as many of you might know, mindy’s mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last christmas. the news was devastating. but she beat breast cancer 25 years ago, and if cancer wanted to pick another fight, dede was ready to fight it. and fight she has!!! this christmas may have been the most meaningful of all as mindy’s whole side of the family got together on the 23rd, and then we all spent christmas day with dede and papa at their house.

time together has been…and always will be…the best gift of all!!

and speaking of gifts, this year, we DIDN’T do a photo shoot for christmas! we went to the dark side and made a video!! (haha, just kidding. we love video and have a crush on cool videographers!!) we brought in ben mahoney (and crew), one of our favorite videographers in the whole world, to spend a day shooting pape, dede and the grandkids, and we couldn’t be more happy…the kind of happy discovered in boxes of kleenex and giggling kids who’ve been watching the video over and over. this gift was for papa and dede. but it was also for the kids who will have this forever.

sometimes, tears make smiles even bigger. such was the case for christmas this year!

so if you haven’t seen our video yet…and especially if you’ve never met DEDE…

PLEASE CLICK HERE

what better way to start december than by flashing back to a wedding on the hottest day of the year?!!! it was pretty much over 100 degrees all day long…and it was an outdoor wedding. ceremony? outside. reception? outside. and honestly, it was perfect!!! only corey and margaret and all their AMAZING friends could turn this sweatbath into one of the most amazing parties we’ve ever seen…and we’re not just talking weddings! sweat was just one of the details that made this wedding more fun

did we mention that corey and margaret brought in a vintage ferris wheel for their guests to ride? oh…and an ELEPHANT?! yup. hey…if you’re going for an outdoor, vintage tent wedding, how could you not have a ferris wheel…and elephant?!!

huge hugs and thank you’s to our good friends, jayden and caroline of woodnote photography, for introducing us to corey and margaret. caroline, we know it was killer hard for you to not shoot your sister’s wedding!! so thanks for thinking of us!!

did i mention they had an elephant? oh yeah. i think i did.

it’s easy to write about the heat, the elephant, and the ferris wheel when there’s all these pictures of them. but we hope the main thing you see in the pics is how beautiful corey and margaret are. inside and out. and together. thanks you two for inviting us to be there on the best day of your lives!

keegan, carter, and langley agree…this was our best family day EVER!!!
better than busch gardens, great america, saturday morning cartoons…and even seeing “winter” the dolphin from the movie dolphin tale…SKILLET ROCKS OUR FACES OFF!!!

we have some great friends who put on the “Big Ticket Festival” every year (june 14-16 next year in allegan, michigan) and they asked if we’d bring our cameras with us as we spent the day there with our family. (actually…this year, we were there on june 23, our 11th anniversary. nothing says romance like headbanging!!) being in june, it’s smack dab in the middle of one the busiest months of our wedding season and we were worried if we had the time to go. but after going, we realized that while we probably didn’t have the time, we needed to make the time…every year. we worshipped with our kids! we ran around and did nothing (which is one of the most fun things you can do as a family!!) and we watched our favorite artists on stage (with skillet at the top of that list!). we made memories that will last forever and we walked away closer as a family.

if you’re looking for a great way to spend time with your family next summer…check out the “Big Ticket Festival”. and speaking of things to check out…watch the first 15 seconds of the video below. peterson family…front row at the skillet concert…right in front of the security guy banging his head. awesome!

we were floored when we were contacted by PDN (one of our favorite photography magazines) a couple months back. but when they told us they had selected us as one of twenty “rising stars of wedding photography” along with some of our absolute favorite wedding photographers…we were flush in the cheeks humbled and honored. and speechless.

the december issue is hitting the stands now (yes, we’re buying bunches of them!), but the feature is also online where there’s an overview of each of the photographers, including slideshows of their work, and we wanted to share it with you.

so if you have a sec…click on the link below and check it out. congrats to all of the amazing photographers on the list who have inspired us in so many ways. and thanks to you for celebrating with us!!

PDN’s Rising Stars of Wedding Photography

this was one of those weddings that we had seriously been looking forward to for months!!!  what could be better than being flown to paris with your super hot lover to shoot an elopement of an amazing couple whom we now call friends?  not much.  when cassie (paper designer extraordinaire at pixie chicago) contacted us to shoot a reception for her in chicago (after they returned from their elopement in paris), i flippantly wrote back to tell her we traveled.  she responded with a “really?” and the next week everything was booked.  ben and i have both been to europe separately, but not together, so we decided to add on a couple of extra days (like seven) and galavant through paris together.  it was like a second honeymoon and i’m not gonna lie……. we made out A LOT!!!

back to jacques + cassie.  we met them for the first time in paris, two days before their wedding and we fell in love.  the day of their wedding was so relaxed and fabulous.  they held their intimate ceremony in some beautiful gardens under a amazing gazebo with intricate details.  after they were hitched, they kissed, drank champagne and we all hopped in a chauffeured car to hit some fabulous locations in paris that ben and i had scouted the week before.  the four hours we had to explore and shoot flew by as we were having such an incredible time with them.

