Once upon a time I came across a picture on Facebook. (Let’s be honest, don’t many stories start this way, kind of creepy and stalker-ish)?

My dear friend Anna, whom I have written about on this blog somewhat extensively, especially taking into consideration my total lack of blog content this past year, has a little sister named Mary Brantley.  It was Mary Brantley who introduced me to the 13 Auburn Friends, who you can read a little about here, (on a post about Ivy’s wedding).  One of these girls is a hot mess named Erin Tumlin - who just goes by ET, or Tumlin, or Mini.  But back it up.  Before I ever met this girl, I saw her in one of Mary Brantley’s Facebook pictures.  Her head was shaved and she looked gorgeous - obviously I was intrigued.  I looked for her name, and found that it was the friend Anna and her twin Aimee had told me was SOOOO much like ME!

My first thought was: I wonder if I’m going to shave my head at some point?  Second thought: Is she an insecure wild thing too?  Third thought:  How can I concoct a non-psycho plan to meet and then possibly befriend this ET?  We’re years apart in age, went to different schools anyway, live in different cities…it was going to be tricky.

Turns out my crazy plan wasn’t so difficult.  All the Maner girls got married back to back and I shot all of their weddings (except for Anna), which provided a great starting point for me to meet and slowly begin stalking ET.  Then the 13 Auburn Friends started getting married, and I shot about half of their weddings, providing even more foundation and great opportunities to hang out with Tumlin.  On top of all that, she’s a killer musician, and for a while there it seemed like I was running into her at every wedding I shot in The South anyway - she would be singing, I would be shooting.  I didn’t even have to stalk her down, we just slowly built a base for a real friendship.

And we really are, like, EXACTLY alike.  Is that sort of cool?  Totally.  Also really REALLY weird?  Absolutely.  Are our over-the-top similarities endlessly surprising to us?  Occasionally.  I mean really, it’s just strange to find someone out there who shares your brain and personality in apparently every way - it’s sort of comforting and unsettling at the same time.  Does that make any sense?  Probably not.  Whatever.

I don’t remember how it started, but somewhere in our story we start Hey-Telling each other like crazy.  And then randomly, we progress to having late night phone conversations that last hours - super convenient as we both suffer from unbelievable insomnia.  And then, it was as if I woke up one day and just realized I had come to truly love this new friend, and was baffled at how it had played out.  She had truly become a friend of my heart.  And so unexpectedly.  I had come to love this crazy little tornado of ADHD and creativity run rampant.  I prayed for her, cared for her, started to really invest in her.  Then my husband sent the whole thing into warp-speed by flying her out to LA as a surprise, to spend a week playing with me.  GAME.  OVER.

That week was bizarre.  We are so very similar in every possible way, and yet we’ve followed incredibly divergent paths and lived our lives to our mid-twenties as differently as possible.  The Lord had been calling us in the same ways, and we had answered Him as opposite as two people can.  Yet He won us both and has broken us both and matured us both.  Seeing our walks and the journeys we’ve taken was eye-opening, and with a jolt of startling clarity, my faith grew firmly as the friendship deepened.  And at some point during that play-cation in Los Angeles, she became Mini and I became Mac…

I’ve prayed for this girl and her future husband fervently.  If you pour over my journal, you’ll see them both lifted in prayer time and time again.  I didn’t know who or where he was - but I knew he had to be seriously legit and seriously PREPARED to take on a marriage to a woman who is the miniature version of me.  Lord help Him.  And also, who in the world would be able to pursue and win THIS girl?!  He would be a champion of the many who’ve tried and failed.  She deserved the best - no clue what that was going to look like, and couldn’t wait to find out.  I watched some ‘Oh HELL no he’s not The One’ guys take a shot, and they would pursue her like crazy lunatics (one or two may have been).  And then, out of nowhere, a guy I forced her to un-follow on Twitter (whole other story, which I had forgotten and he reminded me of) fell in love with her.  Head over heels.  And she fell for him too.  And he’s PERFECT.  For ET, he is her Reese’s Pieces.  And she’ll follow him just like the original little alien followed that candy no matter the course…because that’s the woman she was created to be.  You see, MY ET is going to be Bubba’s wife.  She was made for him.  I can’t BELIEVE he’s here and I got to watch their story unfold.  Wow.

So a few weeks ago my husband and I flew to Nashville to be with these two the day they got engaged.  We made it to the engagement party with not a second to spare and it was fabulously perfect - I wouldn’t have changed a thing ;)  SO, to make what I want to be a long and heartfelt story more blog-friendly, that’s the gist of this love story for now.  Both mine and Mini’s, and most importantly, Erin and Bubba’s.  Much more to come.  Plan on reading a lot if you come back to the next post on this girl and her inspiring journey that has impacted my life so significantly.  I’ll write about the good stuff for real in the next month or so - it’s happening.

And finally, here is the happy couple that I adore, in an alley in downtown Nashville on the night of their engagement :

Image specs: *35mm 400 film pushed to 1600 with multiple exposures* - I love that it’s a whirlwind of life and beauty and the craziness of this world, with a calm and gentle subject centering the frame.

‘My beloved is mine, and I am his…’ - Song of Songs 2:16

‘…that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ.’ - Colossians 2:2

‘The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.’ - Psalm 138:8

My congratulations to you both!  I love you more than you know and am blessed abundantly by your friendship.  Here’s to 100 quickie pep talks, living for the bigger picture, trusting Him for His perfect ways, and daring to love.  Best wishes and lots of love!  And as J would say (or did say) - if it’s horrible, don’t worry, you will get through it - just live in grace, and call him for tips and advice…

Just a few random digital files from our lovely destination wedding in Nashville last weekend for Bound By.

