S. Carter Studios

One thing I truly love about weddings is the food, namely the Cake! My sweet tooth cannot be denied and on days when I do weddings I don’t have to think about what I eat because I need all the fuel I can get. So I’m happy today to get to share about my great friend Jim’s business, Jimmy Cakes! Jim whom you’ve seen before, with his beautiful wife Alisha, is one of the most creative people that I know! I have benefited from his creativity several times and encourage you to do the same! He makes homemade cakes, cupcakes and pies. It’s 100% from scratch and he’ll even go organic for you. Recently he let me help by letting me make the icing for some cupcakes! INCREDIBLE. I think anyone who has had a Jimmy Cake would be happy to attest to the sheer tastiness involved in the experience! I encourage you to follow his blog so you can see even more wonderful creations and read a little about the process he goes through to make them!  Now, please be impressed by photos of some of his work. Be sure to read through the bottom if you’re a Lynchburg resident because there may be a special treat in store for you if you comment on this post!

Jimmy Cakes will provide goodies for all types of events: birthdays, bridal showers, weddings, baby showers, rehearsal dinners, holidays and even if you just really want some incredible cake.

A Potterific cupcake cake.

This cake was made for my Josh’s 25th birthday! Go Dawgs!

Homemade peppermint mocha cupcakes!

The texas cake from Stephen & Leslie’s wedding!

The newest and my personal fav: The Grenadenhaver cake (happy-you-had-a-baby-it’s-a-boy-and-also-your-birthday-cake)

This is just the tip of the flavorful iceberg my friends! I love to hook my friends up so it’s time for a little give-a-way. Please comment on this post explaining which of these cakes is your favorite and why. Your name will be entered into a drawing for a dozen free Jimmy Cake cupcakes of the flavor of your choice! You must be a Lynchburg local to be eligible to win this giveaway! The winner will be announced with next Thursday’s take a look post!

This is Beth. We’ve been friends for six years, which if you know me, is pretty impressive because I moved a bazillion times in my life making it difficult to keep friends for longer than a few years. She was a wonderful source of inspiration for my wedding and she’s all around great friend to have. She recently moved to NY for a job opportunity and we thought it would be a great idea to try out version 1.0 of our photo booth. Our signature photo booth is a new launch for 2010 and we’re excited about bringing an opportunity to our brides to capture their guests as crazy as they actually are! The booth will also be available for parties! Contact us for more info! In the mean time, enjoy some photos from Beth’s booth.

I cannot take credit for the props, they were Josh’s idea mostly, with some help from Ashley’s musical storage! Here is a picture of me (well, my arm) and my loving husband. He’s the best.

Today I met Kaydence Grace (about 10 hours old now) and Wyatt Mitchell (about 2 weeks old now). I didn’t do much work,  my dishes didn’t get done and I wasn’t able to put away all my laundry but I got to spend time with real, wonderful people that I love. It was a very good day.

I’m not sure if you can feel it on days like today (Noah may be floating past my house some time soon) but we’re on the verge of a beautiful spring season. Now, I know, verge might be a bit of a stretch but I’d like to start ringing in the Spring with a celebration of Love. It’s fitting that Valentine’s Day is just three weeks away. So, I’d like to make it easy for you to surprise your special someone or someones (or nudge them to surprise you) with an S. Carter Studios Love Is In The Air mini session. I’m happy to help celebrate dating love, married love, the love between parents and even sibling love. I’m just a sucker, a lover of loving love if you will.

The session fee for our special is $40 and will come with an online gallery of your images. Sessions must take place on Thursday February 11 between 2 and 4 pm or Saturday February 13th between 1pm and 4 pm, contact us to get priority scheduling! We look forward to celebrating with you!

Oh I do love, love. It’s the most wonderful, exciting, inspiring and beautiful thing. There are two things that I’ve really hoped to be a part of : a live proposal and a wedding: as a bridesmaid. God has given me two in one as Angi and Solomon got engaged in December! I posted about them earlier but here is a slideshow I made to a Dave Barnes diddy that shows a lot more of the process and event!

Solomon & Angi – Perfect Proposal – S. Carter Studios from sabrena deal on Vimeo.

I’d like to introduce you to Kyle and Kristin. Well, you probably already know Kyle, he’s oh so famous. Yes, his face and sweet drum moves graced the jumbo screens at Liberty for several years. Really, I like to give him a hard time. We went to Brasil together, I know, there were 18 of us, you’re bound to read about many more of our teammates, just like you have about Julie, Naomi, Collin, and Travis. Kyle, Collin and I shared a few special memories when Kyle severly sprained both ankles and Collin and I carried/dragged him half a mile in the Brasil heat. As you’ll be able to tell from this post, he’s recovered well and God’s given him a beautiful wife-to-be in Kristin. She’s wonderful and a great match for him. I hope you enjoy these photos as much as we did taking them!

