Sneak Peek: Eli & Ashley Carol

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Last week we did an engagement shoot for this awesome couple who we are so exciting about shooting their wedding next year!

Enjoy this quick sneak peek photo we have for now until we post some more images up!



Don't they look so great together?? Stay tuned for more photos!

Lighting Workshop This Weekend!

Photographers - Just a reminder that this coming weekend we have the Bridal Portraiture Photography Workshop happening! We are super pumped about this and it's going to be a great learning time regarding lighting, composition and styling. We have a studio rented at The Factory in Franklin, professional hair and makeup artist (Sherita Leslie), and models lined up. This is an all day event including lunch. Evan Baines is the other photography genius we are partnering with, and it's going to be great!

We have had two spots become available, so if you are interested contact us immediately.

Wine and Weddings

We had the privilege of shooting a really cool wedding out in KY at the Talon Winery the week before last for Amando and Laura! They are the sweetest couple you will ever meet and even though we had 30 to 40 mph winds the whole day, they still pulled off a great event! Check out a few shots from the day and then take a look at the slideshow.

Introducing Reynaldo & Janina

Coming this February, we have the pleasure of capturing the wedding of a great couple - Reynaldo & Janina coordinated by none other than Courtney Hammons of A Magical Affair. Janina is probably one of the sweetest people, and her and Reynaldo seem like the perfect fit for each other.

Some of you football sports fans might recognize our soon-to-be-groom. Even though he happens to be a celebrity of sorts in the sporting world, he's definitely not too cool to do a photoshoot with his lovely soon-to-be-bride. 'Naldo and Janina are both kind, genuine people and February can't get here fast enough...

Enjoy a few photos!









Can't wait for your wedding, you two!!

A Deeper Look into Patrick & Sabrina's Wedding!

Enjoy the slideshow of Patrick & Sabrina's wedding! If you missed our earlier blog on their fabulous day, just scroll down to previous posts!

Gaze upon our lovely logo as the slideshow loads... :)

We’ll be home for Christmas...

Rather often Zach and I get emails (or FaceBook messages :) of Michigan people asking us when we will be in town next so we can do a shoot of their family, kids, friends, or we have some couples who had really horrible wedding photos and want to get dressed up again and get some awesome new shots.

Well never fear, Michiganders! Zach and I are coming home to Michigan for Christmas and we are working it into our time at home to be available to schedule in some Lifestyle Sessions.

These Lifestyle shoots are $1,000 and you normally receive:

• Anywhere from 2-3 hours of hanging/shooting time… sometimes more
• Both Zach and Jody shooting
• Personal online viewing and ordering gallery
• Non-stuffy, non-cheesy, non-generic, high quality photos that capture your family

However, in honor of Christmas we are going to include an 8x12 Gallery Wrapped Canvas Print (*continue with blog to see what this exactly is) with your Lifestyle Session. We might even shoot you a few web sized photos to email around to family or put online and brag about your kids :)

Of course, there are many other options of items you can additionally order (albums, Christmas cards, prints, digital images, etc.)…

*Note: You do not have to be located in Michigan or set up your shoot around Christmas to take part on what we are offering. You can schedule your session now in preparation for Christmas cards, gifts, etc. :)

Enjoy a few photos from some Lifestyle Sessions!

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What is a canvas?
Our canvases are handmade in California and can be ordered in any shape and size up to 100”. The images of your choice are printed with the highest quality archival inks that will never fade or discolor. Your canvas is then hand crafted around a custom frame continuing around the sides for a beautiful print that is ready to hang on your wall with no additional framing needing. Canvas prints are perfect for filling any size wall space with a clean, modern look to enhance your home.

Zach and I have a 30x40 canvas on our bedroom wall of ourselves and we love it!

What is a Lifestyle Album?
These flushmount albums are characterized by a seamless center and storybook layout that evoke class and style. Tear proof, water proof, and warp proof, with scratch resistant covers and pages, our album company makes albums endured to last.

We would love to come and hang out and photograph your family. Shoot us an email at info@GrayPhotograph.com and we can schedule your session!

Can't forget about the Car!

So maybe we already gave you a glimpse into the very cool wedding of Joel and Michelle, but it wouldn't be exactly complete if we didn't share these two more photos with you...

