Time to Vote!

It's time to vote for a special couple to win a free engagement session with me!
Each of these couples wrote down their own cute, sappy, funny stories of how they met and how they came to have fallen in love. I completely enjoyed reading them, and felt like I got to know a small piece of who they are and where they've come to be at this very exciting time in their lives. Thank you so much to those couples who shared that with me!

****Their stories are on the post below this one****

Let's get started off on the actual voting now! This Poll ends at midnight on FRIDAY, and allows one vote per IP address.
Tell me who YOU think should be the lucky couple! Make sure to double check the name that you're voting for. Several of our couples have similar names to each other.




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Once Upon a Time :)

6 awesome couples have decided to share with me (and you) their love story. Each of the stories are unique and personal to them. I love their telling of it, because it contains the excitement and fondness for those memories that no one else can accurately describe. And that's why I am taking what they wrote to me and sharing it with all of you. This way if by chance you have no idea who those names on the voting poll are, this way you can (like me) get to know them a little bit better and enjoy a piece of where they've come.

Click on the names of the couple to be redirected to their post to tell their story, and I hope you enjoy the stories as much as I did :)

Katrina Q. and Jared B.

Katie M. and Braedon G.

Sara Ha. and JT W.

Mercedes B. and Trefton D.

Sarah Hu. and Adam A.

Jessica R. and Corey H.

2010’s Contest for a Complimentary Session

I’m a girl who likes contests. . . . do I ever win them? Well no, but if I’m the one sponsoring it than I can make sure that SOMEONE wins it. And that almost feels as good as winning a contest myself. Last year I hosted a contest to kick off the beginning of the new year to give a complimentary portrait session. That was so fun to do, and part of me really wished I could have given everyone it. But of course it’s never quite possible.

This year I wanted to gear the contest more toward weddings this time . . . but don’t stop reading if you are a mom like me with kids, or you’re no where near getting married yet. There is still something in here for you if you want to join this contest.

So there is one Engagement session (valued at $350) for one lucky engaged couple up for grabs, and here’s how it works:

This bride needs to contact me through my email address: angelaliddle (at) gmail (dot) com or through the contact page on my wedding website.

With this information:

1. Name (first and last) of you and your fiancé

2. Date you are getting married (must be getting married in 2010)

3. Your story. How did you meet? I want to know details here from either the bride or groom. Funny moments. Sweet moments. The “ah-ha” moments, etc. (Not all of those moments necessarily, that’s just to give you an idea of what I’m looking for)

If this part of the "requirements" takes too long, just give me a basic synopsis of how you met. It can be simple, but if you have the time I would like to know a little more.

4. The person who referred you. That part is important too.

5. Why you would love a session with Angela Marie Photography. Hopefully you’ve actually looked through my stuff and love it, and don’t want the session just because it’s free, even though that’s definitely a perk :)

Ok, so what happens from here? Until the 15th of this March (possibly longer if I feel the need), I will accept entries for these. If you yourself are not engaged, contact your friends that are engaged and let them know about this. Encourage them to enter it if they’re interested. There is no commitment necessary for them to use me for the rest of their wedding photography.

On March 15th, the entries will close. And then I’ll be putting up a voting poll . . . . I may be including just names or names with your story (question 1 and 3, but not your last name)

Then Voting begins! Yes, the people who go to my blog have a say in who gets it. This is where the person who referred you and you get to tell everyone you know either through Facebook, email, blogging, twitter, etc. to go and vote for you, or the person you want to win. I’ll make it easy and simple for them to do this.

The person with the most votes by the end of the voting period will have the complimentary session.

And this is where the person who referred you comes in place . . . .The person who referred the winning couple will also get a complimentary session with me which includes 1 hour session and up to 30 edits of a portrait session (family, child, senior, newborn, or just a portrait of you). (need to redeem this in 2010)

This is a win-win situation. There are in effect 2 complimentary sessions that are up for grabs. But the two need to work together.

Here is another part of it: For the winning couple, if they so choose, they will receive 20% off of any wedding package they’d like if they want to use me for the rest of their wedding photography.

And the other awesome couples who entered but didn’t win? They can get $100 discount of an engagement session with me if they so choose (need to redeem this before July 2010).

I think it’s a good all-around thing for everyone. I really want to hear some fun real love stories, have some visits here from some new people, and be able to go out and have a fun photo session with a deserving engaged couple.

And this is incentive for my fans who already love my work and would like a complimentary portrait session, to not just casually mention me in passing, but to email their friends who are engaged and let them know about a fun contest that will help them both out.

So go at it!!! Spread the word around! Who knows? There’s always someone who has to win something for the first time. For me it happened when I first met John (my husband). I’ve been pretty lucky ever since :)

Have a great day everyone!!!

(there must be at least 5 couples for this contest to be valid. It's only fair. But hey come on! It's a free session! Why not try?)

I ♥ Faces

Click the button above to go to http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/.

