I love a good secret! Two years ago Chris contacted us with a plan... he wanted to give his wife, Lesley, a surprise gift for Mother's Day. We arranged to have a photo session on the sly with Chris and their then two year-old son, Grayson, then put together an album from the shoot. Grayson waddled in to his Mom on Sunday morning carrying his present and I think Chris subsequently won the "Husband of the Year" award. This year Chris and Lesley's little girl, Reagan, has just turned two and so we planned another secret photo session. We were so happy to meet Reagan, see Grayson again (now four) and capture the relationship of a Dad and his children, all the while being sneaky and helping to create a truly beautiful and thoughtful gift.

Here are a couple photographs from my picnic. There are a few more on my blog ( yeah I know - finally a new entry on that one! )

Off to Florida! Back in January when we photographed Mary-Margaret and Brooks' e-session, I just knew we were going to have a fabulous time with them at their wedding. They are such a fun couple and it was just a perfect day. Florida weather was beautiful, Thallo Floral Design transformed the Melbourne Yacht Club into a candlelit wonderland, and the evening ended with such a festive exit (oh I'm a sucker for sparklers). It was our first time working with Kate Hall, who did such an amazing job planning the day - we so look forward to another wedding with you, Kate!

And so the season begins! I always love the first wedding of the year after a winter of album designing and being indoors all the time. We had our fingers crossed for good weather on Rachel & Ryan's wedding day and it turned out to be warm & sunny - yes! Rachel & Ryan opted out of a big wedding, deciding instead on a beautiful dinner ceremony at L'Antibes with their immediate families. This left us with a leisurely afternoon for portraits beforehand, which I love because we don't have to rush things. We even managed to capture a moment with their new little fuzzball, Bernie, who was most definitely a camera ham. Congratulations, Rachel & Ryan... we had such a fun time with you and your families and are honored that you chose us to celebrate the day with you!

I know, I know, it's been almost a month since we were in DC for the inauguration, but it's taken me awhile to think about my experience there. Better late than never, I've finally written about it and gone through my images from the trip. Read the full post on my personal blog... http://claudiaretter.squarespace.com.