This get-away car was a surprise Michelle planned for Joel! Isn't it great?

And now we will leave you with one more photo of our lovely bride...

Tyler & Sarah and Joel & Michelle

What a packed wedding weekend!

Saturday evening Tyler and Sarah were hitched! Consider this a sneak peek for now because there are so many awesome moments to blog on! This wedding was coordinated by Gail Vandygriff, and her associate Kathy, was such a calming joy to have there running the day! The beautiful flowers were done by Vicki Sanders of Branching Out Floral & Event Design . The reception hall was gorgeous. It was elegantly lit by Nashville Event Lighting and we will have even more photos of that to show soon!

On Sunday Joel & Michelle were hitched at the awesome venue CJ's off The Square. Amy Parmen is fantastic to work with there, and we highly recommend her and CJ for any of your wedding needs (they also own and run Williamson County Weddings & Events as well)!

Congratulations to both of you guys! Stay tuned for wedding slideshows!

Two Couples Tying the Knot!

Another jam-packed weekend ahead of us!

SATURDAY
We are really excited because tomorrow is the wedding of Tyler & Sarah!!! Talk about a very sincere and kind couple. We are so pumped to attend their rehearsal tonight and then their Big Day tomorrow. Sarah is going to look so gorgeous!

Here are a few of their engagement shots from their Lifestyle session a few months back...









SUNDAY

This day brings together the lovely Michelle & Joel at the great venue - CJ's off The Square right in downtown Franklin. Joel is actually a photographer himself so it's awesome that they entrust us with their day.

Stay tuned for photos and have a great weekend everyone!

Congratulations Sabrina & Patrick!

We had the awesome privilege of shooting Sabrina & Patrick’s wedding on Saturday at the Belle Meade Plantation! It was most definitely warm the earlier parts of the day, but the weather was absolutely beautiful come the evening. This wedding was coordinated by the lovely Alice Hendry. Talk about a woman who is great at making sure all the special details of your day are in place!

Enjoy the pictures!

I want to take a moment here and show you one of the many cool advantages of having a 2-photographer husband and wife team. Because Zach and I have our different styles we love to shoot in (Zach with the stylized big lighting, and myself with the natural lit, candid photos) a bride and groom get a great variety of awesome shots from candid moments to close up detail shots, while Zach is shooting far and big!

Here is a Zach shot:

Here is what I took at the same time focusing on some details and her candid moments inbetween:

Zach shot:

Jody shot:

And onto more photos...

One last image before I end this post, which most definitely calls for commentary... Something about Zach, which I can't fully explain, is he is a kid magnet when it comes to weddings. He has such a great way with kids, and they seem to sense it, and they love him... ESPECIALLY the girls.. including one of the adorable flower girls of this wedding.

The first dance between the bride and groom has begun and I hear laughter to my right... I turn my head... and this is what I see...

As Zach was down shooting the flower girl came right up to him, put her arm around him and began stroking his head! It was the CUTEST thing in the world! So glad I got a shot of that... Zach the ladies man! lol...

This really was a great wedding. It was very evident everyone was enjoying the fellowship of each other celebrating the marriage of these two great people. Thanks again Patrick & Sabrina for allowing us to be a part of this!!

Date Night!

Besides photography, something else Zach and I are really passionate about is marriage! We realize that nothing else can be more important than the relationship you have with your spouse. Not a job, career, hobbies, sports or EVEN kids or a ministry! Your partner is numero UNO (that would be "one" for those who aren't sure what that is :) and out of that relationship will flow everything else. Marriage isn't just about fun and games but is also about making lots of little efforts along the way...

We decided before we got married that we would set aside a night each week to be our Date Night. This would be a time to just hang out and have fun and invest in each other. We have been married for almost 3 years and we still do it! Sometimes we get crazy and do extravagant things, or go to Chuck E Cheese (yay Skee-ball), or rent a movie and popcorn. It's fun and so important!

So quite a few months ago instead of investing the money we had coming in, we decided to "stimulate the economy" with part of the stimulus checks we received and buy some bikes!!



His and Hers Schwinn bikes... awww...


Please notice my awesome memory foam seat cover!! Woo hooo!


