Travel Archive

I’m home from my 3 week trip!  I came down with a stomach bug in Africa, so I’ve spent the last week trying to recover from it.   The trip was very eye opening, to say the least.  I feel that there were 3 major parts of the trip (Turkey, Ethiopia & the safari in Tanzania) that I’m going to post three photoblogs about it.

For the first three days, we took a long layover in Istanbul, Turkey.  The mosques were the highlight for me!  They were created so beautifully, great subjects to photograph.

My parents 🙂

Shawna and Jason were married on the beautiful grounds of the Atlantis Resort in Nassau, Bahamas.  The entire guest list, which included myself and Mandi, took a Carnival Cruise to the Bahamas for this wedding!  It’s a great way to get to know your couples – being on a ship with them for four days!  We felt like family by the end.  Their actual wedding day was extremely hot and humid!

We didn’t have a ton of time for photos after the ceremony, since we were due back to the ship for the dinner seating!  But you can’t beat the gorgeous light and sand in the Caribbean!

Their little boy, Aiden 🙂

Yes, those are real sharks!

Last year, Mandi and I had the honor of joining Jason and Shawna on a their cruise to Bahamas wedding!  We were among their closest friends and family and they went out of their way to make us feel included the whole week.  It was an awesome experience and I’m stoked on the images from their trash the dress and wedding day!

To be married in the Bahamas, you have to be in their waters for 24 hours, so on our first day there we decided to do their trash the dress (Shawna bought a 2nd dress for this!) in Freeport.  They were total troopers in the blazing sun (and then pouring rain).  These two rock and I am pleased to call them friends now!! xo

Melissa and I got to know each other when we lived across the hall in our sorority house!  I was always intrigued by her obsession with Eminem.  His music even made an appearance or two at the wedding! 🙂   Tom and Melissa’s wedding day was cold and windy!  So windy that we had to take shelter a few times during their first look.  But just after seeing each other the wind died down and the sun came out.  It was absolutely perfect!

Cake photo by Bryan

Rockin’ out!!

Ceremony: St. Isidore Church, Bloomingdale, IL
Reception: Riverside Receptions, Geneva, IL
Photographer: Melissa McClure
Assistant Photographer: Bryan N Miller
Jewelry: Tiffany and Co
Florist: Soiree Floral Design

The tragedy in Japan is just devastating to watch and read about. My heart goes out to all the people living and visiting there! The earthquake caused quite a stir around the world, including West Maui where we spent our last day of vacation!

Our hotel evacuated around 1am and we fled in our rented Jeep to higher elevation. We listened to the radio, tried to nap and talked about the tsunami that was going to hit Hawaii and eventually the West Coast. We snuck back to our hotel around 6am when we felt it was safe enough. Whew what a way to end an amazing vacation!

Still haven’t heard how the rest of Maui fared but I hear we got hit worse than the other islands. We had just taken a snorkel trip out of Maalaea Harbor not even 24 hours ago and it was one of the areas with a lot of damage. See two of my photos from yesterday’s snorkel trip below.

We appreciate the concern and support by our friends and family on Facebook, Twitter, Email and text messages! Love you all! Our next adventure…find out if our planes are really flying out today or not!!!