Greer and Kyle: Arden Photography

May 11, 2012

Congratulations to Greer and Kyle on your engagement!

Who’s ready for the fall and winter weddings? 🙋‍♀️ Me that’s who! It’s hard to think about sweaters and football when it’s 100 degrees outside but I know we are all ready for crisp mornings and shades of fall. I love summer when it comes but I love to see it go too. BRING ON THE FALL WEDDINGS!

Good morning ☀️ there’s a lot going on this week. Lots of photoshoots and then headed to my favorite home away from home Palm Beach! I’ve always been a sunshine loving girl and I’m excited for photo sessions and weddings in the sunshine state. What destinations do you love? If you could plan your engagement portraits or weddings for anywhere... where would you go?

It’s time to sign up for back to school minis. Who wants to schedule a mini session? I’m doing 2 locations. The Botanical Gardens and the Zoo!

This is my favorite picture today! I’m so in love with this. I’ve always wanted a sister to grow up with. Someone with the same childhood memories. Shoutout to all the only kids though!

It’s time to sign up for back to school minis. Who wants to schedule a mini session? I’m doing 2 locations. The Botanical Gardens and the Zoo!

This is my favorite picture today! I’m so in love with this. I’ve always wanted a sister to grow up with. Someone with the same childhood memories. Shoutout to all the only kids though!

This story has been moving millions around the world. Tahlequah is every grieving mom. Day 10. The Mama Orca is still carrying her baby. She literally can not and will not let go of her precious baby. The female orcas are now taking turns helping the Mama Orca carry her dead baby across the sea. . . so the grieving Mama Orca can eat and rest. If only every parent grieving the loss of a child had this kind of support, space, honor, reverence. The whales are literally surrounding and uplifting this mama, helping to carry the weight of her grief. Is there anything more beautiful than this kind of love and support when someone is deeply hurting? This is grief. This is love. This is true, compassionate grief support. THIS. This is how it should be done. Sadly this is not the kind of grief support the brokenhearted usually receive from our grief illiterate culture. : : : The orcas are showing us how it should be done. Step in. Show up. Lead with your heart. Don’t tell us (or imply) that our grief is not that heavy (of a burden to bear.) Help us carry it. Feel our broken heart. Let it break you open. It’s supposed to. Let’s carry each other’s burdens. Grief shared is grief divided. We need you– more than you know. Literally step in, show up, and help carry the weight of grief. It’s far too heavy for one person to carry alone. The female orcas in the pod are literally carrying this mama’s 400 pound dead baby across the ocean, with her and for her. Wow. What an incredibly powerful example of truly being with someone in pain. I have never before seen such a beautiful display of solidarity. Of community. Of compassion. Of love. Of companioning. This is how it’s done. This is how we need to support our grieving, heartbroken friends. For as long as they need. : : : My wish is that every grieving person in the world would feel THIS supported, loved, held– carried. It pains me to know this kind of grief support is not the norm. We need to do better. We can do better. We MUST do better. Grieving people long for the kind of grief support the Mama Orca is receiving. It’s all we really want. Besides having our child back with us. We want someone to acknowledge and validate

I often reflect on the weddings I photograph and the people I meet through weddings. The people I know but get to know so much more deeply through one day. I think about them for years and have made a number of incredible long lasting relationships through the simple act of thoughtfully capturing their wedding day. To me this is an irreplaceable feeling. Something to hold on to. I have an uncanny way of remembering a very specific moment from all my weddings and recalling their wedding date without hesitation. For this particular wedding I remember so many more moments. I think it’s because we were neighbors before or that we had so many friends and activities in common. Sarah made it a point to make me feel special during the wedding weekend. It was my birthday and anniversary weekend. She allowed me to have William as a guest at the wedding and wished me happy birthday in a big way during her reception. I’ll never forget this day.

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Love this mama mare 😍

Styled shoot and Portfolio Build! One day intensive. Come learn with me. I’ve been doing this for 20 years and it’s my passion to start sharing what I’ve learned over 2 decades with you. If you want to do beautiful wedding photography and build a career that will be sustainable this is the workshop for you. AUG 22 10-5 in Birmingham. DM with questions or link in bio to book.