I wracked my brain over and over trying to think of something special to do with these guys. I was thrilled to find exactly what I needed just an hour before the shoot was scheduled to begin: two 1970’s Samsonite suitcases, his and hers, delivered to the DAV just one day before. Perfect! We got some crazy looks as we hauled them around but I’ve got to say that they were worth it! Also, please note their matching shoes!

I love when a shot you have in your mind comes out exactly as you hoped it would!

We did not haul them everywhere, I promise.

A short cameo for Kristin’s ring which a friend aptly described as a bracelet for her finger. It’s big, beautiful and sparkly, aka every girls dream! She said it was a perfect combination of all three ring types she’d looked for. I’d say, “well done Kyle.”

Another fun fact about Kyle and Kristin is that they are getting married on mine and Josh’s 1st anniversary. March 13 is a lovely day to tie the knot!

Another familiar face for today’s catch up post: Elijah. If you have time you should read this post to find out more about him and his family but in a nutshell he’s God’s gift to Ed and Carrie who love him very very much and adopted him over a year ago! I photographed him in May and was glad to chase him around this December as we attempted to get him to smile! He’s such a serious young man but when that gap toothed smile shows up he’s all little boy! Enjoy!

I first met the Chiens in 2007 when I took their wedding pictures. It was a joyful, beautiful occasion that I can still remember well. God saw fit to give them another bundle of joy in their son Stephen who just recently turned one. We met for a mini session and I’m excited to finally share the results with you!

Love this facial expression!

What a handsome and loving family. Thanks for inviting me back into your lives to capture these new and precious memories!

It’s been so hard to hold onto photos until after Christmas! I took these photos of Cole and Lydia, both of whom I had the pleasure of seeing shortly after their debut into the world. Yes, they’re the Parks kids, the most photographed family in my life. But hey, I’m okay with that. If you knew them, you’d understand! Enjoy these photos of their super crazy session.

Cole was about 2 months old when we took these photos. I’ve got to tell you, he’s quite a charmer. I was greatly distracted by his smiles and big blue eyes today in church!

Lydia is a force to be reckoned with! During the shoot she tried to climb the retaining wall and made a cozy seat in someone’s water run off.

The goal was to get some of the two of them together and I’d say we more or less accomplished that!

There may have been some bribing with marshmallows and chocolate chips.

This is one of my favorites.

I love this look on his face as Lydia leans forward to touch him. The hesitant and slightly scared face of a younger brother. Classic.

We’ll polish off this post with a look at the smile Cole flashes his mom. I am pretty sure I’d be toast if I had him hanging around all the time. I’d be content just to sit and stare.

It’s been one of the most highly anticipated moments since Ross and Rachael kissed on friends, since n since New Moon came out and I would venture to say even more anticipated then the coming World Cup. Solomon asked Angi to marry him. Angi is one of my very best friends and favorite people. She’s a good part of the reason I didn’t go crazy while I was planning my wedding and she stood next to me on the day I said my vows. Solomon was one of the first internationals to win me over during college and his friendship has been steady and faithful as we’ve both gone through a couple of Bachelors and Masters degrees! They’d been dating for about 3.5 years across two continents and both had plans to serve full time at Global English School in Bangkok, Thailand as of next year. BUT he hadn’t asked her to marry him yet. I was spinning my wheels trying to be discreet about letting Solomon know that I would love to be there for them in any way to help facilitate the event. It may have been primarily selfish but I just really love them and knew how special that moment was going to be! You can imagine the girls-only-reach-this-pitch scream I let out as he called me last Tuesday night to let me know the ring was on its way and he’d pop the question on Thursday if it came in before. I prayed my little heart out and God must have heard the prayers of mine and of many, including Angi, because the ring came in and the plans were set! Solomon’s brothers, our friend Sam and I went out to West Manor to get things together. And then they came. She was blindfolded and pretty sure she was about to get a puppy, not a ring.

She was pretty confused and disoriented, until he got down on one knee.

Naturally, she got down on hers and enthusiastically said, “Yes! Of course I’ll marry you.”

There was lots and lots and lots of hugging and laughing.

And, a beautiful sparkly ring of course.

I talked them into letting me take a few shots of them around the location. I mean, you really only get one engagement day!

It’s perfect for her and fun to hear her discover all the places that diamonds are extra sparkly, like in the snow.

I love that I got to be there and see them being so ridiculously happy.

Team engagement photo:

Angi was there when I got engaged, listening through a thinly insulated wall and I am so glad I got to be there for her in the middle of nowhere in the cold weather! Love you both!

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