If you’re driving from Knoxville to Chicago, do not stop to eat here. The food was marginal at best.
But we seem to have hit a time warp back to 2002. Freedom toast? I guess the heading didn’t get the memo. I ordered the French Toast.
Mush? Still not 100%. The server didn’t know either. And don’t order the grits. I’m not sure what they brought us, but they weren’t any grits I knew.
HOLY CRAP! I’m going to India! Nathan & I have a friend who has been traveling to India for 15 years. He’s an amazing drummer and we get to follow him around and see India in a way that a “regular” tourist wouldn’t. We’re supposed to have internet, so hopefully I can post while we’re there, but I wanted to provide you with something fun while I’m gone. So come back for a photo of the day & possibly a sneak peak at our India shots. Also, don’t forget to enter our engagement story contest!
Today is a 2 picture day. These were shot with my iPhone early on.
Alfred yawning.
Rupert shaking his head (the ear flapping noise is pretty great!
My brother recently went to Aruba with his girlfriend and came home with a fiance! WOOHOO! But before he went, he asked me for some suggestions about where to eat and what to do. I thought some people might find it useful, so here we go.
Also I just wanted to send you a list of the places we found.
#1 is Palmer’s Rum & More http://www.rumpalmera.com/home.html Don’t try to go into the bottling plant. You want the little “Happy Taste” store in the center of the front facade. A big, happy man will give you a taste of anything you want. If you have room, bring us a bottle of the egg custard. The sipping rum is crazy smooth. If you do nothing else, go here.
Eet Cafe http://www.paddock-aruba.com/ has a big cow & a tyranosaurus on top next to a keystone cops style car. Get the fish soup. It’s AMAZING!
Cafe the Plaza http://www.cafetheplaza.com/ is also good. I got the bitterballen (more fun to eat than even the name) which is like they took thick beef stew, balled it, breaded it, fried it. Nate had the chicken satay and the potatoes are amazing!
There’s a really good pizza place called Casa Tua over near the Hard Rock cafe. We ate there our first night, but we ate at Hard Rock the next time we were headed that way. The pizza is awesome, but not very islandy. 🙂 http://www.casatuaaruba.com/
The Old Fisherman http://www.theoldfishermanaruba.com/page/ was supposed to be our last meal on the island (until we missed our flight. Arrive at the airport 3 hours early, 2 hours if you’re feeling daring. You go through US customs on their side.) Their seafood soup was not nearly so great as the soup at Eet, but we got the Fiesta Platter which has some of everything and was a great taste. I didn’t get a picture because we were supposed to be heading home straight after. But we missed our flight.
There was a Guatemalan place we wanted to try but couldn’t find it. It’s over downtown.
This is where we stayed. http://www.arubavacationvilla.com/front-photos.htm The location was great. The villa was nice. We were near a really quiet beach. The pool was weird (soft sides, but I’m guessing that’s because they’re building on sand & rock). It’s not right on the ocean, but you can see the ocean from the master porch.
There are also really nice hotels with great views and the rooms are pretty reasonable, but you’re in a hotel with a busier beach.
The far side of the island has natural bridges where the sea has carved under the rock.
Ling & Sons is the big grocery store. They have everything! They also have a great selection of pastries. I suggest this one (it’s a croissant with custard & fruit):
For more pictures, check out our post about the wedding we shot in Aruba last October.
This is our third year with YPLCCF and each year just gets better. Here’s last years Studio 54 themed event at the Valarium. This year we were at the L&N and it was fabulous! We broke out our new Onsite Printing and had a blast! Here are just a few shots, but to see the whole thing, you need to head over to Pellucid Photography. Thanks again to my awesome team!
The theme was Ocean’s Eleven.
You may recognize the lovely lady on the right. Or perhaps you remember her from here.
Here’s another one of my fabulous brides and her handsome husband.
These BLT wraps were just one of many delicious food options.
