Monday, April 8, 2013

The Day Sammie Joined Our Family by Asheville, NC Wedding and Portrait Photographer

Last week (at my insisting) we added another dog to our little family of three! We adopted Samantha "Sammie," from The Asheville Humane Society last Friday and on that day it was like my heart grew a few sizes.  I have always been an animal lover, when I was 12 I wanted to be a veterinarian and I was obsessed with watching The Animal Channel.  I also thought I could simultaneously be a dog/cat trainer at the same time and I tried so hard to coerce my cat Cami (the cat I had at the time) to  walk across a wood beam and do tricks in exchange for cat treats.  I obviously didn't end up becoming a veterinarian or a star dog trainer on the Westminster Dog Show, but my love for animals, and dogs especially, never went away.

From the minute we walked through the doors of the dog area at The Asheville Humane Society I knew that I was going to have an incredibly hard time not bursting into tears.  Animals pull on my heart strings like nothing else (except for small babies and children maybe) can.  We walked through the dog area 3 times, stopping to pause along the way and look at the different dogs.  Some of them came up to the door of their little room, wagged their tail and looked at us like "please take me home," and the puppies, OH oh oh the puppies, would do everything they could to get you to pick them up and give them some cuddles.  Stephen and I knew going into it that we wanted to adopt a bigger dog, but not so big that Will would never be able to play with them.  I had saw Sammie (previously known as Belle) on The Asheville Humane Society's facebook page and even though she never came up to the door of her enclosure to see us I still wanted to see her.  We arranged a meet and greet with her that went well and then arranged for her to meet our dachshund, Will, because well he is a HUGE part of our family and if they didn't get along it just wouldn't work out.  After seeing her and Will together I knew that I had to have this loveable part retriever/part shepherd in our family, SO....we adopted her and made her our own!

Since we brought Sammie home I have seen her slowly start to come out of her shell and blossom into a very happy girl! She was known at the shelter as "shy Belle," but with some extra love and attention she is turning into a more confident version of herself.  I will not lie and say that her first week at home hasn't had some hiccups....she is a shelter dog who was a stray before being brought into the shelter, so she came with some issues that we are having to work with her on, this doesn't mean though that she didn't deserve her chance at a happy life.  She has a very sensitive stomach that I have discovered through cleaning up several throw up messes, she at first had an aversion to being crated that most likely stems from her rough past, and she always wants to know where Stephen and I are out at when we're home because she doesn't yet understand that we aren't leaving her and she is here to stay, she also enjoys chewing on things that aren't toys lol. Please consider adopting a dog from the shelter that may need a little extra loving (I strongly advise that you consider all the different issues beforehand that you might have to work with them on), but the reward of a happy dog is SO worth it! I love seeing her tail (or moreso her whole backside lol) wag when Stephen gets home from work, the sweet look that comes over her face when she gets a belly rub would melt the hardest of hearts, and I love the way she puts her paw on my hand when she doesn't want me to stop petting her! I am so happy that the retriever, Sammie Sweetheart, is now apart of our life!  For more info. on where you can find a list of animal shelters and adoptable pets in your area you can check out the ASPCA's website :)

No blogpost by me would be complete without some photos!! I took Sammie out in the yard at our new house (blogpost on that topic to come soon) and did a mini photoshoot and of course Will had to get a few shots too. Love my handsome boy and beautiful girl!


shot of shepherd/retriever mix dog with cute ears

photo of retriever mix dog staring at camera








blonde dachshund dog standing in grass




Friday, April 5, 2013

3rd Wedding Anniversary by Asheville, NC Wedding and Portrait Photographer

Wow!!! I almost can't believe it, but today is Stephen and I's third wedding anniversary.  I am so amazed that it has been three years because the time has just seemed to fly by.  I have loved being married to my sweet Canadian hubby, it's cheesy, but he is the part of my life that was missing. Being married has taught so me so much about my husband, but also about myself.  Marriage teaches us (hopefully lol) to be less selfish and to put someone else's needs and wants above our own desires.  In my opinion, marriage is one of the best examples of God's grace that there is.  I have found that grace is constantly needed throughout our marriage....just when I think "oh hey I've got this being married thing all figured out," I will quickly realize that I still have so much to learn and improve upon.  That's the joy of marriage though; it is a journey and we have our whole lives to work on loving our significant others and learning to be selfless! I am so blessed that God thought I was the perfect fit for Stephen! We aren't perfect, but we were designed and made by a very intelligent Creator to be the right fit for each other.  Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!

And now some of my favorite couples pictures of us taken by my talented friend, April Russell :)









Thursday, April 4, 2013

Gretchen and Ben's Snowy Fairytale Engagement Session by Asheville, NC Wedding and Portrait Photographer

(Do me a favor :) before you start scrolling through these beautiful images, go to this link and listen to this song while you are browsing: Glasglow Love Theme by Craig Armstrong it just fits so perfectly and while listening to this song, I have always pictured snow falling at the same time).

Gretchen and Ben are a beautiful couple and I had SO much fun shooting their engagement session in the snow (even if we were freezing the entire time lol).  I have known Gretchen since I was a preteen and she is not only beautiful on the outside, but on the inside as well.  After chatting with them in January, we decided that we would try to shoot their engagement session in the snow...what we didn't know is that Asheville was going to have a delayed winter and we didn't truly get enough snow to merit shooting a session in until the first week in March! Stephen (my hubby) knew how desperately I wanted to shoot this session in the snow and finally one morning he woke me up and told me to look out the windows and what did I see, but an abundance of snow.

First we started shooting their session in front of The Grove Park Inn and then we moved on to a stone gothic-inspired mansion complete with turrets! We wound up their session by shooting on Towne Mountain atop the Blueridge Parkway.  While it was freezing outside due to the very very cold temperature, Gretchen and Ben were able to warm things up by kissing and playing in the snow! They are planning a fairytale wedding set at a local venue resembling a Castle for 2014 and I think their engagement pictures got their fairtytale wedding dreams off to a very romantic start!

couple playfully kissing in front of stone wall



man picking up girl and kissing her on top of brick steps




happy engaged couple looking at camera smiling


engaged couple kissing in window outline of stone house





pretty blonde girl in red peacoat standing in front of snow


girl holding pretty engagement ring in snow

engaged couple reenacting the moment that guy proposed







engaged couple looking at each other and laughing



engaged couple kissing in front of gothic stone house with turrets



engaged couple cuddling under blanket in the snow







engaged couple standing on snowy path and kissing






engaged couple throwing snow in the air

To book your portrait session today: contact gabrielle@gvhphotographie.com!