the session: maria and brennan tie the knot!

You know how they say that rain on your wedding day is good luck? Well Maria and Brennan will have a lifetime of good luck! After much anticipation and planning, their special day came and along with it, we had a DOWNPOUR of hurricane proportions right as we were getting ready to go the beach for portraits!

In no time flat, Brennan’s mom was on the phone to local area hotels to see if they could accommodate us so that we could take some portraits inside. Well, the Inn on Fifth graciously offered to let us shoot there and WOW! What a fantastic journey that was!

Maria was ecstatic that we ended up shooting at the Inn on Fifth. The infamous Naples hotel provided the perfect backdrop for her elegant look and the images speak for themselves. I want to extend a gracious thank you to the staff at the Inn on Fifth. Rene and I spent our honeymoon night there and we can’t recommend them enough. If you are ever in Naples and want true attention to detail in the heart of old Naples, this is the place to stay!

Thank you Maria and Brennan and congratulations! You have a wonderful journey ahead of you and the support of a loving and beautiful family. Thank you for giving Rene and I the opportunity to be a part of that very perfect day!

~Astrid~

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the session: welcome baby annie rose!

The second installment of the Kaplan’s Baby’s First Year project is here! It’s with very happy hearts that we welcome Annie Rose Kaplan to Naples! Joining the session was Annie’s sister Emily and her mommy, Melissa. I don’t have to tell you how incredibly beautiful this little girl is…just look at her mom and sister! Wow….three girls!! Congratulations Melissa and Jarred!

Girls are awesome! :)

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the session: mommy-to-be Melissa & the girls

I had the distinct pleasure of starting a Babies First Year project with Melissa and her beautiful family. This is the first installment of the session: the maternity session. Since Melissa has two daughters, we decided to include them in the session as well.

I’m sure I don’t need to state the obvious, but Melissa’s little girls are absolutely ravishing! Just look at those eyes….they surely have their mom’s eyes and beauty! And Melissa had great energy and looked as fresh as a daisy at 8 months pregnant!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with our Babies First Year package, we offer a year long session, which is broken down into smaller sessions: maternity, newborn, 4 months, 8 months and 12 months. All of these magical moments are captured photographically and then custom designed into an heirloom album!

Look for our new portrait website launching soon! It will include our new galleries and plenty of information on our fantabulous Naples Babies First Year session!

Special thanks go out to Melissa, Emily, Kate and soon-to-arrive baby for letting me capture a bit of your family’s most perfect day!
~Astrid~

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the session: congratulations to the riddle’s!

Here they are! It took us a little longer than expected, but here is a very small sampling of Erica and Tanner’s fantastic wedding!

This beautiful couple tied the knot at the Community Congregation Church here in Naples. The bulk of our weddings usually take place on one of Naples’ beautiful beaches, so it was wonderful to shoot their ceremony in this lovely church. I love church ceremonies and I especially love to photograph them!

Tanner and Erica’s reception took place at the picturesque Spanish Wells Golf and Country Club in Bonita Springs. What’s my favorite thing about this venue? The fantastic hall of columns right outside the country club and the fountain out front! What a GREAT spot for fab portraits of ravishing brides!

The reception area is very spacious and comfortable with a highly attentive staff and an ever-accommodating coordinator. And the food: FAB! Joetta, thanks so much for being such a wonderful host to the bride and groom, their friends and family, and to us as well! This was our second time shooting here and we can’t wait to shoot here again!

Congratulations again to Erica and Tanner! We wish you many years of happiness, peace and love.

~ Astrid and Rene ~

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the session: welcome baby aiden!

Congratulations Bonnie and Aaron! Bonnie and Aaron had beautiful and healthy baby boy, their first, just over a few weeks ago. Welcome to the world, baby Aiden Palmer Thayer! I shot Bonnie’s maternity images, which you can see just below Aiden’s gallery, and let me tell you, Aiden inherited his mom’s good looks and patience! What a fantastic little model! Not a peep out of Aiden except when he was hungry of course, but who can blame the little guy!

Aiden really found the clicking of my Nikon’s shutter incredibly interesting. He would strain to look in my direction the entire time. So he really made my job easy. What can I say….I have the BEST job passion in the world! Thanks Aiden and mom and dad and congratulations on your first baby! You are in for an incredible journey!

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the session: first-time mom-to-be Bonnie!

I’ve been going to rug-rat related classes all over Naples and one of my all time favorites is the Kindermusik classes at the Philharmonic. Bonnie is the director of education at the Phil and I had the pleasure of doing her maternity session along with some portraits of her and her husband. Oh, and yep! There’s an awesome portrait of their kitty, too.

Bonnie is not only a beautiful woman, but she has the most perfect baby bump I’ve ever photographed! Talk about glow…Bonnie, you make pregnancy look GREAT and so eays! Congratulations to both of you….and thanks for another perfect day!

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erica and tanner say I do!

Getting married is certainly one of the best ways to have a perfect day!

Erica and Tanner tied the knot just 3 days ago here in beautiful Naples, Florida….and everything was picture perfect. What most captivated me about the images once I started to pull these teasers out was the emotion that quickly became visible in most of all the portraits we shot of them…..look for more in a few days!

Congratulations guys….definitely another perfect day!

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