I first met Stacy about three years ago when she hired me to shoot her October, 2005 wedding to Howard. Stacy and Howard live in Leland – on the south side of Wilmington. Stacy was a dream to work with and it was fun getting to know her. But as it happens with most brides, we lost touch after I delivered the wedding pictures. When she called a few weeks ago asking if I could take family portraits, I learned that Stacy and Howard had an addition to their family . . . Reagan, a beautiful year old baby girl. Since I was going to be at the beach on vacation, we decided to meet one night and do the portraits while I was in town. Stacy didn’t want beach pictures so we did some brainstorming to come up with a nice place to shoot that was close to me and not too far for them. We decided on the New Hanover County Arboretum, an exquisitely beautiful garden that’s open to the public from dawn to dusk. I had not been to the Arboretum in over a year and had forgotten just how beautiful it is.

This is Stacy. I believe Stacy looks younger now than she did when she married almost three years ago.

When Stacy came to Jacksonville for her bridal portrait, she brought her step-daughter, Kennedy. Kennedy was a strikingly beautiful little girl who was sweet, kind and helpful. It’s hard to believe how much she has grown up in three short years. And she’s still absolutely gorgeous.

Stacy warned me in advance that Reagan is extremely bashful – and that she might even cry if I looked at her and made over her too much. So, I started out just sort of ignoring her until she got used to me. Reagan was not bashful at all during our portrait session. She had just learned to walk – and there was no holding her back. She was EVERYWHERE – and so proud of herself.

I’ll show just a few pictures of different family groupings. We took a lot of pictures and I’ve barely begun the edit, but I’m very pleased with what I’m seeing so far. All of us were a little concerned that we wouldn’t get good portraits since Reagan was so active. But, she was a happy active – and that makes life so much easier.

I enjoyed spending time with Stacy, Howard, Kennedy and Reagan. I hope to see them again, soon.