Seriously, thank you guys SOOO much for setting your alarm clocks and hanging out with us so crazy early!! Let's get this party started!
First things first, we have some winners to announce! :) If you see your name listed below for the workshop that you wanted, you can go ahead and go back to bed! :)
First Prize & a seat to the Walk Through a Wedding of your choice: Kathleen Atkins
Second Prize & a seat to the Vegas Lighting Intensive: Cheri Root
Third Prize & a seat to both classes at the What's Next stop of your choice: Ursula Page
Congrats guys!! We can't wait to see you there!! Just shoot us an email & we'll get you set up
** Note that all travel & accommodations will still be your responsibility. Cause y'know, I don't have that many Delta sky miles! :)
Ok, NEXT!! The What's Next Tour website is now officially LIVE and you can find that by clicking HERE !!
And seriously, we just have to pause here for one second to give a HUGE shout out to Miss Promise Tangeman!! We used one of her incredible SiteHouse Design style groups, and we were able to design this whole website in under two days. She is just incredible! If you are looking to design a website for anything, you should definitely check her out!!
Once you head on over, you can just select your city of choice and proceed to purchase your tickets for either my class, Justin's lighting class or BOTH! And when you're checking out, be sure to use the following codes to get the Black Friday prices:
For Mary's class: blackfridaym - $99
For Justin's class: blackfridayj - $79
For BOTH classes: blackfridayjm - $178
The Walk Through a Wedding workshops in Connecticut, The Netherlands, the Dominican Republic, and London are now all also officially open!! Note that we had originally set The Netherlands workshop to be a one-day Walk Through basic, but due to popular demand we are now upgrading this stop to full two day Walk Through status! We are SO excited to hang with you guys & now eat twice as many frites & mayonnaise! :) :) **To purchase a seat to a Walk Through go to the shopping cart at the bottom of this post.
The Vegas Lighting Intensive is looking like it's going to be our most popular item & will likely sell out quickly!! Grab your spot as fast as you can! **To purchase a seat to the Vegas Lighting Intensive go to the shopping cart at the bottom of this post.
We also decided to run a Black Friday sale on copies of The Guide: The Anatomy of the Reverse Sell. Reg. $150, one day only sale for $99
**The Guide is over 50 pages of new ideas, images, and information that breaks out step by step how we went from barely booking in our business, to actually getting to pick & choose our entire calendar's worth of couples. We'll talk about how we got our names out there, what we did to build up momentum when we were just getting started, and everything that we do to give potential couples the ability to decide that we are absolutely the photographers that they have to have with them on the wedding day....or not. And why either one of those outcomes is a win. Just some of the features that The Guide includes are things like our ideal client profile: what we look for in our clients. the top 5 red flags to look for when filtering, 10 easy ways to create more connection on your site, meetings in a box: 4 complete plans for how to set the room, what to serve & booking gifts depending on your brand, the three things we always say in the course of a meeting that allow couples to build the right package for them without ever once resorting to high pressure sales, 3 clauses you should always have in your contract to protect your bookings, our Lexus Theory of Pricing, and our complete a la carte pricing menu with all of our current prices included & more!
Happy Black Friday y'all!! We can't WAIT to see you in 2013!
xoxo
M:)
Socks on hardwood floors
Clean sheet Tuesday
Cooking with basil....because it makes everyone think you're more gourmet
The view from our front porch looking out
But even more so, the view from our front porch looking in
Speaking of, I'm thankful for country music
Taylor Swift and all of her ex-boyfriends
The warm seat heaters in our car
Peppermint mochas and brownie pops
Fuzzy blankets
Yoga pants....Lord knows I live in them
My Grandma Goldie's stuffing recipe....when I'm missing her so much
It's a Wonderful Life (both the movie and that it's a fact)
Holding hands in the car
Hummus sandwiches and black bean soup
God. For every amazing thing flows from Him.
Family. They made us who we are.
Friends. For helping us with who we're becoming.
The cool side of the pillow.
Being told No. It makes the much better Yes's possible.
That warm, safe place in the curve of Justin's neck. It smells like the Art of Shaving...and home.
Random acts of kindness.
Winning the day.
Noxema face cream.
Julia Jane Gargano. And four years of belly laughs and dreaming bigger dreams.
Lemons for my water.
Honey for my tea.
A slow dance with my honey.
The tumbleweeds of fur we can never quite get rid of.
A fluffy golden retriever who likes to photo bomb photo shoots.
Netflix and fourteen seasons of Law & Order SVU
Everybody Loves Raymond- that's just a quality show.
New Episodes of Bones
Old Episodes of Bones
Episodes of Bones I've watched 3.426 times by now.
My life. My living, breathing, healthy life.
The chance to do good. And to leave more than I take.
And You.
You who share your lives with us. Your morning cups of coffee. Or an afternoon lunch in your cubicle. Your hopes, your dreams, your fears, your struggles. Your hearts.
Today especially....I am grateful for You.
Here's hoping you have a Thanksgiving with full bellies & even fuller hearts,
xo
M:)
Today we have something extra pretty for you guys!! While we were out in Napa last month to shoot Cassandra & Jess's wedding, we also got the incredible opportunity to go along with them (and UP with them) to do a day after shoot when they went hot air ballooning. It was one of the most ahhh-mazing things we've ever gotten to do in our lives (even though I totally had visions of plummeting to my death the whole time!) and we owe that entirely to the amazing C&J for making that happen and being so incredibly generous in bringing us along. We have been holding back their wedding from the blog because they are up for publication, but we wanted to go ahead and share this sweet shoot with you now. Enjoy!
