Ashley McCormick Photography {The Blog}: 2008

Dec 31, 2008

Happy Birthday to Me & Happy New Year!

Hello everyone!! Today is my birthday and I am feeling extremely generous. I love that my birthday is on New Year's Eve, I feel it's a great way to start another year of my life - fresh and now 23! As my gift to you to ring in the new year, I have a few photo give-aways that are oh so lovely. But to win one of these, you have to either nominate yourself or someone you know who would love nothing more than to have awesome photos. Here are the rules:

1. You can nominate yourself, family, friends, or anyone else you know. Whoever you nominate should be incapable of purchasing my services. *being unable to make payments on your Chateau in France doesn't count - must be a sincere financial need*

2. The nominee must reside in the Central Florida area, or at least be able to come to this area for their shoot.

3. You must email me the reason why you (or whoever you choose) should be nominated. The full story! I will choose the winners based on the nominations. Please provide contact emails for both you and the person you nominate. My email is ashleymccormick4@yahoo.com

Give an awesome gift this new year, or possibly treat yourself! Please specify in the email which gift you are wanting to give or receive.

And now for the Give-Aways!!

(1) Kids Session! Children under 10 quality, and we'll even sneak the parents in for a few :)

(1) Senior Session. A teen graduating from High School this spring of 2009. Being fun is a must!

(1) $50 Gift Card - keep it or give it away!

And now for the big prize..... drumroll please!!!

(4) Newlywed 'Trash the Dress" Sessions. Brides, whether past, future, photographed by me or not, I am giving away 4 sessions to 4 awesome couples. I have had so much fun in my shoots recently, I just want to do more! If your wedding is in 2009, we can plan the session for afterward sometime. The special requirement for this one - send me your love story, how you met, how you think your future together will be, or how it already is. Inspire me to choose you!

Don't forget to email me your nominations!
Nominations will close January 10th,
and the winners will be announced January 17th!

I hope that everyone has an awesome New Year and a rockin 2009. I know that 2009 is going to be awesome for me and my husband (Both finishing school!! Holla!) and that my job will be even more amazing. I am so excited for all of the shoots I have already booked, they are all going to be incredible.

So Happy 2009 everyone and I'll see you next year! ;)

Dec 27, 2008

Olyvia & Matt : Sneak Peek

Late night post, after a long day, but I had to just post these two! Such a gorgeous couple, such a beautiful wedding, I cannot WAIT to edit all of them. Their wedding wraps up all of 2008's weddings for me! After 22 weddings, it's been an absolutely amazing year. And Olyvia & Matt's wedding was the perfect finish. Congratulations you two! More photos to come soon!

Way too fabulous for their own good. I love back-lighting!

Dec 22, 2008

Kara & Aaron : Sneak Peek

Yesterday I photographed one of my oldest friend's weddings. I've known Kara since the 3rd grade! I just had to share a few images from their First Meet. My new favorite thing is when a couple sees each other before the ceremony. There is so much magic and love!! Congratulations you two! Soooo many more beautiful one's to come!

Not even prompted. He did this on his own. *sigh*

I cannot wait until our Trash the Dress! They were awesome!

Dec 16, 2008

Andrea & Stuart : Wedding

Just after Thanksgiving I got to photograph the fabulous wedding of Andrea & Stewart. I had never met either of them before their big day, so I was really excited to meet them! I had looked at their venue online, but the photos did not even COMPARE to the awesomeness what was the Baughman Center. The Baughman Center is located on UF's campus in Gainesville and is the perfect place for a wedding (Gainesville brides, please consider! I want to come back here!) Their wedding day was so perfect, the weather was awesome and the light was gorgeous. I could've taken a million photos in the santuary if they would've let me! But.... the Bride & Groom do need to get to their reception :)

Andrea only booked me for 3 hours, but in that short amount of time, everything came together perfectly. The excitement that Stuart was radiating over seeing Andrea was awesome. And she was just as excited!! They were both so ready to be joined together as husband and wife, they couldn't stop smiling. They were so in love, and their venue reflected that perfectly.