one of our favorite memories was when we traveled to the top of the city in montmarte (home of the sacre coeur, aka, the fancy cathedral in the pics below).   locals and tourists FILLED the stairs every night to catch the most amazing view of the sun setting over the entire city of paris.  it would start casual with kids running around and amazing street performers.  and then the peddlers would come out with the $3 heinekens and the street performances turned into more of a concert with a lot of buzzed people singing along.   we couldn’t wait to bring jacques and cassie here to catch some shots.  we basically just asked them to stand in the crowd and kiss.  what we didn’t anticipate is that the street performer stopped his song and started to serenade these newly married lovers while everyone sang a long, cheered, and toasted with their heinekens!!  cassie wasn’t the only one with tears in her eyes.  this wasn’t just one of our favorite memories of their wedding.  it was one of our favorite memories ever!!!

jacques and cassie…thanks for letting us tag along and capture your perfect paris wedding!!!  here’s some of our faves.

handcrafted bridal bouquet brought to you by our great friends, brad and lisa, at whimwed.

see that vintage carousel?? MUST. HAVE.

just a couple weeks ago, mindy was drawing pictures of her dream house…and she designed in room to put this carousel in a garden by the pool. so literally, it’s a place to shoot that mindy still dreams about. and we’ve only been able to shoot it twice.

only thing better than finding and shooting this carousel? spending the day with randon and meagan. if people walk away from spending time with mindy and i, and they say even half the nice things we said about randon and meagan after spending the day with them…i’ll take it!

check out this beautiful couple looking darn fine in some of our favorite pics from their session. enjoy!!

almost a year ago to date, we did a quick photo shoot with my mom, stepdad and all 7 of their grandkids on a cold day in november. a few weeks later, we received the horrifying news that my mom had pancreatic cancer and that her very large malignant tumor was lodged near her pancreas and was encased in major arteries and blood vessels. the diagnosis after many doctors…….. inoperable and terminal. this was not only a huge blow because of the news itself, but also because my mom had beat breast cancer almost 25 years prior. she had kicked cancer once and now this monster had raised his horribly ugly head again. needless to say, none of us were prepared for the reality of this news. the doctors made us believe that she may not make it past a year…… but here we are…….. at almost a year later. we believe in the power of prayer. we believe that if He chooses to, God can fully heal her cancer. and we believe that my mom and the rest of us are not giving up. it’s been a hard year, but we are thankful for every day we have with her.

this photo shoot reminded us how important it is to document our lives and those we love. about a month later, my mom lost all of her hair and a lot of weight. this shoot was that last time that she may ever have her long red hair again….. although her hair has begun to grow back and is in a really cute pixie style right now! all of us were so glad that we did this shoot before the chemo and radiation started to steal some of her outward healthy appearances…. (though she still looks so beautiful!!) however, the important traits, cancer will never touch. my mom’s kind and loving heart…… the way she lights up when she is with her grandkids……. how she is always looking out for everyone else…….. the way she can talk to anyone, including complete strangers (and she does…. all the time) ……. her adventurous spirit…… her impeccable style (minus the green dress that looked like a “moo-moo”and we all voted out of her wardrobe)…… her tender and sensitive spirit and the way she completely loves her family and friends.

as you enjoy these photos of my mom with her grandkids, (whom she absolutely ADORES), please keep our family in your prayers. pray for strength, longevity and complete healing. our God is bigger than cancer…… no doubt about it.

and to my mom, who is lovingly referred to as “dede” by all her grandkids……….. you are so LOVED!!!!

wind and photoshoots usually don’t go together….UNLESS WE’RE SHOOTING JOSH + HEIDI!!

remember that time that we were getting shots of josh and heidi while the wind was perfectly blowing heidi’s hair and scarf (work it!!), and then right when we framed the shot we wanted, the wind died. yeah, that was awesome. mindy had me hiding just below the shot, throwing heidi’s scarf in the air to try and make it look like it was still blowing, haha. i got some mad scarf throwing skills…even though we didn’t use any of those shots. hey, it was worth a shot! needless to say, all the shots we ended up going with were the real deal…real hair blowing in real wind, with a really awesome couple!

anyhoo…here’s some of our faves from this windy day (you’d never know it!) in the windy city.

drooling.
matt and liz’s wedding was…perfect!

the details defined beauty. seriously people. these are easily some of the most beautiful flower arrangements we’ve ever seen. we’ve got to send some “we’re not worthy” shoutouts to modern day floral who always know how to do it right.

cascade hills country club hit it out of the park with their service and amazing room with TONS OF WINDOWS. love that!!

and, matt and liz. you two are perfect for each other. it was amazing watching you two enjoy each other all day. the looks you kept giving each other made it clear that you two are crazy in love. and that was easily the most beautiful part of the day!

congratulations on your beautiful wedding…and marriage!!

it’s wedding flashback friday haha.
(that’s our way of saying we haven’t blogged some weddings in awhile…and we’re catching up).

for the record…we LOVE shooting weddings for designers! their attention to detail. use of colors. creativity. love it.
nick + laura…your wedding was BEAUTIFUL! and we just had to share

happy 4th everyone!!