I met Brooke when she was five years old, and I started dating her Uncle Ben!  She remembered me as the girl in the yellow dress, and I remembered her from her sweet smile and love for tea parties.  Well one day I married her Uncle Ben, and Brooke became my niece.  I have since watched her grow up into a gorgeous young women.  Brooke would come spend a few weeks in Hawaii with us during the summer, and we would talk about boys, and braces, and dreams for the future, and boys!  Well not long after her last visit with us, she met the boy of her dreams.  They got married last year and have now welcomed a precious baby girl to their family last week.  I am so sad that I live thousands of miles away and will not be there to smother that sweet Lorna in kisses, but I am glad that I got to capture these pictures of Brooke and her baby bump while we were on vacation in Texas a few months ago.  Brooke has always been well beyond her years growing up.  We always joke that she was born into the wrong era with her love for everything old and vintage.  I am so happy for Brook and Craig, and their growing family.  Miss you all so much!

My family is embarking on what could be a very hard year.  Just when I thought we were stretched as thin as one can possibly get, we are about to get stretched even thinner.  Something has to give, but there is nothing to give.  Just when I got use to running in ten different directions, I found out that we are  going to have to run in fifteen different directions.  This is going to be the  kind of year where you say, “If we can survive this year, we can survive anything!”  I want to just fast forward this year, skip it, run away.  But I know as hard as this year is going to be, it is also going to be a year of growth.  A year of facing my fears head on and never backing down.  A year of falling on my face, dusting myself off and getting right back on that saddle.  This is the year I stop listening to the lies, and start believing in the plan an purpose God has for me.  No more cowering in the corner of self doubt and insecurity, but yelling from the mountain tops secure and confidant!  I am going to meet myself right where I am, and love myself for who I am, and not who I think I should be.  For the longest time I have felt like I should be a better wife, a better mother, a better friend, a better photographer, and the list goes on.  I often feel like I am treading water and I am doing many things, but nothing well.  I feel like there is just not enough of me to go around.  If I devote myself to my family then my house goes, and if I devote myself to keeping my house clean, my business lacks, so I throw myself into my business and my family suffers.  So you know what happens next?  Guilt!  I did not volunteer for my kids snack sale-guilt!  I have not blogged in a month-guilt!  I have not been to the gym in ages-guilt!  I forgot my brother’s birthday-guilt!  There has to be a balance to this all.  I know that God wanted more for me then this.  He wants more for me then just getting by, a glass half empty, mediocrity.  He wants life in abundance!  Life filled with Joy!  Life overflowing!

So I have decided to claim that!  To find that balance!  To have that life of abundance and joy that I was fully intended to have. So my life is getting a make over!  A do over if you will!  I have realized that I have been standing in my own way!  That the only person that is stopping me from being everything I want to be is me!  So I am going to get out of my own way, and start leading the way.  I am going to be the better wife, the better mother, the better friend, the better photographer, and I am going to do it for me!  It has been made overtly clear that the first place that I needed  to get cleared out was my mind!  I needed to change the way I think.  I needed to remove all those negative thoughts, and insecurities, I have been treasuring for so many years.  Clean my mind of all the lies I began to believe were truths.  After years of thinking this way  I know this is not something that is going to happen over night.  I am going to have to train myself to this new way of thinking.  This “look on the bright side” mentality!  A positive mind leads to a positive life!

The next area that I needed to make a huge change  in was our family’s schedule!  This fly by the seat of our pants, unorganized schedule was obviously not working for us.  We needed to schedule every part of our day, down to the minute.  I know this sounds so rigid and dull, but to my surprise it has actually been completely freeing.  There is no longer false expectations of who is going to do the dishes, or who is going to work on the computer because it is all on the schedule.  You work during work hours, and play during play hours, and clean during cleaning hours.  I am the type of person who thinks rules were made to be broken so I never thought that this was going to fly.  However I am amazed at how smooth our house has run ever since we did this.  In fact it has worked so well that I have applied it to my business also.  I have blog time, and Facebook time, and editing time, and it is all on the schedule.  The greatest part is that now when I sit down to work I actually work!  I used to edit a few photos, surf Facebook, pin new hair cuts, read a blog, edit a few photos, take a phone call, and then look up and my day had flown by, I was still in my pj’s,  and I was 6 hours into a task that should have taken 2.