And of course, one needs a backpack to carry one of our spiffy cameras to take pictures!


All that to say - we enjoy incorporating our bikes into our date nights! We biked to one of our favorite drink places...



...and had a nice time just getting away from work and chilling with each other. Of course we had to stop and take some shots....



I tried to get Zach take a shot of me lying on the ground next to my bike like I hit a tree or something, but he wouldn't go for it... *sighs* I guess that's not very "romantic" or "date like."

Anyway, it's definitely nice to put the rest of life on the back burner for a few hours an evening a week and just chill and have fun! I love being married, but it definitely takes work and making lots of little efforts all along the way.

Interns: Decided!

So the applications have flowed in for our internship (which we think we will technically call "apprenticeship"), and we have made our final choices! We have decided on two great people and will introduce them in a further blog. There were some great applicants, and no worries if you didn't make it this time - we will be doing this again in the early Spring! Thanks to all who have applied!

And once again, I have to post this picture in honor of our eager to learn apprentices... :)

Stay tuned for a few pictures from our Saturday wedding! Might have them up later this afternoon/evening!!

Weddings, Flies, and Daniel & Jaclyn!

Whew! What a whirlwind of a weekend!



First we had Patrick and Sabrina's wedding at Belle Meade Plantation which was SO great and a lot of fun! What great family & friends that they have....

Then it was off to KY early Sunday morning for Amando & Laura's wedding at the Talon Winery...



While you wait for us to get together some more photos from those two events, we thought we would share a little bit more of our fun Lifestyle shoot with Daniel & Jaclyn! It is appropriate that we bring the attention to this awesome couple today because it is Daniel's Birthday!!!! HAPPY HAPPY DAY TO YOU!!!!!

Ok, onto the photos now - a special birthday present just from us :) Amid the heat and flies, we had fun and got some GREAT shots of them while shooting in downtown Franklin and in Pinkerton Park!





Zach testing the lights on me... What a great, natural smile :) ha ha...


This is a prop Daniel used when he proposed to Jaclyn... naw, not really.










Zach is really most comfortable shooting on the ground... I swear.... You have no idea how many shots of him I have of him lying on the ground. He's has shots of me mostly crouching down... I'm not so big on the possibility of people stepping on my face thank-you-very-much. That's the great thing about being a team - he takes care of the lying on the ground shots and I'll shoot from above!





And lastly, one of my favorite shots of them!


After the hard work of modeling and rolling on the ground we all hit up one of our favorite places to go - MOE'S!!!





aww.. special... We can't wait for your wedding, Daniel & Jaclyn, so hurry up and make December come faster!!

New Slidehow Teaser!!

Since we will be shooting all weekend we thought we would give you avid blog readers something to look at while we are working our tiny booties off. A little something special for Britt and Allison who got married at Carnton Plantation in Franklin, TN.

We love you guys!

T.G.I.F. - The Fun Weekend Begins!

Wow. This is weird. It’s Friday night and we have no where to be. We are Nashville wedding photographers with no wedding to shoot, no rehearsal to go to, no client friends to hang out with, no coordinator to chat with… what to do? HANG OUT WITH JUST EACH OTHER!!!

Zach and I are going to venture out this evening on our spiffy bikes seeing what adventures we can have and then relaxing to prepare ourselves for the rest of the weekend…

The Agenda
Saturday, Nashville, TN (Bellmeade Plantation): Patrick and Sabrina are getting hitched!

Sunday, Richmond, KY (Talon Winery): Amando & Laura are getting hitched!

Keep your eyes peeled for some weekend wedding pictures and pray for safe travels!

And They Lived Happily Ever After...

A few weekends ago we had the honor of shooting Colin & Katie Brooks' wedding in good 'ol Nashville!! It was fabulous in so many ways. First of all, it was coordinated by non other then the awesome Angela Proffitt. Listen brides - you will never, ever regret the decision to have a coordinator for your wedding - even if it is a coordinator for just the day of. Angela and her team are AMAZING, and we highly recommend them. They know what they are doing!

So back to the wedding - Colin & Katie are finally hitched and we wanted to share the day! First, they invited us to the rehearsal dinner and here is myself, Angela, Katie and Zach - photo compliments of the lovely Katie. I guess the color of choice that evening was black :)

Here are just a few shots from the day to entice you to watch COLIN & KATIE'S SLIDESHOW at the end of this blog!!

