The 3 Minute Workout That Had Us Wiped Out!

Zach and I worked out for a total of 3 minutes, and we were sore for the next 4 days...

Yes, read it again...

You read it right...

No joke. :)

Are we that wimpy? Are we THAT out of shape? Heck no! We just had a good kick-booty workout. Yes, even in 3 minutes.

If you have tried everything to lose weight, or try and stay fit and nothing seems to be working and it's hard to find that time every day to lose weight, then Burst Training might be for you (actually it's for everyone, even kids, but this might be even more appealing to you).

Burst training is highly effective in burning fat (and keeping it off) and retaining lean muscle.

There is the myth out there that in order to have a good, healthy workout you have to be active for a certain period of time (e.g. half hour a day - or whatever). This isn't necessarily true. What's important is the quality of the workout - not the quantity.

Think of a cross country runners body that you see on the Olympics for example. They tend to be more thin and trim compared to track sprinter's body (more muscle tone) - the sprinter's workouts are based on the burst idea - work out for shorter spurts but with great intensity.



Under the encouragement from our friends, Nathan & Jenni Oates, Zach and I signed up to take their Burst Training that they lead, here in the Nashville area. You sign up, do sessions with them and then the coolest thing is THEY EQUIP YOU TO DO IT ON YOUR OWN, so you aren't bound to paying a trainer or going somewhere every time you want to work out.

What are the hangups sometimes to working out?
1. Costs too much (gym membership, trainer, etc)
2. Have to actually GO somewhere to work out (gym, track, etc)
3. TIME!

Burst Training takes care of all of those worries, and you can do it on your own, in your own home!

To read more detailed information on how this workout works, visit Nathan & Jenni's
Burst Training Blog Post. This method of working out has changed their lives.

Nathan is a certified personal trainer and is holding more Burst small-group training sessions. See the below flyer for info!

Open House THIS Wednesday! Cannery Ballroom

Today we are away speaking at Doing Social Media RIGHT, so we thought we would share with you another event we are a part of this week that you should come out to!

The ever-so-cool Cannery Ballroom in good 'ol Nashville, TN is having an open house THIS Wednesday and YOU are invited!!



For more information and to RSVP for this event, Click Here.

See you there!

A Friday Laugh - Baseball & Ice Cream Faces...

One of the BEST things we love about our jobs is the couples who we meet and become friends with.

Take Chris & Holly for example... we met them over a year ago and waited with Holly as she waited for Chris to come back to the states after serving overseas, were SO excited when he was coming home safe & sound, have immensely enjoyed and participated in Chris' movie quotes & jokes, and hip-hopped right along with Holly singing "Wild Thing" by Tone Loc (ok, Zach was doing the hip-hopping... Jody, not so much ;). On their wedding day I think we were one of the most thrilled people to be at the wedding and celebrating their marriage! Ah, you two are the best :)

Anyway, this rad couple invited us to their rehearsal hang out at the Nashville Sounds' Stadium. Even though we were invited as friends and not photographers we couldn't resist bringing one of our cameras and snapping a few pictures :)





The trophy husband decked out to the nines!




Getting to know some of the bridesmaids! Aw yeah!
Zach, blog-stalker-turned-friend, Elaina (he he), new friend Katie & Jody




Playin' some ball...


And for the kicker - Making faces in our ice cream and posing with it... scary, we know.. but yet, too funny... we all were laughing so hard!









Um, by the way... this last photo is a GREAT example of how NOT to use a 16-35mm... unless you want someone to look like they have a man-jaw, which is exactly what Zach was going for... *sighs* ha ha.

EXCLUSIVE offer for Social Media Nashville Seminar THIS Monday!

The Doing Social Media RIGHT seminar is being held THIS Monday and 10 more spots have been opened for a discounted rate!

So some of you you may be thinking, "I'm familiar with Twitter, Facebook and all those other elements. I don't need to come." Believe us - you do! We think that WE are fairly savy, but every time we talk with online guru Christine (point speaker for the event) we realize how much more we have to learn. We challenge you to suck it up and admit you may not know everything there is to know, and come out :o)

Email Courtney Hammons @ courtney@amagicalaffair.com with the promo code: ZachJodyMedia and she will give you the discounted rate and instructions on registering.

