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Mr & Mrs Tonin, Field Museum Wedding Chicago, Illinois

Congrats to Monica & Alex! They celebrated a beautiful spring wedding in Chicago a weekends ago; we were so happy to be apart of their day! This wedding was a little different than most. Alex grew up in Bulgaria and moved to the states with his family when he was 10 years old. He had many family members fly in from Bulgaria to celebrate their wedding. When we were discussing Bulgarian traditions, Alex described Bulgarian weddings much like Greek weddings. There was lots of dancing at the reception! It was so neat to see and be apart of.

The wedding and reception was held at the Field Museum downtown Chicago. Their wedding ceremony was in the atrium of the museum which had a gorgeous glass ceiling with lots of cascading natural light, it was perfect. The day began with rain, in fact, the weather was calling for rain the whole day. We quickly made alternative plans, but as soon as Monica slipped into her dress the rain tapered off. Even though it was still misting, she wanted to do their first look in Grants Park. As soon as Alex came out to meet her for their first look, the rain stopped and the sun came out! We lucked out!

We walked through Grant’s Park to the museum and even stopped at the shore line of the lake for a few quick pictures. It was so cold by the water! After a short but sweet ceremony, the two greeted their guests during cocktail hour. Heartfelt toasts were given by the best man and maid of honor, prior to dinner. After dinner, the party started! The played a mix of music including traditional Bulgarian tunes that had special dances. By the end of the evening, the view of the city from the museum was spectacular. The two braved the chilly weather to get a few night shots. Thank you for allowing us to document this special occasion, Congrats on the joining of two wonderful families. Cheers to many happy years!

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Venue Coordinator: Field Museum, Katie Knox

Caterer/Cake: Food For Thought

Dress: BHLDN

Groom: SuitSupply

Florals: HMR Designs

Invitations: Paperless Post

Hair & Make-up: Samantha Evans & Make-up: Carly Pribich

DJ: Karin Fjellman from Toast and Jam

Sole Hope Jinja, Uganda

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The long awaited Sole Hope video from our travels this Fall to Uganda is finally completed. It is a bittersweet moment. I am thrilled to share Uganda and Sole Hope through our eyes, but sad that this amazing experience is over. Nick, myself, and a team of advocates traveled across the world to the red dirt roads of Jinja with minimal video equipment, deep into the heart of the villages, where extreme poverty exists. Watching this video brings back so many good memories of the beautiful people we met in Uganda, but it is a constant reminder of the pain and poverty of those who live there and the struggle to survive everyday. The video is raw, you will see graphic images of jigger removal. We felt this footage was important as it shows what is actually happening everyday at Sole Hope. I hope that you watch this video and not only see how Sole Hope is improving the lives of those affected by jiggers, but see how fortunate and blessed you are to live in the US.

Special thanks to the Sole Hope team for allowing us into their homes and lives for a couple of weeks, and special thanks to NEEDTOBREATHE for donating their song “Brother.”My experience can be summed up in one quote. I found this quote after returning, but it expresses my feelings and outlook for the future “No one ever became poor by giving” -Anne Frank

God Bless Uganda and our friends at Sole Hope. We miss you!!

A Day on the Nile River

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I needed to escape back to beautiful Uganda today and what a better way to do that then posting some of our photos from our day at the Nile River and Lake Victoria. I photographed most of these hanging out of a boat, but I am happy to have these memories. Life is simple here, fisherman cast their nets to catch silverfish and farmers bring their cattle down to the river for a drink every couple of hours. Silverfish is popular snack, I tried one but it took several hours to get the taste out of my mouth.

That day we floated to the mouth of the Nile, and also saw a newlywed couple there waiting for a blessing. We were told it is common practice and good luck for the bride and the groom to go to the river for a blessing after marriage. I loved all the colorful wooden boats along side the river. We also saw various wildlife including birds, lizards, and snakes. Contrary to what you may think, the Nile has beautiful dark blue water and the area we visited was very clean. Further down the river has rapids where you can raft. There was discussion about doing this, but we decided to pass, there are crocodiles, hippos, and piranhas that live in these waters!

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This is the mouth of the Nile. Note the little blue sign in the photo below, the spring is located here.

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Tagsjinja, lake Victoria, the nile river, uganda

Jeremy & Becca – Tiger Hotel Columbia, Missouri

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Congrats to Mr & Mrs Shewmaker! Nick and I had the opportunity to film Jeremy and Becca’s wedding in January; we kicked off wedding season early this year! Their wedding and reception was held at the Tiger Hotel in Columbia, Missouri. The weather was threatening snow and ice, but it only flurried all day, for that we were thankful. They both attend Mizzou so they did their first look on campus along with several of their pictures. Jeremy & Becca had quite the party that evening, as you will see in the video, everyone was dancing and enjoying themselves. We loved being a part of your wedding day, best wishes for a long happy life!

London

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Our on way back from Africa, Nick and I had the opportunity to explore London and the English countryside. This post shares a few of our adventures and photos we experienced. We stayed in the Shoreditch district in London which was recommended to us by some friends who live in England. It was the perfect location for us; hip, trendy, and full of local art and flavors. We enjoyed the local street art, a food truck festival, and hole in the wall coffee/ tea shops. One of my favorite things in the area was the Columbia Road Flower Market. Every Saturday, the streets are lined with beautiful flowers for sale. Many of their flowers and plants are different then what we see in the US. I was memorized by all the fresh displays. We ventured all over London and toured hot spots like Big Bend, Buckingham Palace, The Tower of London, London Eye, Prime Meridian, etc.

Another one of my favorite activities was touring through the Borough Market, which is a renowned food market and source of British & international produce. You can buy anything and everything there! Nick and I sampled our way through what felt like was miles of vendor tents. My favorite was the tea shop and olive oil tasting. London reminded us a lot of New York, but the city is full of historic buildings and traditions. I loved all the charming old buildings. Next post, I will share our adventures touring the English countryside and exploring castles!

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