I started planning our meals and grocery shopping on the same day every week.  Not only am I saving $200 a month on groceries, but my family now sits down and eats a healthy meal every night TOGETHER!  We talk about our day, and tell jokes, and when someone spills milk we no longer cry about it!  I have also scheduled gym time every morning, and low and behold my jeans are fitting better.  We scheduled date nights every week, and family meetings every Sunday just to keep us all in check.  Yes I still get the occasional eye roll from my pre teen daughter, and my son pretends he would rather play a video game then a board game with the family, but I know that this schedule has made us all become much closer.

I have started digital chore charts for the kids, and I am wondering why I did not think of this earlier.  They now know exactly what is expected of them every day and there is no room for argument.  They actually compete for points and look forward to checking off the list!  I am telling you this schedule thing is genius!

Now if I am being totally honest I will admit there are days when we let the schedule slack.  I know that it takes 21 days to make a habit!  However what this schedule now gives me is hope!  Hope that if I use my time wisely I no longer have to tread water.  That I can fit 36 hours into a 24 hour day if I do not let myself get side tracked!   I cannot explain it but somehow for us having this schedule just works.  If you think it can work for you also then lets do this together and keep each other accountable.  I will post a link to all the apps I am using to help us stay on task!  Here is to not only surviving but thriving this year!  Here is to achieving Balance!

Iphone/Ipad Apps:

Paprika, for meal planning, and grocery lists

allrecipes, for meal ideas

wunderlist, to make to-do lists with finish dates and times to keep me on task

meal planner, to post my weekly meal schedule

chore pad, for the kids digital chore chart

notes, to write out our weekly schedule

I am extremely excited to launch my new campaign The “IT” Couple!  If you know anything about me you know that I love to shop, I love to get pampered, and I love to be spoiled!  Well who dosen’t?  That is why I have decided to do engagement sessions a little different from now on.  My past brides can tell you that I have been known to shower them with gifts throughout our courtship!  I love to send them little packages in the mail to let them know I am thinking about them.  Gifts just happen to be my love language, and who dosen’t love getting presents?   So in the spirit of gift giving, and because I think everyone deserves a little spoiling every now and then, here is my idea!

What do you think of when you hear the “IT” couple?  You think of the newest hot love affair on the cover of a Hollywood magazine, you think of the football star and the head cheer leader of your high school, or the prom king and queen!  Well all those relationships tend to start out on fire but fizzle out pretty quickly.  However I think the “IT” couples are those who are in love for the long run.  The guy and girl who get engaged and light up a room with their eyes (and hopefully her bling!  I mean let’s be honest girls!)  So I want to celebrate the real “IT” couples!  I want to celebrate true love, and I want to celebrate looking great and feeling great.

I love to shop, I love to be pampered, and I love to take pictures, so I thought why not merge all the things that I love and gift it to others.  Thus The “IT” Couple campaign was born!  So here is the deal:

I am gifting 12 newly engaged couples with a day of shopping, pampering, and paparazzi!

-first The amazing fashionista Lauren Becker of “It’s Becker Styler”  will accompany you on a shopping trip where she will help you purchase the perfect outfits for your shoot!  She knows all the ins and outs of fashion and can make you look fab on any budget!

-then the “IT” girl will get her hair and makeup done by an AlyssaPix stylist.

-once you are decked out from head to toe we will do a two hour shoot on location with myself Alyssa Turner

-at this point you will be looking and feeling amazing!  So you know what you need?  A date night out on the town! First round of drinks and Apps are on me!  Be warned people will stare, you are the “IT” couple after all!

