Happy Labor Day weekend to all! We are looking forward to the long weekend and spending some fun time outside. Even though I enjoy the holiday, I always have mixed feeling about the arrival of September. Technically, summer is over and cold weather will be here before we know it. Yet, on the other hand, September brings another birthday celebration! At this time 19 years ago, we were awaiting the arrival of our younger daughter. It doesn't seem possible.

We want to welcome Lindsay and Stephen to our family of brides and grooms! They will be joining their lives in January at the Albert Pike Hotel in Little Rock. What a beautiful place for two beautiful people. We will be shooting engagement pictures in September which will then be posted under the EVENT LINK on the website.

Zack's Senior pictures are finished and loading tonight, so check tomorrow to see a very handsome young man in Army National Guard uniform!

What a great start to the week! Beautiful sunshine, summer temps and a bride and groom planning their summer wedding for next year! We welcome Ashlie Morrison and Jonathan Heird into our family of brides and grooms. They took a few minutes to share their story with us and July 4th has a number of special memories for them. That was the date they met then got engaged and then the natural thing to follow would be saying "I do" on the next July 4th, so that is exactly what will happen. Ashlie and Jonathan, we are very excited to be a part of this special event! We are looking forward to getting to know you well over this coming year! Congratulations to you and we wish you all the best.

Last week on Thursday, we spent the evening with Amy, her parents and Justin's mom and friend taking bridal portraits at The Little Rock Manor House (http://www.littlerockmanorhouse.com/). Anne Jarrard opens her home for events, weddings, and brides! It is a beautiful location and Anne is a very gracious hostess. We hope to do business with her many more times in the coming months. Amy has 2 dresses. A gown for her wedding at Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs, which will not be revealed until the wedding day. And, what she calls her goddess dress for her reception and party in Benton following the wedding. She said that we could post these because Justin has seen this one!

Don't you think she looks like a goddess?

We certainly think so!

The rest of Amy's bridal portraits will be available for viewing after the wedding on the Event Link from our web page!

We have spoken to several brides this week about weddings in 2008 and we are so excited about each of them! They are beautiful and we can't wait to add them to our website.

More sneak peaks to come in the next few days!

This evening, we had the privilege of meeting Zack Ware at Laurel Park, here in Conway to take senior pictures. This is a young man that knows what he wants and began his military training this summer. He takes this endeavor very seriously, as well he should. Here are a few of our favorites...
and with his sweet girlfriend, Amy...

Not everything was serious! We played some too...

The rest of Zack's images will be posted soon at http://www.millersalbums.com/?m=81087!

The first fall bridal fair hosted by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, this past weekend gave us a wonderful opportunity to visit with many excited brides and grooms as they began deciding on vendors that they want to work with over the coming year. It is always a fun atmosphere when you get that many brides and grooms in one place!

We want to extend a special thank you to Lauren and Joe Ramirez and Natalie and Dillon Banning for giving their Sunday afternoon to join us. They are 2 of our brides and grooms from the spring and they did a great job answering questions and offering help to new brides and grooms that stopped by.

2008 is shaping up to be a year of beautiful brides and handsome grooms on our calendar! We are excited to work with each one of you as you prepare to unite your lives on your wedding day. It is a story that we look forward to telling.

I love summertime in Arkansas! I know, it is hot, no rain, and miserable to those that have to work in the heat, but I still love summertime in Arkansas! Here it is, 7:40 in the evening and my Weatherbug still is red with a reading of 101. Sounds like it might be time for a swim? Ron and I took a little time this afternoon to enjoy the waterfall and warm water of the pool after a frenzied week of preparations for this Sunday's Bridal Fair.

We are SO excited to meet the young ladies that are looking for vendors to work with them over this coming year as they plan one of the most important days of their life. These are such important decisions because if personalities do not match, the bride will not be happy. She has enough stress to deal with when things run smoothly, so, to add to that stress with mismatched personalities...oh dear. We love telling the story of each step of the process. It certainly has its obstacles, but if we can make that road a bit smoother and capture chapters that will help her relive the fun moments again and again...the stress will soon be forgotten.

Lauren and Joe will be our featured bride and groom this Sunday. They will be there to speak first hand to prospective brides and grooms about their experience with us. We met Lauren last fall at the bridal fair. When we got home on Sunday evening and checked email, we had a sweet note from her asking for a time to come and discuss things further. We knew from the start that we were a good match! She and Joe were super fun and have such wonderful families that it was easy telling their story from start to finish. Please take time to stop by and say hello!

We will be at the State House Convention Center in Little Rock, Arkansas this Sunday, August 12, from 1-5:30. We will be offering product give aways and package discounts for those that book on Sunday.

Lauren and Joe's wedding album came in this week and they will have it at the fair to share with you.

Kim and Patrick's Storybook Engagement album arrived a couple of days ago. Kim and I had talked the day it came in, but they were not able to come until this evening to pick it up. She and I decided that it was like Christmas with gifts right in front of you that could not be given or opened yet. We had a hard time waiting! She has graciously agreed to allow us to bring it to the fair to share with you! Bless her heart. :)

This coming week proves to be equally busy. August is a big birthday month in the Rader household. So in addition to several photo sessions, we will have birthday celebrations. Birthdays are a big deal to us. We can't celebrate just one day...it must LLLAAAASSSTTT.... We are thankful for each day of life and we want you to know that you are a very special part of that life!

We hope to see MANY of you on Sunday! Please stop by and say hello and tell us that you saw the information on the blog. Have a super weekend and enjoy the last few days of summer.