Phoenix Wedding & Lifestyle Photographers | Session Nine Photographers

Ryan + Alex | Gender Reveal

Session Nine — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:15:14 +0000

If you’ve followed us for any amount of time, you probably know that we work with local stylist Alexandra Evjen with AVE Styles A LOT. She brings magic to our photo shoots and any chance we can work with her, we do. Her hubby Ryan is pretty amazing too. What you most likely don’t know, is that we’ve known these two since BEFORE they got married. Since before we were professional photographers and since before Alex was a professional stylist. Alex and I used to get coffee and sit and talk and LONG for the day that we could be artists full time. The fact that we get to do it together now, is seriously a dream come true. Alex is one of my (Jess) best friends. One of those friends that will be a lifelong friend, for sure. So can you imagine how excited I was when she called me to tell me that her and Ryan are going to be having a BABY??? Holy moly, we can’t wait to meet this little one!

We were so stoked when Ryan + Alex asked us to do a little photo shoot to help them announce the gender of their little one. Creative as always, Alex had the idea to use pink and blue ice cream from Mary Coyle to show whether it was going to be a boy or a girl. Such a cute idea. So we met there for the photo shoot and she finally got to tell me in person what she’s having!! And since they have already announced it to the world, Jason and I are SO super excited to share that she IS having a baby GIRL this September. I’m pretty sure I jumped up and down while hugging her upon hearing this news. But I would have had the same exact reaction had she said she was having a boy. Truth be told, we are so excited that they are having a healthy little BABY. This little girl is already so loved and is seriously going to have the BEST WARDROBE EVER. Check out the sequence of photos that we shot and that they used to announce to all of their friends and family, that Baby Evjen is going to be a beautiful little girl! Man oh man, I can’t wait to snuggle her.

After our shoot, we all grabbed dinner at The Vig afterwards to celebrate as good friends. Have you ever been there?? Whoa that place rocked. Definitely a great double date spot, for sure.

Congrats Ryan + Alex! You two are already the best parents ever. I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM, WE ALL SCREAM FOR A…. GIRL!

Can’t wait guys.

Working Together

Session Nine — Mon, 14 May 2012 22:23:39 +0000

It’s always awesome to look back on some of the shots WE make it into during our sessions and have a good laugh remembering exactly what was going on in the moment. Sometimes I forget that we sometimes unintentionally document what WE are doing behind the scenes a little bit too. We are pretty blessed to work together. It’s not always easy. We don’t always agree (imagine that!). BUT, it’s pretty rad that we get to spend our lives together doing what we love, meeting seriously cool people who are up for anything.

Be on the look out for more posts like these. We have plenty more photos from where these came from.

Allie | Lifestyle

Session Nine — Tue, 01 May 2012 16:00:12 +0000

Allie brought out the big guns. And by big guns we mean being freaking awesome in front of the camera and totally being up for anything. This girl has joy and cool factor neurons pretty much oozing out of her pores.

She also brought along some items to her senior session that meant a lot to her, including some musical pieces and family heirlooms, and together we found some beautiful places to incorporate them all, which made the afternoon with her genuine and truly her. Her sister Megan even jumped in on a few and it was so cool to see what an awesome relationship they have together.

Allie is part of the student ministry that we serve in and help lead at our church, so it’s been such a rad time being able to be around her infectious personality for these past couple of years. We’ll be sad to see her go when she goes off to school. BOO. Hooray for school. BOO for good friends moving away.

We gots mad love for you Allie! The world is literally your oyster and it’s like you’re the world’s greatest oyster hunter. You’re for sure going to make a fantastic impact, whatever you put your heart into. :)

Allie….

Welcome Home Eli

Session Nine — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:00:09 +0000

You may have heard us talk about our friend Mike Olbinski before. He’s a fantastic photographer and colleague of ours and he and his family have become very dear to us. We’ve gotten to know them rather quickly over these past few months and have watched their own story evolve in such incredible ways. And a very important part of their story all came down to THIS special day. On April 12th, Mike & Jina asked us to be there to document the finalization of their adoption of their darling little new baby boy, Eli. This little man stole our hearts almost immediately! With that full head of dark hair and cheeks as chubby as they come, Eli is the perfect addition for their family.

So we met up with the Olbinski’s in downtown Gilbert before the hearing began to do a quick session with them as a family of four. Then we got the opportunity to follow them into the court room to watch them, under oath, promise to commit their lives to taking care of this little boy. Eli slept the whole time until all of their friends and family cheered after it was finalized, when he was jolted awake. But we never heard him cry. Perfectly at peace in Jina’s arms, this little man belongs to THEM. What an amazing experience. We have grown to deeply love the Olbinskis and are SO excited for them and their newest addition.

And now that it’s completely official… Welcome home Eli. You have the most amazing family ever.

Paul + Jessica | A Wedding Story

Session Nine — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 16:51:34 +0000

We met Paul & Jess in a Starbucks last summer and we got to learning about them quick. How both of them had really sort of been through the “relationship ringer”, as they say, and were in a season of just wanting to be single for a while when their paths crossed. Paul’s best man, Adam, connected them and at first they were reluctant to even meet but finally gave in.

And oh how that giving in turned into something so sweet.

Paul shared their story of the night he asked Jess to be his wife, and how he involved Jess’s two young daughters. It was the best. His love for Jessica and her daughters was emanating from him.

