Melissa and Brandon lucked out with a gorgeous April wedding here in Cincinnati.  The weather was as perfect as could be!

Brandon was looking quite debonair.

The girls pin a hankie onto Melissa, that has pieces of her Grandfather’s old ties appliqued on to it. It was a beautiful memento.

My buddy Chloe (who you may have seen here many times) is the niece of the bride, and was a gorgeous little flower girl.  :)

The gals!

The guys!

There was a beautiful little covered bridge beside the church.

One of the sweetest things about this wedding was the fact that the Groom’s Grandfather, was his best man.  Brett got some cool shots of them together which I thought was very special.

Walking down the isle….

Another AWESOME thing at their wedding was the get away car!!

Would you believe me if I told ya this was Marilyn Monroe’s white Cadillac that was a gift to her from GM?

YES.

Entering the reception.

A few shots at sunset together…

See the boots??  She is a “Coach” lover, and found them at a store recently and said, That is what I am wearing!!”  I thought it was cute for her April wedding.  :)

First dance.

Thank you Melissa and Brandon for everything!  You were so kind and welcoming, and we had a great time with you both!  Hope the honeymoon was wonderful.  :)

All the best,

Jess + Brett

I am so excited to show you what has consumed Brett and I for the past year!!  We have spent countless days, week, long hrs into the night when the kids were sleeping- not to mention we have had some great help from friends, on FINISHING OUR STUDIO!!

When we bought our house 3 yrs. ago, we were moving from a condo with three kids, and we loved the space we had available to spread out, and the finished basement was so cool!  The previous owners had a huge game room with a pool table, foosball table, the works.  When we moved in, it was a big empty room.  A big empty room that soon became a house for all of our junk/the kids toys/our home school area.  It began such an uncontrollable wreck I didn’t know what to do or where to begin.  I actually took these first two photos of the basement to send into “Real Simple,” to ask for help…..but then of course, I never sent them.  :)

I am a bit embarrassed to show you these, but you would never fully appreciate how far we had come if you didn’t see.

Kinda boring.  Kinda gross.  Kinda outdated.

And here it is NOW!!!  New lighting, new paint everywhere, new furniture, canvases, prints….YIPEEE!!

This is now our studio/client lounge. :)   Much more updated right?

When you walk downstairs you are greeted by this beautiful face.  :)

Here is our main area…

We also have this little seating area as well.

This is the kitchen/bar area which got a HUGE makeover!!! This area was such an 80’s eyesore that left up to me, I would have ripped it all out.  Brett convinced me to work with what I had (and so did our budget) and I have to say I am kinda proud of my ingenuity.  :)

Especially proud of my bar which was cream formica from the 1980’s, with cherry wood trim.  I did a “faux” stone look.  I like it!!!

And the bathroom…..wow. I wish I had a photo to show you what it looked like before, but alas, I never had any reason to take a photo of how ugly it was.  Let me tell you, it was HOT in the 80’s!!!  Like RED and BLACK splatter paint HOTNESS, with all brass accessories!!  I kept the matching trash can as a memento – I should have taken a photo of it, but I didn’t.

Isn’t it pretty now???!!

So, if you are a bride of mine, most likely we will meet in our client lounge at some point.  :)