Another Facelift!

And so it is, my blog has a new face!!! You will still find it at www.leslieroark.net but for any of you that have my old address of www.leslieroark.blogspot.com saved, you will want to update your link!
Don't worry.. all the old posts are transferred over!

Nicholas • Melissa ~ The Wedding and Day After

So I know to many it seems as though it has taken me forever. In truth it has. Melissa and I were working frantically to find songs that were perfect for both, yes both, of the slideshows but I think we finally hit it out of the ballpark.

In any case, now unfolds the story of Nick and Melissa's wedding.

Almost exactly a year ago, I answered the phone to one of the sweetest most excited voices I've ever talked to. As I listened intently to the woman on the other end of the phone I grew more and more excited. You see, I was about to book MY first out of state wedding. (I had traveled with a great photographer friend to shoot many weddings but this one was mine!) Melissa had seen my work from Eve and Brad's wedding and didn't want anyone else to do her pictures. Let me just say that after a few more days of working out package details and such, I was doing the happy dance!

Over the next couple months I grew even more excited! Luckily for me April was fast approaching and I would soon be flying to D.C. to shoot Melissa and Nick's engagement portraits. What happened next was totally unexpected.
When I meet or speak with potential clients the one thing I always encourage them to do is pick the photographer that they are most comfortable with. One that makes them feel like a life long friend. When I finally met Melissa, my feelings of this were confirmed! It was as if we had grown up together. We just clicked! After the engagement shoot my friendship with Melissa continued to blossom and come January we were so close that I shed several tears throughout her wedding. I mean seriously.. we talk almost every other day!

So the Thursday before her wedding I flew up to Maryland and stayed that night at her families house helping her make sure she was packed and ready for the wedding festivities to start on Friday. We decorated church pews, filled welcome bags and took care of other last minute details on Friday. Then came the rehearsal dinner! I'm only posting a few of rehearsal dinner because this post is going to be never ending!

This first picture proved perfect practice for the ring bearer Ryan. He knew exactly what he was doing!








Then everyone headed to bed to get ready for the next day.

We started off in one of the VIP suites of the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Golf Resort, Spa and Marina. While Melissa wrote her letter to Nick we got some of the details.





This picture is very fitting because Melissa is an aspiring photographer!






Then I got this sweet moment between Melissa and her mom. This is when I first shed tears...






























See what I mean.. in his way he told us exactly what he would be doing at the wedding!!






The grand entrance to the reception








Now on to the day after.. some of these I posted in their day after sneak but they are still some of my favorites!





















To see more of their amazing wedding day and day after shoot.. click on each picture below!





Melissa and Nick,
Your love for each other is amazing. It's in the way you look at one another. It's deep down in the core of each of you. You two were meant to be together forever. That radiates not only from the pictures of the two of you, but from each of you individually as well. Word's will never describe what being your wedding photographer has meant to me. So, I will simply say THANK YOU and I love you both!

I also want to give a huge thank you to Kricia for coming with me to second shoot!

I ♥ Faces! Adults

My iHeartFaces adults "joy" entry is pretty evident. There is no greater joy than that of a first time mother with her new baby.

I ♥ Faces! Kids

As I was searching through my photos trying to find the perfect picture for my iHeartFaces kids "joy" entry it hit me... I don't have to have the child with the biggest grin. Joy comes in all forms. The picture below is a little girl I photographed not to long ago. Her eyes lit up as she saw her mom walking towards her. It amazes me the unconditional love and joy our children show us just because we are near! I hope you enjoy this weeks "kids" entry!

Kaydence at the Triple Play

With a new year always comes new changes..and yes, I am still talking about things that are changing!! This year I have vowed to manage my time better and spend more time with my family. I don't want to look back years from now and be asking myself, "What if?"

As many of you of know I became so busy last year that I finally had to put Kaydence in daycare. It was a really hard decision but one that I felt we needed to make for a number of different reasons. This past year was such a learning experience for me and at times I felt so overwhelmed with Kaydence being so sick and the mounds of work I had piled to do.

I'm still playing a bit of catchup this month from my end of the year weddings but once I have caught up on these things, everthing will be a lot different. I have restructured everything and have made personal, realistic deadlines and goals for myself so that I may enjoy more time with my baby girl. She is growing way to fast and I don't want to miss a second. Of course, I can't forget my husband. I want to be able to enjoy spending evenings with him as well instead of glued to the computer trying to finish editing.

We hope to have Kaydence in daycare only part time and for this reason I have decided to join our local MOMS club! We had our first outing at the Triple play last Thursday so I grabbed my camera for a few quick shots. I have also set a goal for myself to take more pictures of her interacting and playing for my family and friends to see. So.. here she is at the Triple Play. I didn't bring my flash so I was shooting at a pretty high ISO but I love them!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Enjoy!

Isn't this setup awesome?!


That's one big place for a little girl!


She LOVED the train table!


and a closer view..


Don't you love the bruise on her cheek?? That's from falling off the chair at my desk.




This was as far as she would go without me.. she wasn't too sure about it!


This is my favorite.. that tube blows are really hard to keep the balls floating in the air.. she thought it was funny to put her face over it!

♥ Baby Haylee ♥

Nothing melts my heart more than to walk into a client's home and see a beautiful cooing baby! It's been some time since I have had a newborn session and I was instantly flooded with memories of when my own not-so-baby girl was only five weeks old.

Haylee was very alert and happy to oblige me as soon as I asked something of her. You're probably wondering why on earth I would be asking an infant to do something! :) I'll explain.

At one point I asked her if she would curl her legs back up for me and wouldn't you know.. she did it?! Sarah, aka Mommy, and I just giggled as we savored every second of watching Haylee "perform" for the camera. (Yes.. I really do know that infants don't actually follow directions.. but humor me!)

Thank you, Sarah, for allowing me the opportunity to photograph your new, precious baby girl! I can't wait to see how much she has grown in a few months! Enjoy!