We spent several evenings over laughs and food, talking and dreaming about their upcoming day together. And then just like that it was here. Her aunt’s home was alive with raucous, celebratory family conversations as they all prepared to witness Paul & Jess wed. As night fell, the party got even louder and more joyous. There was even two spot-on renditions of Justin Beiber’s “Baby” and Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” to really top the night off well.

And as Paul & Jessica sped off into the horizon, new husband and wife, we again noticed how warm and bright and alive the house seemed, even as the guests had all but dispersed. “Your home was perfect for today. And we felt so relaxed and at home ourselves here, ” we both told her aunt.

It was indeed a pretty phenomenal place for a wedding for these two. And it was a pretty phenomenal day overall.

Here’s some of that day in pictures. Paul + Jessica….

The Alleys | Lifestyle

Session Nine — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:24:17 +0000

The Alleys are some of our BEST friends. To say that we love them would still be a huge understatement. These three are special people to us and we love spending time with them whenever we can. Caelynn, their second little bundle of joy is due to arrive any day now! We can’t wait to celebrate with these three when she does. I (Jess) have been asked by Cody and Andrea to be in the delivery room to shoot their birth, like I did for their first, Linnea. What an honor. I can’t wait until its time for me to rush to the hospital to meet baby girl #2.

Cody, Andrea, and Linnea, you three are so special to us. We love you tremendously and can not WAIT to meet Caelynn. Maybe it’ll be today!! I know you’ve got your fingers crossed.

The Alleys…

Ryan | Lifestyle

Session Nine — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:28:58 +0000

We had been excited about this shoot ever since Ryan asked us to so a session with him for his Senior photos. And after a little brainstorming hangout together, we decided to head up north for this shoot. WHAT A FUN DAY. We got to spend the whole afternoon with Ryan up in the woods and it was such a blast. This kid is the real deal. He’s funny, a blast to be around, musically talented and has a heart bigger than anyone we know. Ryan has faithfully served alongside Jay in the high school group at Scottsdale Bible Church, always ready and willing to play drums for various venues that Jay leads in. He’s amazingly talented and we’ve loved getting to know him over the past couple years that we’ve been at SBC. And while we are SO sad to see him graduate high school and leave the youth group, we are stoked for his future ahead.

Check him out. Mr. Ryan Hubner….

The Gokees | Lifestyle

Session Nine — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:25:54 +0000

Just about a week before we did this photo shoot, Jeff & Patti had just found out that their youngest son, Cooper, was diagnosed with Leukemia. We watched the whole thing unfold via Facebook and immediately began praying for them. We have known Jeff & Patti for several years now. I (Jess) used to work with Jeff and both Jason and I have spent a great deal of time with them. We were devastated to hear about Cooper’s diagnosis. When Jeff contacted us wanting a photo shoot, we of course were up for it! We squeezed them in pretty quick onto our calendar because Jeff & Patti wanted to have this shoot done before Cooper’s hair falls out, due to the chemo that they’ve already started. And we couldn’t wait to spend some time with the four of them.

And just as we expected, this family came to the shoot in positive spirits, smiling faces and joy in their hearts. These people have a faith that could move mountains and trust in a God that is bigger and better than anything else we could ever put our faith in. When asked how they were doing, they both kind of just shrugged. You could obviously see the fear, uncertainty, and the pain from the entire previous week. But an unexplainable joy and peace STILL exuded out of them. We spent the afternoon with them joking about all kinds of things, cancer included. Cooper came ready with his boxing gloves to signify that he is READY to kick cancers’ butt and to get rid of it. He had some fun with that with his older brother, Ben, and we had some pretty hysterical laughs!

This is an amazing family. We HATE that cancer has infiltrated their lives. But we are praying every day that he is healed and that God is glorified in his story. That some day, Cooper will be able to look back on his life and say that cancer WAS a part of his story. And that he conquered it and has been healed completely.

Check out, The Gokees…

Jake + April | A Wedding Story

Session Nine — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:15:21 +0000

Jake + April actually met when they were kids, believe it or not! Their parents and families used to vacation together throughout their childhoods, so their paths crossed many times. It’s amazing to think that neither of them knew or probably even considered that they were going to eventually, one day, marry one another. It’s such a great story.

Throughout their engagement this past year, we’ve been able to watch all the details for their wedding day come together. It was always a blast to hear about all different things that they envisioned and had planned for this day. And their wedding was GORGEOUS. But at the end of the day, we could tell that what BOTH Jake + April REALLY couldn’t wait for, was to be husband and wife. To celebrate with friends and family and to start the rest of their lives together. They are a perfect fit together. We had an amazing time celebrating with them.

So without further ado… Jake + April…

TJ + Andi | Engaged

Session Nine — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:57:44 +0000

And was the perfect spot for this fabulously engaged duo, TJ + Andi. The Hotel Valley Ho was built in 1956 and renovated more recently than that. This mid-century modern landmark was the perfect mix of playfulness and style that we were looking for, for this shoot.

TJ and Andi met us there a couple of weeks ago ready for anything. So we spent an entire afternoon roaming all over these seriously cool grounds. We even took advantage of the awesome beach cruisers that they have available to their guests! And, FYI- did anyone ELSE know about the AMAZING rooftop we stumbled across there? That was a pretty sweet find, we think! We had a great time hanging with them and getting to know them and their story better. They are tying the knot this upcoming October at The Duce in Downtown Phoenix. We are SO excited to be apart of it and we know it’s going to be incredible. For now, we’ll let the images speak for themselves.

Meet one of our seriously rad couples, TJ + Andi…