Mary Paulsen's Crazy Art

Wendy, Simon and I were driving to Holden Beach on the way to photograph Kate and Jacob's wedding. We passed what seemed to be a wonderland of treehouses and other inexplicable objects along the side of the road. The next day on our way home, we had to stop by to see what all of the clutter was. The visual cluster of objects was the amazing work of Mary Paulsen. We wandered through her whimsical maze of treehouses, and glass houses, and trash turned to art collections in awe and with a little bit of trepedation (those treehouses I'm pretty sure aren't built to code!). Mary was sitting inside one of her creations rocking and listening to some loud gospel music. She was kind enough to step outside and share some of her ideas behind her work. We left feeling inspired at her drive and not a little overwhelmed with what we saw. Definitely check out this woman's work if you ever visit to Holden Beach!

The Winner Is ... Rhiannon!

Thanks for all of the comments on selecting your favorite floral layout last week! Rhiannon is the winner of the Free 8x10 from my Floral Portfolio. Rhiannon, you can go ahead and pick out your free 8x10! The layout above is the one that was choosen for the baby girl nursery! I love it. Please contact me if you'd like custom artwork for your home.

Flowers for a Baby Girl

I was asked to compile my flower images so a soon to be mother could pick out a few for her baby girl's nursery. You may view my Floral Portfolio here: Florals These were some of her favorite images that I compiled into three different layouts.

Layout One:



Layout Two:



Layout Three:



Comment on which layout you like best and you will enter to win a Free 8x10 of any image from my Floral Portfolio! I will announce the winner a week from today, so check back to see if you've won!

Bridals ~ Jan at the Coker Arboretum

Jan and Matt just got married, so I can now post her beautiful bridal portraits! She got married at her church, the Chapel of the Cross, on Franklin St. in Chapel Hill. The beautiful Coker Arboretum, part of the NC Botanical Gardens backs up to the church, so it made for a most beautiful and meaningful location for Jan's bridal portraits. Everything was in bloom and completely lovely, including the happy bride!





The beautiful boquet was created by the English Garden florist in Raleigh.









Isn't she lovely!



Just one more picture of the pretty flowers!





A dreamy landscape for a nature loving bride.

Love Your Mother!

Last week I volunteered to take portraits of mothers and their children who attend the Emily K Center at the edge of my neighborhood. These photos are going to be used in their Mother's Day Ball which is a fundraiser for the center. I had so much fun photographing these families as they were so loving... there was a lot of laughter coming out of our room. I hope these moms treasure these photos with their children and remember this time in their lives!















If you'd like to arrange a photography session with your mother and gift this to her on Mother's Day, please give me a call today at 336-972-0097 or email me at jessica.lobdell@gmail.com. I can send you a gift certificate to present to her, and even better, I'm offering a 15% discount on my session fees if you contact me today! Happy Mother's Day!

Pretty Kate

I just wanted to post one more image to show how cute Kate looked in her dress!

Kate & Jacob ~ Wedding at Holden Beach

Kate and Jacob joked with me during their engagement session about how they were afraid it was going to snow on their wedding day and ruin everything. It did not snow, but their day was on the Saturday that all of the tornadoes ripped through North Carolina. The wind was crazy, and I started shaking in my boots when I heard the storm approaching during the ceremony. We somehow got very lucky and the storm passed around our tip of the island and we were spared being in the center of the storm, leaving us with a windy but beautiful day.



Her beautiful Justin Alexander dress had a playful 50s silhouette.





Lovely Kate!









I love Jacob's natural smile!















Sharing a sweet laugh after their first kiss.









The cupcakes by Coastal Cupcakes... so cute!









Everyone danced the night away as the storm headed out to sea.





Thank you everyone for having me, and thank you Wendy for photographing this wedding with me! Kate and Jacob, I wish you a wonderful marriage and may you always stay as kind and happy as you were on your wedding day.