I have had several of my photography friends enter their pictures in the past, and it looked like fun, but I'd never entered them. But when I found out that Jasmine Star, one of my favorite wedding photographers to blog stalk, was the guest judge, I couldn't resist . . .

The theme is: Wedding Bells

This is the picture that I am entering:

There's something so special about watching the Groom's face . . . the way he looks when he sees his bride all dressed up in her wedding gown for the first time, the way he looks when she is near to him; the sincerity found in his eyes as he realizes that his bride is finally and forever his wife.

I took this picture over a year ago, but this couple's wedding was magical. Thanks for letting me find and share the simplicity and emotion of this picture found in their glowing, content faces.

And the Winner Is . . .

A big THANK-YOU to all of you who posted wonderfully nice comments on my contest post! It made my day (or week). It was so fun to hear from you all and even some people out there who I've never met. It's always nice to meet new friends.

Ok, so unless you're super anxious to look at the end of this to see if it's you or not, have fun reading my super creative way to pick a winner! Yes, I could have just put all of the names in a hat and picked one. BORING!!! I had to make it FUN for me! So with the genious help of my husband and son, we had a little fun on Saturday picking a winner! And yes, of course I documented it. At least the interesting parts.
Ok, so for your enjoyment, here it is:

Step 1, 2, & 3.My superly awesome husband who is a computer programmer, came up with a program to choose the contestants. It was a program which randomly picked people from a list. The first time we picked 12 people from the list (approx. 1/2 of the people), then we picked 6 from the 12, then 3 from the 6. There was the first boring, unforgiving part. But it was only fair to make it completely random, and most of you got many chances in the program to get picked. So I think it was fun for my husband to use his talent in my fun contest.

Step 4: Our 4 contestants were my son's awesome wind-up cars that he got for Christmas. But you might ask, why 4? Aren't there 3 contestants left? Well my husband came up with the 4th . . . the REDO Contestant! All 4 of these contestants were randomly assigned to the 4 cars (using the program).

Step 5: John winds up the cars all together, and Caleb gets to pick the winning car. But it can't just be the first one. No, it can't be that simple. He has to pick that car twice before it can be named the winner.

And yes, my son just had to pick the REDO contestant: TWICE!!!! (and just so you know the REDO contestant was a different car both times.)

Here's his mischievious smile that he started the contest from the very beginning again:

I thought this process would be quick, but no. Caleb wasn't sure what we wanted him to do once my husband wound up all the cars. We literally spent 5 minutes once, trying to convince him to get us a car. We of course couldn't show him how to do it, so it wasn't like we were favoring one contestant over the other. Eventually, he picked up a car. It was funny because I thought he'd tend to pick the same car or two each time, but every time it seemed as though he went for a different one.

After 2 Redos with different final contestants, he finally chose the winning car twice. He picked the car which I thought would be the least likely (due to the girly look of the car):

So the judge has chosen:

Drumrolls please . . . .

...

...

Thanks again everyone, and thanks for letting me share some of my fun contest pictures!

I am now starting to book for this spring. March is already looking quite busy with some pre-wedding stuff and a wedding. So if you are looking for pictures in the springtime, please call or email me soon!

Kickin' Off 2009 with a Drawing!

A BIG THANK-YOU to all of my clients of 2008! Without you, I never could have progressed with my photography and my business as rapidly as I have. It is amazing to look back on all of the experiences that have led me to be where I'm at right now. I really appreciate all the support and trust my clients placed in me to capture their memories and moments. As a beginner photographer back in January 08, I only ever daydreamed about doing a wedding some day. When I got the opportunity to photograph my aunt's wedding that February, I was thrilled and set a very small goal of trying to do maybe 3 weddings in that year (and that was a huge goal for me as a begginner). In April 08, as I started accomplishing that goal qucikly, I bumped up my goal to 6 weddings. Thanks to the support from my family and new friend/clients, I was able to double that 2nd goal to over a dozen weddings in 2008! 2008 truly was a dream come true for me! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Ok so a couple rules/notes about the drawing. Please only enter one email per family. The session will be local here in Utah county (travel fees will apply if wanted elsewhere). Printed proofs will be limited, but the CD with personal copyright release will be included.

Due to the nature of this drawing, only comments from people with google profiles are accepted.If you do not have a google profile, they are free and easy to create. If you are worried about typing out your email address, please type it as such: angelaliddle(at)gmail(dot)com

Tell friends and family! It's a drawing you won't want to miss out on! It's my way of saying thank you to all of my supporters of 2008 and a fun way of kickin' off 2009! I would love hearing from all of you! I have gotten almost 300 hits a week, so I know there are a bunch of you out there . . . Getting comments in my mailbox is such a fun thing for me and I want you to feel more comfortable sharing your comments with me! Some of my goals for 2009 are to make my blog a little more FUN, a little more ME, and a little more YOU! The only way I can do that is by hearing from you! So I thought it'd start out a little more fun . . . who doesn't like drawings for free stuff? Especially a free photo session worth between $100-$300?! Yeah! So leave a comment with your email address so I can contact you if you win.

Happy New Year!