-you will also receive a $100 print credit toward your images at your print preview appointment!

Who’s going to be the next “IT” couple? Check out www.theitcouple.alyssapix.com for more details and information!  Contact me for a gift voucher today!

I just returned home form WPPI (Wedding & Portrait Photographers International) conference in Vegas!  My head is literally spinning from all the interesting things I learned, and all the amazing people I had the pleasure of meeting.  I can probably blog 100 different posts about my experience, but do to lack of time I will just hit the highlights.  I will however break it up into a few different posts.  Today I want to start with the very first thing I did when I got to Vegas, and that was the 2012 Thirst Relief shoot out.  Thirst Relief international dose a benefit shoot and dinner every year and this year I had the pleasure of attending.  I won a spot on ebay and was thrilled to hear that through this auction 2000 lives were saved by providing people with clean drinking water.  Not only did I get to spend the day with amazing photographers, gorgeous models, capture insane photos, and learn a ton of new information in a ghost town in Nevada, I also got to save lives!  Please click on the link to Thirst Relief International to see how you $5 contribution could help save lives as well!

shortly after we landed and Vegas I boarded a bus with my camera, a handful of photographers, and 6 gorgeous models to the ghost town of Nevada.  It was a 30 minute, rather scary adventure down windy roads with a driver that may have had on to many before he left, because apparently staying on the actual road was optional.  You know the little rivets they put along the side of the road that make noise to wake you up if you sway off road, well he pretty much road those rivets the entire trip.  I may have sent up a few prayer requests on that road trip.  Thank God He heard my prayers and kept us safe.  Side note, the trip back in the dark was even more scary, but we did make it back to the hotel safe and sound with just a few extra grey hairs!

When we arrived in the ghost town and I saw all that it had to offer I was thrilled.  Don’t get me wrong I love nothing more then shooting a gorgeous couple on the beach at sunset in Hawaii, but it was so exciting to do something totally different!  I could have spent 5 days at this location and never run out of options or possibilities.  It had old buildings, old cars, cactus, plain crashes.  I was in photographer heaven!  We broke up into groups and took turns learning form some of the industries top photographers such as Mike Colon and Luke Edmonson.  Each photographer had their own teaching style and wealth of knowledge.  Getting to spend quality time with each instructor was simply amazing and I will never forget that day!

To top off such a fabulous day we had a benefit dinner with the most amazing food and speakers!  Just when I thought things could not get better I won this bag from Kelly Moore!  This bag was designed espcially for thist releif and part of the proceeds from each bag go to Thirst Relief!

Here are some of my favorite images from the day, followed by a group photo!  A huge Mahalo to all of you who worked so hard to put this benefit shoot together!  Also to Jim Davis Hicks and his wife Lara for taking a word from God and making a vision come to life.  They are both such a huge inspiration to me.

I know everyone has been anxiously awaiting to here all about the Out of the Box workshop!  I cannot believe it was almost two weeks ago already.  Leave it to the holiday season to make every day go by at warp speed!  Well as expected the workshop was a total blast!  We had the best group of girls on the planet sign up! It was two exciting days of cameras, computers, models, questions, answers, great food, cool photographers, and lots and lots of chatter!  I mean when you get that many awesome ladies in one room what else would you expect!

Day one started out with a meet and greet over coffee and cinnamon buns, and was directly followed by a dive right into camera setting and shooting style.  With all this camera talk we worked up our appetite and  took a break for more food!  On the lunch menu was curried chicken salad sandwiches and Tomato bisque soup!  As promised here is the recipe for the curried chicken salad:

1/2 cup of mayonnaise

1 tablespoon of honey

1 tsp of curry powder

2 cups cubed cooked chicken

1 cup halved green grapes (also can subsitute craisens, or chopped apple)

1/2 cup slivered almonds

4 green onions chopped

pita bread, cossants, or buns

lettuce leaves!