For more info on this event you can read our previous blog post!

Zach & I will be guest speaking at this event specifically talking about blogging & website marketing and you won't want to miss it! Christine Boulton from Think Like A Bride, is the featured speaker and we all have a lot to learn from her!

Date & Times: Monday, June 29th, 9:00am-5:00pm
Origianl Cost: $55
Location: Embassy Suites Nashville Airport (10 Century Blvd, Nashville, TN 37214)

Hope to see you all there!

We live in such changing times and the success to your business staying alive is the ability to adapt...

Sneak Peek - Chris & Holly! A Riverwood Wedding

We wanted to share with you all a sneak peek of a wedding we did in Nashville, TN this past weekend for Chris & Holly. Their wedding was beautiful and went so smoothly (thanks to Kimberly, Joyce, and the rest of the staff at Riverwood Mansion). It was such a great wedding to be a part of. Chris & Holly are such a fun & amazing couple to be around!!


Love the cool wedding shoes on the star studded background!


Chris is a Navy Helicopter pilot.


We loved Holly's pearl necklace and great wedding dress!


Holly had some gorgeous wedding flowers too!


Wedding bubbles are the way to go!

Ok, that's it for now! To see a few more images from their wedding you can become our friend on Facebook and peruse through our albums.

If you would like to be notified once all of Chris & Holly's images are available for viewing, click HERE to sign the virtual guest book and you will also receive a gift certificate toward the purchase of images!

Below are a few of the amazing vendors who were a part of making this day! Their work and the venue will be showcased more on the full post of Chris & Holly!:
- The Enchanted Florist did the flowers for this wedding, and they were stellar as always
- Riverwood Mansion is where the ceremony & reception all took place (the women there are amazing!!!)
- Videographer - Allen Media Productions (Sarah is so pleasant to be around and work with!)
- Cake - French Confections
- Caterer - A Catered Affair
- Ceremony Musician - Russell Davis
- DJ - Chris Faulk


Chris & Holly we hope that your honeymoon is a blast and we can't wait to now visit up in your neck of the woods :)

A Friday Laugh... Mini Bowling!

Wednesday night we hung out with friends/past clients/future clients/artists/business women (yes, they are all of those to us), Alexis & Laura and their significant others! Alexis is married to Abdul (whose wedding we shot this past year!), and Laura is to be wed to Jim later this year!! We decided to have a triple date and head off to the Franklin Family Entertainment Center for Mini Bowling (aka Midget Bowling)!!

If you remember, we last posted on this form of bowling late January when we went with friends Amy & Brendon (click HERE for more pics and video of that adventure).



This was a whole new adventure and everyone brought out their best at the 10th frame which you will see in the short awesomely professional video below. We opted out of putting background music in, and you will see why. Make sure your volume is up :)


Fun times had by all! Maybe we'll do another competition and the winner(s) will get to go mini-bowling with us and see our MAD SKILLZ in the flesh!!!!

Lovin' your comments! Still have 2 weeks to go for the Starbucks Gift Card Give-a-way!!

Post 200 Celebration Give-a-way!!

Wow! This is our 200th blog post! Lots of writing, lots of pictures, lots of visits (just reached 30,000 new hits!), lots of views (almost 50,000 - whew!), lots o’ lovin' from all of you awesome commenters (though some of you can maybe do better ;o), and it's been so much fun sharing our lives with you all over the last year!

There are so many of you out there who we have met in person who come to our blog and we're so glad that we've been providing a fun and informative place for you to hang out while you are stuck in front of your computers :) It's been great having the chance to meet some of you self named "blog stalkers" and getting to know some of you a bit!

So, in honor of this 200^th post, we are doing something really special! We want all of you who have been avid readers, those who come by on occasion, and those who are brand new to our blog to leave us a comment (tell us about yourself and why you keep coming back!) AND sign up for our rockin' newsletter HERE (which will have insider behind-the-scenes tips & tricks as well as much, much more). If you do both of these things you will be entered into a drawing and we will send the lucky blog reader a $25 gift card to Starbucks (one of our favorite places to go)! Why? Because we just want to give back the love a little bit, but in the most delicious way possible. Yummy!!