Rebecca and Louis, you guys are complete bliss.  Congrats y’all!

We have been just been waiting on pins and needles for this phenomenal publication to hit the newsstands and are so excited to finally share a look into this Sixties Mod inspired fashion editorial!

Bound By took on this project last season with the endlessly talented team behind Modern Ink Magazine - the utterly brilliant Allison and Rachel.  As the concept came together and the fashion was built into a storyboard revolving around a steamy behind-the-scenes look into an office romance, we all became drawn to the possibilities of mysterious emotions underneath the surface of each image.  The sensual power-struggle and hidden affair are twisted into a new tale by focusing on the personalities behind the fashion - the actions within the frames - the quirky free spirit of this young girl holding reign over the office politics simply by closing her lovers’ door.  From there, it was a dive into an immaculate styling process, and completely gorgeous hair and make-up which continue to define this era in a instantly recognizable, unique way…

As the remaining and stronger scenarios are not being released online for a few weeks - this is what we’ve got to throw out there at the moment.  But we scored the cover, so we’re happy to wait a while longer!  Please enjoy!  Let this be a place to be inspired and immersed…

To wrap up this post, I must say: Our models were simply incredible.  We DIE for them.

Anna, you are a rare and blessed beauty.  A heart of gold makes your youthful and innocent glamor all the more intriguing.  One can’t help but to take another look.  Most importantly of all; to meet you is to love you, and we simply can’t sing your praises enough.  You are treasured and respected immensely.  Thank you for absolutely everything you precious girl!  Rob…what is there to say?  Words can’t even begin to suffice.  It was only a matter of time before your modeling career would skyrocket to new heights, I suppose.  What a incredibly unexpected pleasure to work with you.  You are a trooper like no other.  I heard Derek Zoolander was taking private lessons with you  in preparation for NYC fashion week?  WOW.  You dominated this shoot and took it to a different place - allowing us a foundation with which we would build multiple levels of stories and images.  Buddy, you look amazing and we’re so proud of you.

Lastly, but most certainly least - we thought you guys might want to take a look at the sneak peek PDF from the feature as a complete editoial piece.  Check back to Mosen Ink to see more about the shoot and our complete team! Hopefully the full feature will be released VERY soon.  All the best to each of you in beauty and love.

Peace, Amelia

Photography:  Bound By

Wardrobe Styling:  Michelle Simpson

Make-up Artist:  Claire Balest

Hair Stylist:  Megan Church

Models:  Anna Parmley + Rob Echols

Modern Ink Blog Post and Online Feature Sneak.

We just got this film back from RPL of Natalie and Ben’s drop-dead gorgeous engagement session in Malibu with Bound By. Good grief. We’re literally downloading scans as I type - but there are definitely a few images that I couldn’t help but grab. These are just a few of the images I was immediately drawn to and thought we would go ahead and share them on this newly revived blog, for whomever may still be checking it! I am SO about this couple. Awesome story, great relationship, fast friends over tacos on the beach in Malibu…

The session came together in a really cool way because they were open to anything and wanted to truly convey their relationship in imagery. I loved it. We were able to play around - I actually hiked through a river *WHAT?* - get some swanky vibes going, then morph into their classic and casual style, and wrap it up with the super-hot sexy side of their love story - which was completely amazing. We focused on black and white film with a slight grain during the day, and then amped our grain up for the evening shots. Natalie loves black and white so we told their story through that medium for all of the film we shot. For the photographers reading this: Neopan 400, Delta 3200, all shot and processed at normal rating.

This is but a glimpse, and I can’t WAIT to share more! The digital images we shot during this session are just to die for and Natalie and Ben knocked it all out of the park. Loving that we have so many different looks and mediums! The shots I’m throwing up now, I’m attracted to for the interaction and emotion happening in the frames. I see their personalities and hearts here. Oh, and I see an absolutely gorgeous tree above them. Epic really. I love it. Enjoy meeting Natalie and Ben, and feel free to leave us a little feedback! It’s been quite a while, and we’d love to hear from you :)

First of all, you should know that I am head-over-heels for this couple. So let me go ahead and get my bias out of the way! If you didn’t gather this much from the post title - this blog is about Christy and Brendan, an engaged couple living in Los Angeles and planning for their upcoming marriage. What you would not have gathered thus far is what a breath of fresh air they are!

This can be a hard town to live in. There is more mingling to meet the ‘right people’ and plastic EVERYTHING happening here than I could have ever dreamed of before we made the move West a few years back. To sum it up - it’s difficult to meet real people…make real friends. When you come across those rare gems who are truly themselves and love life with open hearts, it feels like a little miracle. And this couple afforded me a chance to believe in reality again.

Christy and Brendan are a delight. They enjoy life, are fun-loving, laugh wholeheartedly and are completely grounded, in spite of working in an industry that can make such a feat incredibly difficult. Their relationship is based in truth and friendship and being swept away with one another - and you can see it right away. I’m beyond thrilled that they have found each other and get to embark on journeying through life together, walking hand-in-hand. Congratulations y’all! And we’re so thrilled for Bound By to work with you again!

Now on to some fun images! This is an engagement mini-session shot on location at the couple’s home and Yamashiro’s in the Hollywood Hills. Meet the lovely couple: