Fireproof

Today was so sooo much fun! I went to my new church for the second time since I've lived here! And love it more and more every time! Afterwards I headed out to eat with my new awesome friend Shannon McFarland who I met a couple weeks ago at the Free to Succeed Tour out here in Nashville! Shannon was a trooper as she drove all the way from...Alabama(I get that and Arkansas mixed up a lot...so I hope I'm right about that lol!) to meet up for lunch! We talked for forever just about life and our businesses...man do I love this industry!
Tonight I headed out with my incredible friend Amy for dinner at a sweet Italian restaurant and then went to see the new movie Fireproof! Wow. I was very very very impressed!
I was litterally crying before the opening credits!! The movie pretty much takes you through every emotion in the book! It's incredible!
Basically it's about this fire fighter who risks his life saving everyone else and yet his wife and marriage are in desperate need of being saved as they are going up in "flames"! His dad gives him a book called The Love Dare which gives him a new thing to do for his wife every day for 40 days! It's the most precious thing especially as he wants to give up after 4 days and yet keeps going on and on! I LOVED this movie! DROP what you are doing and go see this one!! It'll make you want to go resolve your marriage even if you don't have one;) LOL!!!!
I love you all!!

Bridget & John ::: Wedding

This past Saturday, my interns Laura and Vickie and I, headed to Brookfield Zoo to shoot Bridget and John's INCREDIBLE wedding! Bridget was radiant all day and John didn't look half bad himself! I love it when people choose very unique things to do for their wedding...this one being having it at the Zoo! I totally didn't know what to expect..but after awhile you forgot you were even surrounded by animals and felt like you were in some incredible garden with peacocks just wandering around! :)
The day turned out so perfect and by far my favorite part of the day was during the ceremony where the pastor told the whole story of how these two met and fell in love!! Definitely one of the craziest yet coolest storys I've ever heard! From a dream about John when they barely knew each other to one of Bridget's friends seeing John randomly right when she was listening to the message Bridget left her about the dream to later on everything in the dream happening exactly like she had seen!! I totally had goosebumps!! I guess these two were most definitely destined to be together!! I pray you both have a very blessed marriage! Love you both!!

Mouths wide open....

I was in Chicago over the weekend to shoot a wedding and for my brother Andrew's 19th birthday!! Crazy old I tell you!
We went out to eat for Andrew's birthday for a nice big birthday meal! Here is what happened at the meal....
Oli and Jules are seriously like 2 peas in a pod, they really are the best buddies ever! I love to just watch them interact! I don't know how this picture happened as no one told Jules to do this...but I guess it was the perfect moment!Here's a SWEET shot of the birthday boy to go along with the mouth theme;)
Even though I LOVED being home in Chicago...I LOVE coming back to Nashville...it's just so incredibly refreshing down here and the atmoshphere is unreal! I'll post more from the wedding and a big family shoot that we did SOON! :)

Jenny & Tony ::: Engagement

The second engagement session of the day a couple weeks ago was for Jenny & Tony! It was amazing the excitement these two had about the shoot!! I guess they've been counting down the days for the past 8 months which makes my job allll the more fun and exciting too!! They had so many brilliant ideas for the shoot that we just kept jumping from one place to the next downtown Naperville and we finally had to end after about 5 hours after I ran out of cards!! lol! They were just so much fun!
I really love the way these two just genuinely love and care for each other....they are always looking out for each others needs and the bond they have is something that I want to model someday!! It's been such an inspiration! After such an amazing shoot I am definitely counting down the days until their wedding!!

We shot some pics at Jenny's cousins gorgeous house and Jenny's second cousins got to be in some of the pictures too!! Check out their pics here!
Tony started out by playing the piano for Jenny and singing, "You are so beautiful"....I was definitely about to cry!