Seriously, leave a comment because we love finding out who you all are and for those who have blogs or a website, we really enjoy following the links and reading about you and your life!

We will announce the drawing winner on our 1 year blog anniversary - July 1st, so you all have two weeks to comment on this post & sign up to our newsletter!

Enjoy the look of this blog while it lasts because we have a little something special up our sleeves that you will all see very soon... He, he, he (that is our sinister, evil laugh).

A Nashville, TN Wedding - Sneak Peek - Autumn & Jeremy!

(I love this shot Jody took of the wedding invitations!)

Two weekends ago we shot the wedding of Autumn & Jeremy at Belle Meade Plantation!! The weather was gorgeous and Autumn was such a relaxed and beautiful bride!

Some of the vendors who made this day happen:
Beautiful flowers were by Rachel Short Designs
The DELICIOUS food was catered by Down South Delights
Coordination of planning & decoration was through One Source Weddings

Enjoy a few of the images for now!!


Autumn had a really cool wedding dress!


The guys did not want to wear their tuxedo jackets because of the heat.


That is the second boutonniere for Jeremy because he killed the first one!




The ladies wore some cool brown bridesmaids dresses.


Love this shot of the Father walking the bride down the isle.



CONGRATS you two!!!!!!! Hope you have had a blast on your cruise!!!!!


Such a fun exit from the wedding at Belle Meade Plantation!

If you would like to be notified once Autumn & Jeremy's images are available for viewing, click HERE to sign the virtual guest book and you will also receive a gift certificate toward the purchase of images!

A Social Media Nashville Conference You Won't Want To Miss!

We are 2 weeks away from the Doing Social Media RIGHT conference brought to you by A Magical Affair! For more info you can read our previous blog post on the event!

Zach & I will be guest speaking at this event and you won't want to miss it! Christine Boulton from Think Like A Bride, is the featured speaker and we all have a lot to learn from her!

Admission: $55
Location: Embassy Suites Nashville Airport (10 Century Blvd, Nashville, TN 37214)

To Register Click Here

Hope to see you all there!

We live in such changing times and the success to your business staying alive is the ability to adapt...

Photoshop Classes from the Pro! THIS July!

For those of you whose initial reaction after reading the title was, "What a second... I thought the Grays don't do Photoshop!" you are correct in that thinking! - WE don't do Photoshop, but we have a fabulous photographer friend who is a Master at Photoshop and she is actually holding workshops to share her tricks of the trade.

Mel from The Velvet Trunk is holding sessions this summer to share with other photographers her knowledge of Photoshop. The fact of the matter is ANYONE can do Photoshop tricks to images, but very FEW can do it well.

Take advantage of this opportunity to learn from one of the best!

For information on classes, dates, rates, early bird specials, and more Before & After pics, visit Mel's Blog.

Below are some Before & After's that YOU can learn to do!

















For some images, the changes are minute (eg. pregnant woman) but make differences. Go to Mel's Blog and hover over the images to see the Before & Afters!

Nashville Engagment Photography Session - Chris & Holly

We first met Chris & Holly over a year ago. They were engaged and planning their wedding for June 2009. The only downside to the bliss they were living in, was Chris was scheduled to be deployed a few short months later :(

Fast-forward to present day and Chris is back safe and sound and we can't WAIT to be a part of their wedding! They have invited us out to their non-rehearsal dinner & celebration at the Nashville Sounds' Stadium and we're excited to meet their families, eat food, and of course enjoy the amazing fireworks at the end of the evening!!

We did their engagement session just a few short days ago and wanted to share a few of those shots with you in honor of their wedding on Saturday at Riverwood Mansion.


We love the local flowers here in Franklin, TN at this time of year!























Thank-you Chris for what you do for our country.

Looking forward to seeing you guys!!!!!!! Can't wait for your wedding!!!