The NEW, fresh LIANA'S BANANAS is here!!!

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Please bookmark the new blog because that's where all the new posts will be from now on . We'll be doing some re-arranging here soon so that this will be moved and replaced so stay tuned!

Reason: blogger was not banana-compatible and since everyone who knows me understands how much I love my Mac (yes, I know the I love my Mac Song by heart!!) it was not a difficult choice making the switch to iBlog :) Thanks Jess for helping me set it up!


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Ahhh... it's GORGEOUS here!!

It's been soooo insane the past few weeks I just realized I neglected to blog pics from the wedding I shot with Matt Adcock a bit ago ... :)

Yesterday I had the opportunity to join my OSP friends Ben, Nathan, and Amber in photographing a really awesome event... Pure Fashion Show. I woke up utterly exhausted after a very long week and shooting a wedding all day Saturday (pics coming soon) so it was difficult getting there but once I did I was soooo glad that I had the chance to be there. The entire event was phenominal and even better is the message Pure Fashion promotes.




The national founder of Pure Fashion chats with David Foster.

David is the artistic genious behind a HUGE line-up of some of the most celebrated music artists. I was floored to find out the diversity of artist he backs....everyone from Celine Dion, Josh Groban, and Andrea Bocelli, to Barbara Steisand and Beyonce. He's won I think 14 grammy awards... and composed one of the best soundtracks in history - the Bodyguard. He even scouted talent from the fashion models and asked a 15-year old girl to perform (which she did, bringing many to tears!!). Wow - this guy's got talent and knows talent!!

David and Nita Whitaker performing together.


Rebecca St.James also performed


And the kids sang along to some of the performances






Hundreds of little ones lined the catwalk, watching the performers and models in awe.


One of the dancers during a performance to one of Andrea Bocelli's songs that David played for.


Amber and me having some fun with the fisheye and swirly-technique.


Ben Vigil, Nathan and Amber Holritz and me.


It took a lot of volunteers to pull this off. A view from back-stage.


The grand finale with streamers :)

Here are a few from last weekend...


Gorgeous bride




Reactions when they see the bride...


...before she walks down the aisle.


During the service




How cute is this - him holding her train :)


The newlyweds


The groom and his guys


It was raining on and off all day, and then gorgeous and sunny in-between. Somehow the bride and groom managed to get in front of us on the ride from the church to the reception site. It was raining then and I pulled up so Marie could jump out and follow them in. This is one of my favorite shots of the day that Marie English shot:


First dance


The kids were so cute...they all crowded around the table during the cake cutting in anticipation of grabing a piece as soon as possible. This one is of a few of the darling triplets that were there.


I was reunited again with one of my all-time favorite wedding vendor buddies. Greg Tish is probably the best DJ I've ever worked with...and we've worked a lot of weddings together from back in the days I lived in Tally and assisted with wedding planning. He's got the best music, and really plays and orchestrates whatever the couple wants. Such a blast!!


The guests had so much character



The light in the reception hall was magical that afternoon and was constantly changing with the weather. Here, the mother of the bride stopped to chat as she was on her way to go take more of the yummy cake to family.

Living in Atlanta, it's easy to forget you're in the South. It's like any other major US city - a melting pot of cultures and people who are mostly from other areas originally. Except everyone's just a little sweeter, like the tea (okay, maybe a LOT sweeter).

Last night was a great reminder that we ARE in the South as we finally got most of our sm group together for some Bluegrass fun. I'd never been to hear Bluegrass before and it was a blast... I kept wanting to get up and start a big dance party when they got all crazy on the violin. Hehe.





And some swirly pics from the MiniCam in night-mode.

Check out Catherine and Will's wedding from this past Saturday in Florida. PRESS PLAY below to start the slideshow...




It was such a gorgeous wedding and what made it even more special is how excited Catherine and Will were to finally tie the knot. I don't know how many times I heard "at last" and "I'm soooo excited"!!!

Marie English came down with me to shoot and got some AWESOME shots (I'll post some of hers and more of mine later).

Thank you having us be a part of this amazing experience!

This summer, I will be photographing a wedding for one lucky Atlanta couple for "Going to the Chapel" which is aired in conjunction with NBC's Atlanta & Company.

The VIEWERS get to decide on all the details (which dress, type of reception, menu, bridesmaids dresses, ring, honeymoon, which engagment photos, music, etc) by voting online... kind of American-Idol-ish I guess. We'll be shooting their engagement pics sometime next month and then going live on the show in June to chat about the shoot and let the audience see which photos they get to pick from to have shown at the reception. Each week the audience votes on a new thing until the wedding (in August) then they have a big finale show.

Yesterday was the premier where they introduced the two couples in the running:

Stephanie & Matthew's INTERVIEW VIDEO

Terri and Chris' INTERVIEW VIDEO

Then you can register real quick to vote for your favorite couple...

*** VOTE HERE ***

This is gonna be sooooo much fun :) I can't wait to see who wins!

I am finally up and about after an INSANE 48 hours.

This weekend, I returned to Tallahassee, FL for the first time since I moved from there (over 2 years ago) to photography Catherine and Will's wedding on Saturday. (More on this soon...)

Everything that could go wrong seemed to on the way out of town and I was in the car from around Noon until Midnight on Friday, between traffic in ATL and the long drive.



Needless to say, it was a mostly-enjoyable trip because I had Marie (from South GA) with me second-shooting and it was a blast getting to know her better on the trip. We decided to leave last night rather than staying an extra day and made it to her place around 12:30am.

By 1:45am I was nearing Atlanta but my eyelids were growing heavier by the minute. I knew I would need a quick cat-nap and pulled off the exit. I could tell I wasn't the only one with this idea as the car next to me seemed to be occupied with slumbering road-warriors as well. I locked the doors and zonked out, waking an hour later ready to hit the road again. I decided to use the ladies room first and reached for the door...

As soon as I hit the unlock button, a screaming siren let loose accompanied by a series of honks and beeps and screeches. My car was in panic mode and I had NO idea why or how to turn it off. Lights started going on in the cars around me, people peering out the windows groggy and not so happy with the noise. After 5 minutes of scrambling to try to turn it off, it went off on it's own. I was completely embarrassed and pulled out as fast as I could, squirming in my seat. I would go to a gas station down the road and use their restroom. No such luck. Again, I was greeted with the asinine scream of the panic as soon as I tried to unlock my doors to get out. A large man with grease on his face pawed at my window instructing me with broken english to press my keys. I fumbled around pressing every button then finally I was locked in again, but in silence. I give up!

I speed off, only 50 miles from home, praying I could stay awake and get to a bathroom (and out of my car without setting off alarms) on time. Luckily, I had a can of VERY HOT and SPICY jalapeno pringles to wake me up.


As added measure, I tuned my stereo to the Crazy Frog song. For some reason, this song is unbelievably hilarious to me and has one of those chaotic dance beats that will get your blood racing. The tricks worked.



Finally, at about 4:30am I was home safe and could finally hit the sack :)

The day before Easter, I had the pleasure of joining the wonderful Matt Adcock in shooting Scarlett and Brian's wedding in Rome, GA. It all took place on this horse farm and the reception was actually above the stables ...the place was chaulk-full of character and it was a super fun group!

The bride was gorgeous
















There were tons of handsome lads around


And my FAVORITE animals



(methinks mr. meowser was bored...or maybe just sleepy)

The father of the groom




More stairs


The happy couple