After lunch we got down to the nitty gritty business side of photography.  We probably could have spent a couple more days here!  So much to talk about, so little time!  We ended the business section by  participating in an eye opening pricing structure exercise!  This may have been the highlight of the day!  Well after the curried chicken salad of course!  Once we got our hearts racing with the pricing section of the day we head out the door for two amazing stylized shoots.  The lighting was absolutely perfect!  Our models totally rocked it out, and it has been so fun seeing everyone’s images going up!

Day two was all about Lightroom and Photoshop and we managed to cut everyones editing time in half!  We showed everyone our entire workflow, and then Laura went through her print appointment, and shared with everyone how to up their sales!  The last hour we spent with Q&A and ended the day with some stellar prize giveaways!  Jessica Walters hit the photography jackpot winning the grand prize of a year long subscription to Showit and a brand new custom design template from Sitehouse Design!!!  Jessica also won her spot to the workshop so I think she totally needs to purchase a lotto ticket!  A HUGE  mahalo goes out to all our sponsors: Showit, Sitehouse, Hawaii Photo Rental, Kiss Wedding Books, Kai Designz, Kubota Image Tools, Totally Rad Actions, Kelly Moore, and Expo Imaging for providing us with great prizes and discounts!  Thanks also to Brenda Van, Debbie Jones, and Wendy Zippwald for helping out during the entire event!  Last but not least I  want to send lots of love to all our attendees!  I hope you all loved the experience as much as Laura and I did!  Can’t wait for the next one!

Now since pictures are worth a thousand words check out our day in pictures:

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There has been such a great response to the workshop every since we made the announcement last week! Laura of Laura Fleming Photography, and myself are joining forces and having a two day intensive photography workshop on November 19-20, 2011 called “Out of the Box.”  This workshop is for photographers who want to learn how to  capture amazing images, and really learn the ins and outs of running a profitable business.  I have been sitting on the fence about doing a work shop like this for such a long time  and finally decided it was time to jump in with both feet and set a date!

I have been in the business for 7 years now and I have learned so much!  I have had highs and I have had lows, but for every mistake I made I grew just a little bit more.  Now that I finally feel like I have made it to the other side I really have a passion to help others get to where I am faster by sharing all that I have learned so they do not have to make all those mistakes on their own.  I could only image how much further ahead I would be if someone had  taken me under their wing years ago.  I think the industry has come such a long way.  Photographers are no longer hoarding all their secrets, but instead sharing with others.  Of course there are still a few who do not want to give away what they know and feel like people starting out should have to pay the price like everyone else.  I, however, believe that when I invest in others I get back ten fold what I give out.  Laura and I both share the desire to invest in others so it only made sense for us to come together and do this workshop! So on a dream and a well planned whim the “Out of the Box” workshop was born!

Like I said, the workshop will be two awesome days!  The first day will be going over capturing great images in camera using manual settings, a comprehensive look into running a successful business, and will end was two amazing stylized shoots!  Which brings me to the reason for this post!  I am overjoyed to reveal the theme for our two shoots!  We will be doing one senior shoot, and one engagement shoot.

Laura will be heading up the senior shoot and she has some amazing things in store!  Here is a look at the story board that she is using for inspiration:

You can check the full board on Pinterest HERE

Since my passion is in weddings and engagements I will be heading up the stylized engagement shoot.  The theme for the engagement shoot will be “Deserted Island”  Check out my inspiration board below!

You can check the full board on Pinterest HERE

If these inspiration boards haven’t already knocked your socks off then the list of giveaways is certain to!  I want to personally thank all the sponsors who have donated their amazing products!  Check out this list!

*Showit has generously given 2 one year subscriptions to their website hosting and web design platform, specifically designed and developed for photographers.  It is the only site I would ever use!

*Promise Tangeman of Sitehouse designs has donated a custome style group which is going to make your new Showit site look A-MAZING!

