrait images.

I am happy to announce that one goal that I set in the season of 2010 for the 2011 season has already been met! Much more on this to come! I can’t wait to share that exciting news with you.

But for now I’m going to tuck myself into the covers to get over my cold and leave you to the growth for this new year…

..GOALS..

love, echo

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echoes of love

..Maximus | Newborn..

Call it your lucky day, you get two postings today due to me being slightly behind from Christmas and New Years to hang out with my family for ten days! So thank you to all you loves who hired me before and right after Christmas. I promise I will get your portraits up on here with everyone else’s!

Meet Jessilyn and her son Maximus! Doesn’t that just sound like such a profound name? Maximus means “The Greatest.” I feel like I should be transported back into history to some ancient story. But I can assure you to his mother, he is the greatest. When I asked Jessilyn how she decided on a name for her new baby boy she stated, “I loved the name Max but I didn’t want to name him just “Max”. I liked the name Maxwell and then I came across Maximus in a baby book and I fell in love with it.”

Maximus James was born on November 20th weighing in at 8lbs 10oz. He was 21.5 inches long and was born at 10:45 pm. Jessilyn said that her pregnancy was wonderful and all she wanted to do was hold him in her arms. She mentioned, “I love thinking about the final push and then the doctor put this little guy on my chest and he looked up at me and I just couldn’t get over that he was all mine.” I just love that! I’m sure as a Mom that is one of the moments that you are surely never going to forget.

Being a first time Mommy I asked Jessilyn how her life as changed since the birth of little Max. She laughed and jokingly said, “I can open a gallon of milk with one hand now.” But more seriously, ” I just am so amazed by everything he does. I love trying to make him smile, he really started smiling a lot on Christmas and it was the best present ever! He has brought so much joy and happiness to my life and to my family as well. He just is my entire world and I couldn’t imagine my life without him!