Thank you, you two, for allowing me to be a part of your gorgeous wedding and to capture your new lives together. I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful Thanksgiving weekend!

I loved this moment of him straightening his tie, just before the ceremony

In love. Can me and my camera live here? Please?

Hooray for Florida fall! There was a little of it in G-ville!

A UF wedding wouldn't be complete without the Gator chomp!

Hey it's Penelope! And the gorgeous couple :)

Meet Penelope

Hi Everyone :)

Meet Penelope. Ashley McCormick Photography's first ever mascot. Penelope will be helping me with promotions, announcements (which we will soon have a lot of!) and daily thoughts. As some of you might know, I have an obsession for fat little birds, so Penelope seems like a perfect fit for me! She might change colors based on the season, but she will be here to greet you and hopefully perk you up :)

So please, say hello!

Dec 8, 2008

Satabria, Ariel & Piper : Sisters

I loved photographing these girls. Ariel & I reconnected after over 10+ years of not seeing each other. We used to do children's theater together when we were in elementary school, playing random characters in "Alice in Wonderland" and other kids shows. Ariel found me again, not knowing who I was (since my name changed when I got married) but I definitely remembered her name! How many Ariel's can there be in Lake County? I was excited to do the shoot, and see her again, we always had a fun time together when we were little.

Her sister was going to be home for Thanksgiving, and wanted some family photos done. And just like the Cantrell's, they hadn't had photos done in years themselves. I had so much fun with them; you could really tell they loved each other (and their mom!) and they made each other laugh. We also did their shoot in downtown Mt. Dora. Here are some of my favorites from their shoot!

Kevin, Kelly, Spenser, Falyn & Tori : Family

A few weeks ago I got to photograph the Cantrell family. The Cantrell's were famous when I was in high school, the girls always playing sports, and were great at them, and the family was always super involved. The girls have always been gorgeous, so I was really excited to create some great family photos for them! The last time they had photos done was when their youngest daughter was a baby - 15 year ago! So it was definitely time to update.

We did their shoot in downtown Mt. Dora, such a great location for photos. Take a look at some of my favorite shots!

Dec 7, 2008

20,000 Hits!

20,000 hits on the blog! So awesome!! I wanted to thank everyone for being so supportive of me and my business, without all of you, I wouldn't be here! You rock!!

Leah & Chris : Wedding {Themed}

Leah & Chris' wedding was the first ever themed wedding I had ever been to. It was so much fun! They started off the day completely traditional, had their ceremony at Mission Inn, her in a white dress, him in his military blues. The day was beautiful, clear skies, gorgeous sunset. Everything was perfect. But after the ceremony was over, I was asked to go photograph the ballroom before the guest arrived. I had no idea what I was about to see. They didn't even tell me about it! The entire ballroom was "The Nightmare Before Christmas" themed: Chris & Leah's favorite movie. All of the center pieces were made by them, and each was from a different scene from the movie. They had the movie playing on projector during the reception, and their cake was incredible. I can't even tell you about it, just see the photos below. Julie, from Cut the Cake Inc. designed and made their cake - she is awesome.

But no Halloween themed wedding would be complete without costumes and Thriller. That's right. Costumes. After their first dance, the couple disappeared for a bit, and came back announced as Jack & Sally. They were absolutely adorable. The rest of the night they danced and had a blast, and the room couldn't have been more perfect. Bryan Taylor of Complete Media Group DJ'ed the night and also had professionally lit the room. Seriously, there is nothing better. It made their photos awesome! All of the walls were lit, and would change colors throughout the evening. Perfect for a Halloween wedding. And I can't forget, the whole thing was put on by the awesome ladies at An Affair to Remember.

As an added bonus, I made a collage of all of their goofy faces. Seriously, this couple was hilarious. They made faces at me all day. Even during their ceremony! Some of their guests got into it too! I had such an amazing time, thank you Chris & Leah for letting me be a part of your one of a kind wedding.