Diana & Derek from North Tustin, CA!

First and foremost, I want to thank ALL of the couples that entered the contest!  It was soooo nice to "meet" some of my blog readers and get to know you.  I loved reading about all of your love stories and how you and your husbands met and fell in love!  It makes me so happy to hear that there are other couples who also celebrate their dating anniversary!  

It was SO incredibly hard choosing a winner.  There were so many couples that I thought should win for one reason or another but when it came down to it, there was no question that Diana and Derek deserved this shoot!

Diana and Derek have been married for 3 1/2 years.  As you can see they have their hands quite full with their twin baby girls!  I have a few friends who have just one child and I see how they struggle to balance quality time with their child and their husbands.  I can't even imagine how difficult it must be caring for two newborns let alone make time for each other!  So, when I received Diana's email and read their story, there was no doubt in my mind that they were the winners!

I can't wait to work with Diana and Derek to make their shoot memorable!  So when you read this Diana, email me so we can start brainstorming!

Again, thanks sooooo much to all of my blog readers who submitted their story!

p.s.

The whole idea to give away a shoot to a married couple came to fruition when I wanted a special way to commemorate Doug and I's 6 year dating anniversary (which happens to be today).  So, I couldn't let the day pass without looking back on our relationship and see how much it's grown.  It literally feels like just a couple of years ago that Doug and I met and fell head-over-heals in love with each other!  Seriously..where did the time go?  I joke with Doug every now and then about how "amazed" I am that I still love him after all this time :-)

Looking back to when we first got together, I hoped and prayed that we would love each other just as much as we did in the beginning.  You always hear how the spark fades over time and that really scared me.  Sure, the uneasy, nervous, butterflies in your stomach feeling goes away but who the hell would want to feel like that every day?  Instead, in it's place grows a love much deeper, stronger, and beautiful!  Some people live their whole lives and never get to experience that kind of love and I feel so incredibly lucky to have found the love of my life.

To my hubby..I love you SOOOOOO very much and can't wait for you to get home so we can go on our date! :*)

***To anyone who has emailed me in the past day: If you received an error message or have not received an email response from me, please send your message again.  I was having email issues but they are now resolved.  THANKS!!!

Now onto something that I've been thinking about for the past few weeks.  On February 11th, it will be Doug and I's 6 year dating anniversary!  We still get flack from a lot of our friends for still celebrating our dating anniversary but we don't care!  When we got married we thought "okay, now we'll only celebrate our wedding anniversary" but when February 11th came rolling around, we couldn't NOT celebrate it because it just felt wrong.  I guess Doug and I are just two big ol' saps that are sentimental :-)  After all, if it wasn't for the day we met, we never would have gotten married so in a way, it's almost bigger than our wedding anniversary!  

If you've been following my blog for awhile now, you know that Doug and I celebrated our 5 Year Dating Anniversary last year by doing a very special photo shoot together. I loved that we documented this big day in such a special way in which we will never forget.  I still get emails about our shoot even though it was a practically a year ago!

I think EVERY couple at some point after they've gotten married should do a photoshoot together to celebrate their love for one another.  It gives them a reason to take time out for just the two of them to reconnect and remember why they fell in love.  After all, how often do you get to spend a couple of hours totally focused on each other hugging, kissing, laughing, etc?  

So, this is where the BIG announcement comes in.  In honor of my 6 Year Anniversary with Doug, I am giving away a FREE photoshoot to one very lucky married couple!  The free shoot will include up to two hours of shooting time, my travel to the location of choice (anywhere in California!), and a DVD of the high resolution images!  

Here are the rules:

1.  You must be MARRIED!

2.  You both must have some fabulous attire that you both can rock at the shoot.  Side rule: I must approve the outfits prior to the shoot.

3. You must not be a past client of mine...sorry guys!  As much as I love you all, I want to give this shoot to a couple who has not had the chance to work with me yet.

4.  The shoot will take place some time in April 2009 depending on when we're both available.

5.  You must contact me by 2/10/09 9am PST with your submission.

To enter:

Click on the "contact" button located at the top of my blog to the left of the black bow. In the subject line, put : FREE SHOOT!  Then, email me your names, how long you've been married, and your location of residence.  Please include a small picture of the both of you no more than 1000px wide.

Then, write me a little note telling me about you and your spouse and why I should pick you for the shoot! If you have ideas for the shoot as far as locations, attire, vibe of the shoot, etc PLEASE include that as it will help me get an idea of your style and what you're all about!  

That's it!  I can't wait to hear from everyone!  I will announce the winner of the shoot on 2/11/09, my 6 Year Anniversary with Doug!

Also, I have to thank Danielle from Southern Weddings for featuring Heather and Antonio's wedding details today!  You can check it out here: Heather and  Antonio