We went to a huge carnival, which was such a blast....the fun house was definitely one of the highlights! :)

Bridget & John ::: Engagement

A couple weeks ago, right before I left, I had back to back engagement sessions!! It was basically the length of shooting a full wedding but....one of the reasons I completely swear by these is how laid back and fun they are!! It's more just hanging out for the afternoon than actual work!! I met Bridget and John several months ago for their client meeting at Cheesecake Factory! It was funny because I knew I would love them right away as most of the time we didn't even talk about wedding stuff! It was more just having a fun lunch with some friends!! One thing that stood out though through it all was Bridget likes everything to be UNIQUE and different! My kind of girl!! I can't wait for her and John's wedding which will be at Brookfield Zoo this weekend! I completely can't wait! Their engagement shoot was so much fun! We headed over to Fabyan Woods in Geneva, which was my first time shooting there, and I think it's my new favorite place to shoot!! Bridget and John also brought their dogs which were again the most unique dogs I've ever seen! They deserved there own photoshoot in a Juicy Couture ad or something! ha!!
Here are Bridget & John's hot pictures....did I mention they should definitely be models too??? :)

Allie & Nic ::: Wedding

On my way down to Nashville I shot a wedding in Indianapolis for one of my AMAZING old interns, Morgan, sister's wedding! My other(former) intern Beth was tag teaming with me during the day too which made the day flow so smooth and was so laid back!
It was the first time I met Allie and Nic and loved them the minute I met them! Everything from there style to just welcoming us like we were old friends to how they incorporated their families in the day was so inspiring!
Speaking of style....this was THE wedding for that...it looked like it just came straight out of a Martha Stewart magazine spread! The color was beautiful with almost every color in the rainbow incorporated and of course the place they held the wedding helped out a lot as it was an art museum!! This was such a dream wedding!! Check out there sweeeet pictures!!! Love you Allie and Nic!! God bless your new life together!
Allie and Nic decided to see each other before hand which always makes things flow SOOO much more smooth and always provides some adorable pictures! :)

Allie and her HOT bridesmaids....including my adorable intern Morgan...in the green! 









Check out the slideshow!!!! I love you all!

Laying out the.... green.... carpet???

In growing up whenever we would pray before going someplace we would always pray that God would lay out the red carpet before us...basically go before us and prepare the way and in that he would always astound us amazingly in the way He would provide! It was such a great lesson that I still implement in my prayers a lot of times and it's been incredible to watch God work wonders!! For instance soooo many things down here he has done amazingly to just nail in my confidence of being down here more and more!
Probably one or the coolest was right when I got here and stepped out onto my balcony during the day fireworks started going off right in front of me!! Pretty much the best welcome to Nashville I could get! lol! So many other things have happened that this post could go on and on but my high yesterday happened when my grandma and I decided to go furniture shopping....we went to about 8 different stores and picked out a few things that I might get...but then headed over to a huge rug sale that my grandma had heard about! We get there to find out this is the last day and it was closing in an hour! I finally after walking around the HUGE store find a sweet rug that I wanted....finding no price tag I ask the guy who was working the place how much he would give it to me for? He's like if you take it right now...$40...totally room size rug that would completely be at least $400 anywhere else! I was then on a high and found one for my room same story same price! And then price tags on everything else were definitely way more too! Last one again...but this time I was being the great daughter that I am and bought one for my parents! :) hehe! Sooo I totally walked out of the place with at least $1500 worth of rugs for $120! I really felt like a thief! lol! Sooooo I guess yet again God rolled out the....red...more like green carpet!

The Ville

Ahhh! I'm finally in my new home in Nashville...and here is the view from my desk!! I made it safely from Indy today after shooting an INCREDIBLE wedding yesterday(post coming soon!!) My friends Sara Harper, Sarah Chellappa, and Amy Connor all welcomed me so much here and helped me move in, shop, and clean! They are incredible! I am still completely freaking out at how incredible this place is...I was pretty much screaming all afternoon I couldn't get over it. God has blessed my socks completely off! I'm heading to bed but I will post more tomorrow because there is just sooo much to talk about!

A night to remember....