Believe it or not, the fabulous gold backdrop is actually the plastic sheeting meant to keep out that cold cold February “breeze.” So never be discouraged when something isn’t 100% as you envisioned! We could not have ordered a more glamourous looking backdrop for our red carpet entrance.
One of our favorite parts of the evening was the Onsite Printing backdrop. We also offered the candids onsite, but people really got into the backdrop and hammed it up for the camera.
But our absolute favorite was watching people’s reactions as they saw their pictures pop up on screen.
January is bridal show month and we try to stick with the smaller ones since you get more one-on-one time with brides rather than a trail of overloaded couples. This January we did the LeConte Fair and the Gettysvue one and they were both super great. It seems that fun, funky lighting is in which makes for interesting photo ops for me!
See what I mean about the cool lighting.
Leah with Whimsical Gatherings is so creative with her center pieces.
The bar was so cozy with low lights and candles.
And our fun onsite printing with backdrop.
In January, on the day of the really really big snowstorm, Club LeConte had their bridal show. It was more of an event showcase with options that would be great for weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, holiday parties, you name it. Despite the crazy weather, we all had a great time!
One of the many options for ceremony set ups.
Fun lighting can really set the mood.
Magpies supplied the fabulous cupcakes.
Jyl Walker’s GORGEOUS jewelry!
Don’t forget your champagne toast.
We did our fun onsite printing thing.
I really love the beginning of the year. With Christmas, New Years and Valentine’s Day, there are loads of new engagements which means great stories for people to share. With that in mind, I’m opening up my second Engagement Story contest of the year. How do you enter? Well, just tell your story in the Comments section. Be descriptive & feel free to send in pictures which I will add to the post. Here is the link to our first contest of the year.
I can’t wait to read your stories!
Claire
p.s. Even if you don’t live in Knoxville, we travel all over. Last summer our winners were in Chicago, and we headed up there for a super fun shoot at the Zoo and on the water. Transportation to be paid for by the couple, super fun photography provided by us.
So I was mean & posted a teaser to twitter & facebook saying I had a big announcement. And boy is it awesome! But I couldn’t post my big announcement at 6 p.m. & have all of my friends who go home & aren’t on their computers all night miss it in the evening & early morning tweets/status updates. Nope! I made everyone wait. Well, you didn’t have to wait if you knew where to look, but I didn’t tell you. Boy am I mean. So what is my announcement? What on earth could it be? Couldn’t have anything to do with the screen shot, could it? Oh yes it could!
What does this shot tell you other than I’m up way too late spending my money on camera equipment & checking facebook? It tells you that MY SITE IS LIVE!! As many of you know, we started a second photography studio, Pellucid Photography, with the goal of offering an outlet for my super-awesome associate photographers and amazing photography in a 100% customizable package. OK, more like 99% customizable because I believe in 2 photographers at every wedding, so you can’t order up just one. It’s just that important.
Anyway, just click the image and head on over to try it out. Thanks so much to Philip & Adrian for getting this thing done right. Philip is the genius behind Rebecca Claire’s beautiful site as well, and Adrian is a coding god. Seriously. These two guys really did an amazing job of taking my “So I was thinking it would be awesome if my site did…” statements and making them a reality. I love my sites! If you haven’t seen Rebecca Claire, check it out as well.
Now I guess I should get back to sending my money off to B&H or Adorama. Still not 100% decided who’s getting it (and I may split it up, just to be fair). But I’m having trouble not spending the rest of the night staring lovingly at my beautiful new site and pushing all the buttons. Be sure to check out the collection builder on Pellucid. I’ve been trying to get one of those online for years and it turned out just perfect!
Brent, the lead in our short film Brotherly Love, & his wife Amanda just welcomed their insanely adorable baby into the world. She is so cute, that I think they must be breaking some sort of law. But we’ll let it slide. Being the hip couple they are, instead of having a baby shower, they had a baby party. Having never attended a baby shower, I cannot enlighten you as to the differences, but it was a fun time. The initial date had been for the weekend of the first super snowy, icy day of the year, so they bumped it to the following weekend which, while rainy, was a much safer drive.