Doesn't she look gorgeous?







This is something that we are going to start doing more, so let us know if you like it!

Click the play button to view

CONGRATULATIONS Jamie & Louisa!

We are super excited to present to you the newly married Jamie & Louisa! They had an AMAZING wedding and you could tell they spent a lot of time putting all these personal touches into their day!

Congrats you two!!





Always have to have the cool guy shots...








We loved how Jamie & Louisa took advantage of the customizable M&M's for their wedding!



Jamie & Louisa's wedding reception took place at the Embassy Suites in Franklin, TN.

We are so glad that we were able to be a part of your day!! Congrats to you guys!!

Destination: Tennessee State Capitol

So we were thinking about it the other day, and realized that we had yet to blog on one of our amazing couples! Meet Lee & Elisabeth!

These two are such a great pair, and something we really like about them is they are so kind and very sincere. They are having a fall wedding and they are putting so much time and thought into their day - it’s going to be amazing!

We had the privilege (thanks to Lee’s mom) of shooting their Lifestyle session in the State Capitol of Tennessee!

Lee and Elisabeth looked amazing, and it was really cool to be shooting in such a historic place.

Check this out – bullet markings from the civil war!

Thanks Lee & Elisabeth for making us feel so welcome and a part of your lives! See you again soon!

Engagement Shoot - Franklin, TN

This evening we had dinner and a Lifestyle engagement shoot with our great new friends Jaclyn and Daniel at Pinkerton Park in Franklin, TN. Their wedding is in December at The Factory (also in Franklin, TN), and we can't wait! We had a blast hanging out with them tonight and now we are ready for bed! But, we just had to post one shot (our favorite thus far!) from the session to hold you over until we post a few more later on :)

You guys are the best and we are down for Italian and a movie soon!!

Thoughts of Compassion

When we originally began this blog, we wrote that it would look into who we are not just as photographers, but as people! So below I want to introduce you to a little special person we have known for the past few years, and a story that touched me as I (Jody) was reading tonight after our time with the oh-so-fun Daniel & Jaclyn.

Ever since Zach and I have been married we have sponsored a child through Compassion International. Meet Ocni from Indonesia! Coming up on October 11^th, she will turn 9 years old. We write to Ocni and receive letters in return, and it’s fun to get her updated picture every year.

We received a book (Too Small To Ignore) written by the President & CEO of C.I., Dr Wess Stafford, who was raised in a village in West Africa. Last night I picked up the book again to continue reading, and this story really struck me last night so I thought I would share, especially with the Olympics still so fresh on our minds.

To catch you up - Compassion International’s mission is “releasing Children from poverty in Jesus’ name.” One chapter shares, “at its very core, poverty is a mind-set that goes far beyond the tragic circumstances. It is the cruel, destructive message that gets whispered into the ear of millions by the enemy Satan himself: ‘Give up! You don’t matter. Nobody cares about you. Look around you: Things are terrible. Always have been, always will be. Think back. Your grandfather was a failure. You’re parents couldn’t protect or take care of you. Now it’s your turn. You, too, will fail. So just give up!’” (p 184).

Dr. Stafford contines to write, “One of my favorite stories of the power of child sponsorship didn’t happen in the realm of my organization; it was some other effort whose name I have lost. But to me, it epitomizes the wonder power of a concerned adult to change a child’s life. In this case, it was a British schoolmarm who sometime around 1970 began to sponsor a little boy in Kenya. Every month she sent her modest check. But she did more than that. This teacher understood child development, and she could tell right away by his early letters that he was trapped in hopelessness.

“Dear Sponsor,” He wrote in the beginning. “Here is a picture of me. You can see that I am not very handsome.”

His British sponsor smiled warmly and wrote back, “I think you are wrong about that. I have your picture on my desk. I look at you every day, and I think you are very handsome.”

The next letter from Kenya said, “Well, thank you, but you can see from my report card they sent you that I’m not very smart. I’m so sorry.”

Again she smiles. “Well, I promise that you are as smart as God wants you to be to do whatever he wants you to do,” she wrote back. “Just do your very best!”

In time this little boy began to sense that his sponsor actually believed in him and was committed to him. He was eight years old when he sat down and wrote, “Guess what I just learned? I discovered that I can run faster than anyone else in my classroom. There are five of us and I am the fastest!”

Knowing how important the taste of success is to any child, but especially to a child living in poverty, the woman wrote back, “Well, it is good to be good at something. I’m proud of you. Be the best runner you can be!”

The little boy listened to her and began to run. A few years later a letter came that said, “Guess what? I now run faster than anyone in my whole school!”

Her reply came a few weeks later, “Wow! That is really something. I am so proud of you. Keep on running and be the best you can be!”

The years of their friendship rolled by […] The lad remembered her words of encouragement and ran everywhere he went: to the store, to church, to school, and back home again. Soon he was winning community-wide races. In time as a young man he sat down and penned this letter to his now-aging sponsor: “Guess what now! I run faster that almost anyone in, not only my community, but all of Kenya. In fact, I have made the Olympic team!”

With tears glistening in her bespectacled eyes, she bowed her head and breathed a prayer for her young Kenyan friend. The year was 1988, and the Olympics would soon be held in Seoul, South Korea. She watched the news reports eagerly.

The day came for his long-distance race. She sat glued to her television set back in Britain, watching for her young man. And when the exhausted racers crossed the finish line, she wept as he captured the silver medal. Her sponsored child, who originally had felt he could do nothing, had grown up to impress the entire world.

Soon news came that the young man’s route back home after the Olympic Games would include a plane change in London. He couldn’t go home, he said, without first seeing this dear lady. When the day came, this lanky Olympian had to stoop to get through her cottage doorway. There before him, in a wheelchair, sat his champion.

He stood for a moment with tears filling his eyes. Then the handsome young man held out his Olympic medal by its ribbon. “This is for you,” he finally managed to whisper.

“Oh, no, no, no,” she exclaimed. “I got to watch you run this time on television. You were right all along. You were so fast! I am so proud of you. I am so very proud of you!”

“No, stop,” he gently interrupted her. “If you hadn’t believed in me when I was eight years old, if you hadn’t told that little boy to run, I never would have accomplished this. This is your medal. This is your victory.”

[…] I am absolutely convinced that each and every child is lovingly knit in the mother’s womb with the gifts, talents, and potential to accomplish great things – if only given a chance. Every child matters to God. Once that child, through our intervention, comes to understand and believe the awesome truth, the cold fingers of poverty are pried loose once and for all (p. 193-195).

I don’t know why I exactly felt compelled to share this, but what an awesome story!! It’s such a great reminder how important it is to believe and support one another, especially children, and change can begin - one person at a time.

Douglas Wakiihuri

For those who made it through this post – I commend you :)

Big Day Tomorrow

Meet Jamie & Loiusa-

Tomorrow is the big day for this awesome couple who we have had the privilege of getting to know over the past 9 months. These two are super fun and a blast to be around and really love each other a ton! Their excitement is infectious. Here are some of their engagement photos that we did a few months back.

Enjoy the engagement photos and look for some of the wedding shots soon!! Congratulations you guys!!







We love being wedding photographers!

Late Night Lifestyle Session. Meet Jeremy & Autumn!

Last night Zach and I headed downtown Nashville for a lifestyle engagement session with Autumn & Jeremy! They really wanted a downtown night shoot and whenever a couple has a strong idea of what they want their images to look like, we are all about it! The shoot was a blast and we have a bunch of great photos, but here are a few to hold you over.





We may have gone into areas that we shouldn't have necessarily been in... but look at the cool photos we got of the two of them!! There are so many photos of couples on the walking bridge - we thought we might take a different approach and shoot kind-of under the bridge. At least we all weren't hurting anything and no one fell into the water!



Autumn and Jeremy You two are the best and we can't wait for your wedding next year!!

Introducing: Jerry & Meagan

Hope you all had a great weekend and an awesome Labor Day! On Friday we had the privilege of hanging out with and shooting some engagement photos of Jerry & Meagan in Nashville, TN! We had fun watching them interact with each other and capturing their moments. They compliment each other so well and we are pumped for their wedding which will take place at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens! Enjoy!