Congratulations Christi (& Shane)!

Christi wanted a bit of a vintage look to the post processing – did I say how great she was! This first one she ordered a large gallery wrap canvas of. It was stunning.

What you don’t see in the picture above is the strange man sitting on stairs behind me making comments about how gorgeous Christi was…we left that spot pretty quickly. Christi, I bet you won’t forget that part of the session

Wow…choosing a name for our daughter was so much harder than the boys. Name meaning/signifcance is important to us. We look forward to the days in the future when we can tell our kids why they received the names they did and why we pray certain things over them. With that said, I would like to share with you about our daughter’s name. Breese (Reese with a b…not “Breeze”) was my grandmother’s maiden name. If you knew my grandma, you knew she was a firecracker of a woman. Small in stature and big in presence. She was deeply committed to and loved her family. She was simple, liked simple things and could make one killer blackberry cobbler.  I’ve spent most Saturday nights (from childhood to the present) at her home – gathered with my loud and fun family. She LOVED my boys and lit up when they would barrel through the door. Grandma passed away on Mother’s Day 2008, she never got to meet a great-granddaughter. I can only imagine the joy she would have had to see little Breese with a big ole’ bow on her head.  A couple of months ago my grandpa mentioned how happy grandma would have been to meet my daughter. Then he asked when she was due. When I told him “July”, he responded, “I knew it. She’s going to be your firecracker.” We pray that in many ways she would grow up to be a bit of a firecracker that deeply loves her family, is committed and loyal to those she is around, that she would appreciate the simpicities of life and that she would leave a strong legacy behind her.

Breese’s middle name is Finley…which means “fair warrior”. For obvious reasons “fair warrior” is a great meaning for a girl with three big brothers. We love this name for many other reasons. We pray that she would be a warrior for those that can’t fight for themselves, a voice for those who can’t be a voice for themselves…one who is not afraid to defend the defenseless and is willing to give of herself to fight battles so much greater than she is….that she would make an eternal difference. While doing all that we pray she is “fair” in the sense of feminine. That she can embrace and appreciate the uniquely feminie way God created her and placed her in a home with big brothers that she will likely want to imitate. We look forward to the breath of ‘fair and girly’ air she brings to our family….

And, of course, a few pictures from the hospital….

This one just cracks me up…looks like she already picked up some mad karate skills from her brother.

When we put the dress on her she was not too happy about it. Then once the flower hat went on, she was totally good. I guess she is a hat girl.

For those wondering why we are just now sharing her name, it was important to me that I get to tell my grandpa her name. I didn’t want it to get back to him, so I waited to post it online. We drove straight from the hospital to his house. Naturally (and perfectly) we found him in his favorite place – outside in his garden. This is me introducing Breese to him…

For obvious reasons I won’t be doing daily posts for a while, but I’ll still be posting…..

]]> http://ashleyannphotography.com/blog/2009/07/09/introducing-breese-finley/feed/ 47 http://ashleyannphotography.com/blog/2009/06/08/a-beautiful-family/ http://ashleyannphotography.com/blog/2009/06/08/a-beautiful-family/#comments Mon, 08 Jun 2009 05:04:53 +0000 AshleyAnn http://ashleyannphotography.com/blog/?p=1484 There are so many things I love about photography, but probably the biggest is getting to meet incredible families and individuals….and getting to do special things for them. I met Trinity back in college. We actually were suite mates my sophomore year, but hadn’t seen eachother since. A year or so ago we ran into eachother at a pumpkin patch. Long story short it was my honor to photograph Trinity, her sister and their daughters. I can’t do justice to the story, so I asked Trinity to tell it briefly…..BEAUTIFUL!

