A Look Back At 2014 …
All images by Jess Robertson, Southern California Wedding & Lifestyle Photographer
Happy New Year!
It’s been a while since I had some time to sit down and write, so grab a cup of coffee and enjoy…I have a feeling this is going to be a long one 😉
I feel like every year just goes by faster & faster. This seriously needs to stop. Didn’t I just do taxes?! Plan Zach’s birthday party?! Celebrate Christmas?! 2014 was definitely the fastest year ever! But it was amazing. To sum it up…it was a magical year full of miracles and intimate love stories.
The year started off a bit somber when I found out my friend’s little girl, Thalia Rose, was in the hospital fighting for her life. I felt completely helpless as I followed their journey and the many ups and down, but I desperately wanted to do something to help. We held Sweetheart Mini Sessions in February and raised over $1200 for her and her family. Thank you so much to all of the families who came out to support Thalia and her family!
Thalia finally got out of the hospital and has been doing really well ever since. She just celebrated her 2nd birthday at the end of December!
Last year, we also got to work with so many AMAZING couples! We were even asked to do several intimate weddings and elopements, and we officially have a new love! I think we found our calling. Nothing compares to being able to witness these private events, and we were so honored to be a part of each one. Some of the couples were friends that we’ve had the joy of getting to know over the last few years. Some of the couples we had never met until we showed up on their wedding day. This was definitely new to us, but we fell in love with them right away!
Congratulations again to all of our beautiful 2014 couples, whether you were engaged, married or renewing your precious vows!
On a personal note, we celebrated Zach’s 2nd birthday in January and found out shortly thereafter that we were pregnant again!
This was definitely a surprise and forced us to make some unforeseen changes, including moving down the mountain to a different city. TogTools had to take a little bit of a backseat with all of the changes taking place, but we are still proud to say that we completed our First Year Photographer course, helped some super talented photographers launch their businesses, and recorded 50 podcast episodes so far!
We were so blessed to welcome Ryan Michael to the world on October 26th. And I finally got to have my water birth, and it was amazing!
Ryan is such an awesome kid, and Zach is the best big brother!
For more of our favorite personal photos from 2014, check out our Instagram feed!
We weren’t the only ones to have a baby last year! One of our beautiful couples (Mendora & Mark) was expecting when we photographed their wedding, so we had the opportunity to capture some images of her beautiful baby bump.
And three other couples that we love also welcomed their little ones in 2014! Congratulations Natalie & Craig, Amanda & Tony, and Cathy & Andrew!
One of my favorite times of the year is the holiday season, which means Holiday Mini Sessions! With my due date being in October, I had to push them up a little this year, but I’m so thankful to everyone who was flexible and did their holiday pictures early. Thank you!
Finally, a few more favorites from 2014…
We can’t thank all of our clients enough for another amazing year! We truly wouldn’t be here without you and are so honored and thankful to call you friends. Thank you for being a part of our story, and thank you for allowing us to capture a little bit of yours.
xo
Jess & Stephen
Beautiful year! Thanks for sharing! I feel privileged to have been there for some of these shoots. You rock Jess & Stephen!
Your favorite admirer
What a great recap of your amazing year! So happy things are going well for you and Stephen. You both are SO talented and caring, that anyone who chooses you to capture their special moments will be not only impressed but also feel genuinely loved on. Albert and I love you!