*Hawaii Photo Rental is giving away a $50 gift certificate towards your next rental.  If you were wondering this is THE place to rent everything photography you need in Hawaii!

*Kevin Kubota Of Kubota image tools has given us a $50 gift certificate towards his amazing actions.

*Kiss Wedding Books will be giving away a $150 gift certificate to be used towards their Kiss flush mount sample albums.

*Ben Turner of Kai Designz will be giving away free website analysis and a custom Iframe for your Facebook business page

*Also just so everyone goes home a winner Kubota image tools will be giving a 15% discount card to every attendee, and to any attendee who signs up with Showit site will receive PASS, which is an online digital image delivery system, eliminating the need for those soon to be obsolete DVD’s!  To see more about Pass check out the video here: http://passpremier.com/ …and more to come!!

If you have not yet purchased your ticket there are still a few more left, however now that we have given out all the exciting 411 I can’t promise they will last long!  Click on the registration tab below to sign up now!!!

This has been a great week! It started with a trip to Maui with two of my favorite photographers on the island, Laura Flemming and Brenda Van Valkenburg. I don’t know if Maui was ready for what hit them when we took over Paia with our cameras. What a fun little town to shoot pictures in. We just had to take the opportunity to get a few head shots! I think my favorite stop was an old vintage looking laundry mat! A photogs dream come true. Speaking of a photographers dream come true the whole reason we took this trip was to attend a Maui Smug Mug meeting hosted by the sweetest girl ever Anna Kim, and meet internationally known photographers Karen and Isaac Stott, as well as the amazing Duce 2 Duce videography duo Heather and Eugene Brown. I have been following these two talented duos for a few years and although I have always heard how open, kind, and helpful they are I never thought they would give little ‘ol me the time of day. Boy was I wrong. I try not to let it show, but if I were to be totally honest I lack a little, ok allot, in the self esteem department. I am always worried about what people are going to think of me, and when I compare myself to others I always feel I fall short. When I compare myself to industry greats like the Stott’s and the Brown’s I am not even in the same playing field. These guys are doing things with their businesses that I only dream of. They travel all over the United States and beyond to shoot weddings and do speaking engagements, and they have as much talent in their little pinky as I do in my entire body. Do I know that this is a total unhealthy way to view myself, and that I should never compare my selves to others, yes! I do know this! I am very well aware! That is why I am happier then ever that I bit the bullet and took this trip on a whim. You see, not only did Karen write me back with so much excitement and enthusiasm to be meeting me in person, but she set up a lunch date so we could hang out before the Smug meeting. Little ‘Ol me was moving up in the world and eating lunch with people I only ever dreamed of maybe being in the same room as one day! You see these people do not live up on this pedestal that I created for them. They live with both feet firmly planted on the ground! The same ground that I walk on! They are real people, and they really care! After being with these guys for, umm lets see, like 2 minutes, I felt like I had known them for years! In fact we had so much fun over lunch that we continued the fun at the beach, and then made plans to hang out for dinner as well. We even crashed their condo to shower and get ready for the meeting. At this time we started to worry that we had over stayed our welcome and were feeling a little guilty for taking up their whole day. Yep there I was trying to rebuild that pedestal. However they were quick to show me it was not like that at all, and they seriously were happy to call us friends! Did you hear that folks? Karen, Isaac, Heather, and Eugene are my friends! Add the fabulous friends I brought along on this trip and it was a total love fest. I just want to say thank you to each and every one of you for making me realize that we all put our pants on one leg at a time, and that we all serve the same awesome God who loves each and every one of us, even little ‘ol me! I am so honored to call you all friends! Here are some shots of the fun we had around Maui!

Check out this sunset!!

So that was the great start I had to my week and then it was followed by the amazing Equip & Inspire conference at Hope Chapel West Oahu this weekend. There were so many amazing speakers, sharing so many amazing things that my fingers could not take down notes fast enough:

Here are some of the things that really hit home for me!

It is funny when God is trying to teach me something He makes sure he drives it home a few times. Yes I am that stubborn! Well apparently I needed to hear this a few times, because here we go again. The first speaker I heard was Pastour Lisa Kai. She spoke about not listening to the lies we tell ourselves. Lies like I am not good enough, if only I was as good as ________! Ok God I get the message! She spoke about the importance of being a God pleaser and not a people pleaser. That comparing yourselves to others will always slow you down. To focus on what you can do rather then what you can’t do! Hmmm seems like I heard Karen say the same thing during the Smug meeting Thursday night. God is so good! I love when he drives things home! Ben Houston said it well when he said “quit saying I can’t and start saying I can!” I love how true this is both in life and in my business. In fact the whole sermon really paralleled both and was so great to hear.

Pastour Normand Nakanishe spoke about dreaming big! He said “We have no idea what God is about to do!” How exciting is that? God has so much good in store for us that we cannot even wrap our heads around it. We think our ideas and dreams are big but God has dreams and ideas for us that are so much bigger! Now that is exciting!

Pastour Ben Houston spoke on going deeper =  doing. That learning more about God is great,  however  we are not told to be hearers of the word,  we are called to be doers of the word!   That we can share the good new about Jesus even if we do not feel like we know enough to do so. That we can take the little that we know well and tell it with enthusiasm!

Mike Kai brought it home with a sermon on “Being in the Zone” He told us to be the best you can be right where you are! Third times I charm God! Got it! Not to be discontent with what you have. Always want to grow more and dream big but not to be dissatisfied with where you are now. To be content but not complacent! Wow what a whole lot of encouragement. I feel truly blessed to have a God who loves little ‘ol me.  Who cares for me, and who answers prayers, even the little ones I whisper in the back of my mind.  That thinks as highly of me as those people I placed way up top on those pedestals. I am blessed.

Last night we all had a blast at the first official P31 Hawaii shoot out!  P31 Hawaii is a a group of gals that have branched out from the nationwide P31 Photographer’s group started by Karen Stott!  We are a group of ladies that are crazy about photography and crazy about Jesus!  I created the Hawaii group so that all us local photogs can get together, encourage each other, and grow together as we grow our business.  We just had our first dinner meeting last week and this group is quickly growing into so much more then a group of photographers who love photography and love Jesus, we are becoming family!  I am so excited about the friendships that have been made because of this group.  You are all just totally awesome in my book!

So last night was our first official shootout.  A shootout is when a bunch of photographers get together, come up with a theme, and then shoot until our hearts content!  Last night we had two different set ups!  The first was an engagement shoot that was themed around the Disney Pixar movie “UP”.  Congratulations to our gorgeous and absolutely adorable couple Colin and Ines who were engaged in May.  Can I just say that they got into character and played the part to a T!  We recruited my son Corben to play the part of the boy scout and a fellow photog Laura Flemming, lent her dog Duke to play the part of Doug!  We shot the whole thing in the most stunning location, and everything came together even bigger and better then any of us imagined.  Big mahalo goes out to Brenda for bringing out her lighting and giving everyone a tutorial on light meters and off camera light!  It was fun to play around with some different looks, and although it was fast and maybe a bit crazy at times, I know everyone had fun and took something away from the night that they did not know before!

Our second couple was a bride and her military man!  The bride was one of our own P31 gals and she was stunning!  Her and her husband were never able to get the wedding pictures they always wanted because of deployments, and all the other hurdles they had to jump just to be together.  The dress I wore last year for Ben and I’s wedding vow renewal happened to fit Ann perfectly, and her man in his dress blues was a sight to be seen.  It was more then an honor to capture these pictures for Ann and her husband, and the tears of joy that stream down her face every time she looks at them says it all.  As a fellow photographer she knows how important pictures are, and it feels amazing to give her a gift that I know she holds so dear to her heart!

Last but not least hear in a shot of the whole gang at the end of the night!  Thanks to everyone for coming together and pulling off this epic shootout!  You have all been such a blessing to my life!  Stay tuned for a behind the scenes video of the whole extravaganza!

From left to right Ann Lee, Brenda Van Valkenburg, Kim Rossi, Debbie Jones, Lauren Martinez, Jessica Walters, Crystal Fukata, Alyssa Turner, Corben Turner, Ines Bressner, Colin Hunt.

Yesterday we celebrated Aven’s 2nd birthday and you know what that means…….time for a photo shoot! This year we decided to do a cooking themed shoot and can I just say, she is one cook I cannot help but kiss! I often say that it is a good thing she is so cute because there are days when I want to her post her in an ad up on Craigslist. However just when she pushes me to the very edge with her ear piercing screams or toss on the floor temper tantrums she does something so stinken cute that it just makes everything else melt away. It is almost freaky how she has mastered this art! She has the perfect combination of sassy and cute and knows when to play each one to her advantage. She may be the youngest of five, but this little princess can hold her own both in and out of the kitchen! Happy birthday sweet girl!

This past Saturday we threw a party to celebrate my birthday and the launch of my new AlyssaPix website!  Thanks to all who came out and supported the launch!  I wish I would have taken more pictures but we were all too busy having a blast to pick up the camera.  I did manage to snap a few off at the end but I am kicking myseld for not getting a big group shot, and a shot of all the guys drinking girly blue cocktails!  It was a super fun night that went by too fast!  I just wish I could do it all over again in slow motion.  So with all the excitement of the new site and because July is my birthday and I love both receiving and giving presents (mostly receiving but still)  I thought this is the perfect time for a new contest.  This contest starts today and is going to be the biggest best contest I have ever had.  As you can see the new website is geared more towards weddings then families.  After 7 years of photography I have discovered that my favorite thing to shoot is weddings.  There is just something about capturing those moments in time when two people in love become one that just gets my heart pumping!  So this contest is going out to all you local bride and grooms!  I want to offer more then just great wedding pictures to my clients, I want to offer a whole experience.  From the day you first inquire all the way to the celebration of your first anniversary I want to invest in your marriage and not just your wedding day.  I am so excited to begin this new path and thought that this contest would be the perfect way for one lucky couple to win that whole AlyssaPix experience.  So I will be giving away 8 hours of coverage by AlyssaPix and the red carpet experience FOR FREE (a $2500 value)!  To win this contest you need to email me a paragraph on why you want to be an AlyssaPix bride or groom along with a photo of you and your fiance.  The deadline for this contest is September 15th, so if you are engaged, know someone who just got engaged, or plan on getting engaged then jump on this opportunity!  Please click here to enter and see all the details and fine print!

I want to send out a huge thank you to Josh and Amber Meeks for filming and editing my new promo video, Michael Hardie for coming up with the design elements of the new site, Chantelle Drumeller of Simply Blissful Photography for shooting the pictures for my stop motion video in her studio, my children for being part of my video and putting up with their parents working endless hours to get ready for the launch, and last but not least my incredibly handsom and talented husband Ben of Kai designz for implementing all his web master talents on my site!  Also have to shout out to all my friends for letting me get advise and feedback from you, Debbie Jones and Maya Terhune for helping me with food for the party, and my clients for being so amazing and giving me all sorts of compliments in my rave section!  Huge Huge Mahalo to you all!  I could not have done all this without all of you.

So without further ado here are some pics from the big AlyssaPix launch birthday bash party!

Let’s get silly!

My most recent AlyssaPix bride and groom!

These two act like newlyweds even though they have been married for years!

I LOVE it!

Thanks Brenda for this awesome gift!  Branding is everything

Thanks Laura for knowing I would love your necklace so much you bought me one also!

I am so lucky to be married to the cutest web designer on the planet!