“Autumn and I started out to do foster care and foster care only.  We were 2 single girls who love kids and we didn’t want to wait to get married to start to make a difference in the world.  We got M first and the goal was to get her back with her sisters and parents.  Our job, whether we had her for a day or a year, was to equip her with the tools to survive when she went back home.  Circumstances changed and through the next 2 1/2 years, we got M’s sisters one by one….H, A, and S  The state also changed the goal to adoption.  It wasn’t just that we got attached to the girls, but the Lord changed our hearts.  He told us clearly that our job was not to just equip them for the next home, but to make our home their “forever home”.  We also got the privlege to have 7 other children in our home….some for 24 hours and some for 11 months.  People say that our girls are so lucky to have us, but we are the truly blessed ones.  As you can imagine, with a house full of 6 girls, we have the most fun…tea parties when we want, manicures when we want, dresses, dance parties in the kitchen, lots of shopping…as well as the most mood swings EVER!   Two single people can’t adopt together, so we each adopted 2.  To answer the question that everyone is thinking….what happens if you get married?……..WE DON’T KNOW!  What we DO know is…the Lord didn’t bring us this far to just drop us off!  This is what obedience means for us right now, and He is totally in control of our future! “

Because it makes me laugh…an “outtake”

I want to thank the D family for letting me come out to their beautiful land for this special session….THANK YOU!

On a similar note, I would love to point anyone interested to a blog related to Orphan care/adoption/foster care….

This is the blog header….notice the 3 cute guys on the right (an old pic)

Just a couple of notes in regards to the planning aspect of the day:

Venue: Bridle Creek Resort

Florist: Robyn’s Flower Garden (918.486.7161)

DJ: DJ Connections

Caterer: Susan Effron (918.633.9274)

Cake: Icing on the Top

And onto the pictures: A few detail shots – so much goes into planning the details it is a shame not to have pictures! The groom’s cake was the most delicious looking pile of chocolate chip cookies I have ever seen. Really…if anyone would like to bring me some of those in the hospital when little one arrives I’ll be most appreciative!

A couple of preparation details – more pics in the slideshow at the end of the post

Morgan & her girls….& the stunning flowers. The flowers were out of this world beautiful!

Brian & his guys…whom have all served our country in the military. Thank you.

Not much but mist most of the day. As the ceremony began, the sprinkles began and the umbrellas came out.

This sequence kills me. I am already dreading (but excited about) this moment with each of my boys…that last hug before they become husbands. It will be beautifully sad. Then it is onto Brian – a groom waiting for his bride. Finally, Morgan beaming while being escorted by her father (who is looking up at the rain drops that began falling as she took her first step down the aisle).

And finally some shots of the couple….I am going to miss getting to shoot moments like these.

And now a short (60 sec) slideshow of a few more from the day:

On a final little note, I want to thank my husband Chris for shooting so many weddings with me over the last few years. He doesn’t get much recognition, but always keeps me sane during the craziness of weddings. He also always gets lots of great shots and I can depend on him to be where I am not. Many of the pictures in the slideshow are his, but here are a few more of my favorites that Chris took from this wedding:

My guy (obviously I took this one, he did the rest)

Isn’t this a fantastic shot?! If it were my little guy, I would blow it up huge somewhere in my house. So cute.

Since it was my last wedding, I asked him to get a few of me at work…

I am so excited to get to spend this weekend with Brian, Morgan and their families….

you know the wedding is going to be great when the bride wears green heels like these!

Getting ready at Ulta…

With her niece…also the flower girl. Way back in the day (like 16 months or so ago) I did her newborn pictures.

I just really like her face in this one….


Just minutes before the ceremony started…

Squeezing in a few couple shots before heading to the reception…


First dance as husband and wife… (to give credit where it’s due. – this is Chris’ shot )

Earlier in the morning Jeff wrote a beautiful song for Tabitha and surprised her with a performance at the reception. Here she is listening with her mom…

And the slideshow…the reception took place in the Kids Club Theatre…

To begin the slideshow click on the white button in the middle (it’s a bit hard to see)

Thanks for asking us to be a part of your incredible day! – Chris & Ashley

If all goes as planned, come back Monday for the wedding post….

To view their engagement pictures…(CLICK HERE)

Photo Tip: I used Fine Art Textures by Jesh de Rox on the photos above…..it’s a question that always gets asked.

Can you believe she is in middle school….gorgeous.


I think this is such a fun sibling picture…little stud on the side.

I love her smile in this one…