Today Justin & I are SUPER excited to finally announce all that we've been working on behind the scenes over here!
As you guys have probably realized by now, it just so happens that this is Thanksgiving week. Which in my world, basically means three things: fighting over who gets the last of the stuffing, those darn pants that must have shrunk up in the washer (I swear!) and..... BLACK FRIDAY! :) Oh yea, and being incredibly thankful and overcome with a heart full of gratitude for this upside down, inside out, always an adventure, never a dull moment, one wild & precious life that we've been given.
So I guess that's four things. Four things that this week means for us. :)
It also means that we're ready to start unveiling some pretty big news.
You see, every year on Black Friday, Justin & I always announce the first few of the dates for our 2013 workshops and open up the seats ( in true Black Friday fashion) bright and early at 5am with some special one day only prices. Well the past few months as we've been planning out what we want our 2013 to look like, we started making some really big decisions about where it is that we want our lives to go and some really big, hairy audacious dreams that we've been meaning to chase. And what we realized is that right now is as good a time as any to start actually making those things happen. :)
So today, in the midst of this Thanksgiving week, I am incredibly thankful (and scared out of my mind) to announce some pretty crazy things that we have planned for 2013. These are some dreams that have been sitting on the shelf for far too long. And we're finally ready to do something about them.
First things first, to kick off 2013 right we decided that we wanted to hit the road and get to hang out with all of you guys in person. So starting on January 8th we are going to be coming to 10 cities all across the country with our "What's Next" Tour. With the help of some pretty amazing sponsors, including Adorama, Showit, PASS, WHCC & The Music Bed.....we are basically bringing the best of what Justin & I each like to teach and combining it into one powerhouse day. So in the first part of the day, I'll be teaching for 4-5 hours on all things business, branding, creating a marketing machine, getting things done, and getting on to dreaming bigger dreams. It'll be a chance to create a clear vision for the road ahead and jumpstart your 2013. Then for 2 hours in the evening portion, Justin will be teaching his "Lighting Basics" where he'll cover on camera-flash, off-camera flash and some of our more advanced editorial setups like what you see below. And the cool thing is, when you sign up you can opt to do either just one class or the other, or combine them both together!
**The seats will normally sell for $150 for my portion of the day and $99 for Justin's lighting portion. But on Black Friday only, you can grab them for $99 (Mary's class) and $79 (Justin's class).
The Cities & Dates are:
January 8th: Los Angeles, CA
January 9th: Phoenix, AZ
January 11th: Dallas, TX
January 14th: Orlando, FL
January 16th: Charlotte, NC
January 17th: Washington, DC
January 21st: New York, NY
January 23rd: Indianapolis, IN
January 24th: Nashville, TN
January 25th: Kansas City, MO
Walk Through a Wedding Workshop Dates & Cities ($1200 regular price/ $750 Black Friday price)
Feb 19th-20th at our place in Connecticut
April 9-10th in Punta Cana, DR
July 3-4th in London (I know! How very unpatriotic of us!)
Walk Through a Wedding-The Basics ($650 regular price/ $450 Black Friday price)
**We'll be taking the best of the two-day Walk Through & condensing it into one jam-packed day of awesome
Feb 7th in The Netherlands
J&M Lighting Intensive ($500 regular price/$399 Black Friday price)
March 9th in Las Vegas, NV
All the seats to all tour stops & workshops will go on sale right here on the blog starting at 5am on Black Friday!! The seats to the workshops are incredibly limited, so if there's one you definitely want to attend be sure to set your alarm clocks early & stock up on coffee. Don't worry, we'll be right there along with you!
So that's it! It's going to be a whirlwind to say the least! We would be honored to have you join us for the ride.
Here's to dreaming big dreams & doing something about it!
So much love,
J&M
**No WAIT! That can't be it! We can't have a mega announcement like this and NOT have a contest to go along with it. I mean. c'mon. So how about this. Leave us a comment in the box below (cheering us on or telling us we're crazy! :)....and we're going to pick THREE winners!! 1st prize will be a seat to a Walk Through. 2nd prize will be a seat to a Lighting Intensive. And 3rd prize will be a seat to both of the classes on the What's Next Tour. (Seats only, travel & accommodations are still up to you) Yea, that works! And....GO!!
The dress was white and lace, and it hung in her sister's closet. From the moment that she saw it, she knew that it was everything that she wanted and needed. And nothing more. She didn't need ruffles and layers. Sequins and beading just weren't for her. She had always said it was because she was a simple girl. But everyone around her already knew....it was because hers was the kind of beauty that was its own adornment. The kind of grace that never goes out of style. And right now, the only thing missing was him.
The day was white and gray, and it hung in the air as if it too had been invited for the occasion. From the moment that he saw her, he knew that she was everything that he wanted and needed. And so much more. She wasn't the kind to be the center of attention. Fanfare and fuss just weren't for her. He had always heard her say it was because she was a simple girl. But right then, with everyone around them, he already knew...it was because she was the kind of girl who could change your whole world quietly without you even noticing. The kind of love that takes over when you aren't even aware. Until you finally realize....
The only thing ever missing was her.
Married: Krissy & Stephen
Krissy & Stephen were married on the perfect gray New York November day that is the stuff black & white dreams are made of. They were surrounded by 27 of their closest friends and family, as they stood in front of the City Hall Park fountain and promised a lifetime of soft spoken memories together. And a love that doesn't need to be fancy to be forever. K&S I can't tell you how much we loved being there with you as you start this life together. What you trusted us with is an honor. And what you stand for is an inspiration. My hope is that you will love like this always....quietly and fearlessly and without question.
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