Last week you saw me blog one of my favorite weddings of my entire career! We had the opportunity to shoot a wedding at Lake Como, Italy and it was absolutely amazing!!! As soon as we found out that we were actually doing this, we had to start baby-planning. I was pregnant when we booked this wedding and so I had no experience with having a baby. We knew that we could be taking anywhere from a 8-12 week old depending on when Evy was born! We prayed for a baby that could sleep and travel well!
Thankfully, Everly is an amazing sleeper and she travels like a champ! By her 11th week of life she had been on 4 flights and she did amazing on all of them! The tricky part of this trip was the fact that we were shooting a wedding and I’m solely breastfeeding and so I needed someone to go with me to watch her during the wedding!!
We invited my sister and her husband Joe to go with us and bring their baby Micah! Some people said we were crazy to take TWO little babies to Italy but you know what? It really wasn’t that bad. We actually had a lot of fun and made a ton of memories being new parents and traveling to the other side of the world with our babies!!
However, it wasn’t all fun and games. The first day in Italy was a lot harder than we anticipated! The babies slept on the plane, but we didn’t. So we were running on no sleep and once we landed, we had a 2 hour drive to Lake Como from Milan. Our rental car didn’t hold all six of us plus all of our luggage and camera gear and so we had to upgrade to a Euro van… which is one of the largest cars on the road in Italy! Eek!
We made it to the lake and it was beautiful!! We found our Air B&B after driving up literally the skinniest and steepest roads! This is when it gets a little crazy. These roads were made for Fiat sized cars. It was literally impossible to turn a Euro van around on these streets…. but we had to try because if we didn’t, we would have to BACK DOWN this steep, curvy road! So, Michael and Joe attempted to turn this massive van around and it ended up with a shattered window, a big door dent and having to spend 4+ hours trying to talk to the Italian police & Budget car rental who speak almost zero english! During this fiasco, I plugged in my breast pump in the house and it blew up. It was literally smoking and all of the electricity died in the house. I flipped the breaker and still, we didn’t have power. So we had to call the rental house manager and they barely spoke english! Eventually we found the meter box and we reset the breaker from there. Whew!!!! THIS is how we started our trip!
Thankfully, the rest of our time together was a blast and even though it wasn’t the easiest trip we’ve ever taken, we were all together and it was a once in a lifetime experience!!! Honestly, it wasn’t the babies that made that first day stressful, it was all of the weird things that happened and came out of no where!!! We made it through the chaos of the first day and the rest of the week was beautiful! It was supposed to rain the whole time we were there and it didn’t! We’re so thankful!!!! The babies did great, especially during the wedding day, and I felt so at ease knowing that my sister and Joe were with Evy! It was such a gift that they came and helped us!! We couldn’t have done it without them!!
Enjoy seeing a peek into our time away and be warned… there are WAY more “baby” pictures than there are “lake” pictures! I guess that’s just what happens during this season of life!!!
Micah is all smiles… even when he’s upset! It’s the sweetest thing!
Ok, we quickly realized that Micah was the PERFECT age for cute travel pics! He’s sitting up, abnormally smiley and super alert!
Evy not so much! It became a running joke that she just would NOT smile for the camera! We tried so much!!!
Those pout lips!
There’s a little smile!!!!
Annnnnd we thought she was going to smile… but nope… just a yawn!
Dads and their babies…. I love it so much!
Again… Mr. Smiley! We love that chubby boy!
Neither of them were feeling it here.
Rainy day!
No worries! Micah has a bucket hat!
ohhhh EVY.
We changed 3 diapers during this one meal. bahaha!
Yep… still not feeling it! haha!
The “eating the hands” phase has begun!
Mr. Smiley……
Miss fuss pot! ha!
Another picture…. another yawn.
There’s a little smile!!!!
Emy you’re a beautiful momma!
Love this! Emy took this!
Of course, she smile for EMY!!!!
Mr. Giggles as his grandaddy calls him!
So….we had this idea of holding the babies up through the back of a park bench to make them look like they were “sitting up” for a picture together…. it was a complete fail!!
We were sitting under a canopy of ivy at this cafe and she loved it!
There’s her smile!!!!!!! My favorite picture!! Maybe ever!! Joe and Emy tag teamed making this happen…. and I’m so thankful! Joe looked ridiculous trying to get her to laugh but it was all worth it! This was literally all I wanted!!!! One good picture of us!! :)
Kelly is an incredible wedding photographer who has been shooting 90 weddings a year. I know, it sounds unbelievable, but it’s true! Kelly’s success and the volume of work she handles is truly impressive.
Your sessions should be working FOR you not against you!
Shooting in manual mode might seem complex and overwhelming at first but there is an easier way!
Welcome to your Lightroom Classic Starter Guide video!
I’m breaking down the MUST-HAVE ITEMS that every photographer needs to be successful at the start of their career!
Oh where do I begin? This wasn’t just another wedding for me. This was a legacy KJ Wedding and I have been looking forward to it ever since my first email from Danny and Megan!