Actually 2 nights to be exact! The first is this past Sunday night my family and I headed Downtown to see Hillsong United in concert! I went about a year ago when they came last so I was definitely counting down the days to this...as it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life...last year!! Well this year proved to not let me down whatsoever and totally topped last year even more! Even though we were pretty far in the back, just the experience of worshiping with 4500 people for 3 hours straight is unreal! The presence of God was just so strong...I loved it too because even my 10 year old brother John was totally getting into it and said afterwards that he had never experienced God so much like he had before then...and how much he just loved Him! Incredible! I can't wait to get over to Australia someday and actually go to Hillsong church to experience it in it's fulness!! Plus there is just something about Australian accents that I can't shake;) lol! Check out Hillsong United's new album I Heart Revolution and Hillsong's new album: This is our God! HOLY Cow it'll change your life! :) I've been listening to it non-stop for the past week!!
An extra bonus to the night was I saw some of my AMAZING friends/clients there, Jenny and Tony, who I had JUST done their engagement session for the night before and totally didn't know they were coming to the concert! Here's a picture of all of us!

Another night to remember would be TONIGHT! :) Tonight is actually my last night of living at home! Ahhh! Very very weird actually growing up and flying out of the nest but I know it will be INCREDIBLE! Not only for me...but my family as well as all the kids will have to grow up and fill my spot;) It will be awesome! I have everything pretty much packed up...I'm sooooo proud of myself and how little junk I have! It took me about 2 hours to pack today! :) I'm excited for this next adventure and what God has planned! I LOVE you all!!

Taking the jump.....into a new season!

Hey Everyone!! This post will be a very good explanation for the lack of posts the past week!...ha!
Ever since I was about 10 and got majorly into music...not just the music my mom would listen to but finding my own tastes, I've been obsessed with Nashville! My Grandparents and family live down there so we would visit a lot and I would always be on the hunt for my favorite artists never actually seeing any of them but wanting to move down there so that I could be "friends" with them! You know the dreams of a 10 year old! lol! After growing up more and realizing that they truly were just normal people I got over my stalkingish faze...thankfully! After years of really pursuing my business and new sisters being born I was pretty thankful I lived where I did..in Chicago. Then about 2 years ago I started getting the Nashville bug again....loving the mild winters, the mountains, the southern charm, and the MUSIC! I guess being a Barlow that comes with the name...;) I've been really into wanting to shoot band photography as my next venture as some of you have probably seen on my blog! I LOVE it...love love love it! Just the creativity that can be incorporated into it is so much fun and SO me!
I looked at my calendar several weeks ago and realized that it was pretty open for the next several months....so I was like why wait??? I really do feel a calling down there and feel like God is really directing my steps down there...which is amazing! I had a concert planned there at the beginning of September that I was planning on going to and several people were like....Why don't you just pack your bags and go down there then?? I prayed about it and really got peace about it, plus my dad totally confirming it and telling me to do it......so I started pursing it and got THE place I had been wanting for the past year! They just finished building this place downtown Nashville in the artsiest area(their building an Urban Outfitters across the street...how much more artsy could you get??) called The Gulch....I determined I wouldn't get the place unless it had a skyline view of Nashville....I know I'm picky but if you spent most of the day at your house you would understand:) The best skyline view condo came available and God provided sooo much for all the doors to open up to get it!!! AHHHHHHH! Soooo I'm moving in on Sunday...yes...like THIS Sunday! It's amazing and scary but I know that when God is leading he is not going to just leave me there....but He is just taking me up higher in trusting Him even more! My family is actually super excited and completely for this which is amazing as we are super tight knit...but my dad's(and his dad's)motto has always been train them up and send them out! We are all sad too...but I will be 10 minutes away from the airport and Southwest is only $49 bucks to fly back home so I'm sure to still see everyone a lot!!
I'm still totally going to be shooting weddings a lot but thankfully I'm shooting more and more out of state so I can practically live wherever! It's perfect!!
Ok...off to packing up my life! :)