After photographing Cortney's fabulous bridal session I knew her wedding to Alex would be simply gorgeous just by the stunning Vera Wang gown she wore! Although Cortney and Alex's wedding day originally was scheduled for rain, the sun came out shining in perfect timing for their outdoor portrait session.

All of her beautiful flowers were expertly designed by Chris Mainey of European Gallery, the reception was held at the Hotel du Pont, and a big special thanks goes out to Jason Williams who did a great job as my second shooter.

Is this not the perfect room to get ready in?

I love this photo of Cortney and her Mother, taken right before their formal portrait:

instead of a martini bar, Cortney and Alex chose to have a champagne bar at the cocktail hour:

the Hotel du Pont looked amazing!

As a final note - this will actually be the last blog post before our shiny, sparkly new blog goes live towards the end of this week. We will be featuring a brand new logo, colors, layout... the works! Don't worry, all the old content will still be here, it will just appear a little differently.

Check back soon to see what it all looks like!

due to this week being much busier than most, there is so much to post and such a little amount of time to do it. After this weekend, I have several amazing weddings (one of which is being featured in a five page spread in Brides Magazine) and fun portraits to share with you on this blog.

In the meantime you will have to settle for this little image I really like, taken in the restaurant at the top of the Philadelphia Park Hyatt during a UPenn graduation portrait session. We ended up staying inside because of the rain, and sometimes the rain forces me to be a little bit more creative than when I can rely on easy, outdoor light.

This morning while walking to the studio I was thinking about sharing with you a few different things I have discovered lately that I am absolutely in love with. Then I came into the office, checked the blog stats and realized that overnight we got our 100,000th visitor since this new blog was launched last July! Thank you so much for your readership, interest and being part of my life here on this blog. I am truly blessed to have such great friends, clients and visitors who keep up with what all of us are up to here at Laura Novak Photography. In the next few weeks we have some very exciting new things happening both at the studio and some changes planned for this blog so be sure to check back often!

So in case you were looking for some good afternoon web surfing here are a few recent things that found out about and I love, and would love to share with YOU as a 'thank you' for being part of this fun blog adventure...

- The first is an online store called Shop Mamie full of adorable dresses, skirts and tops where everything can be purchased for under $100. I found them last weekend at Flower Market and purchased this wrap top that I am trying not to wear every single day.

- The second is a really cute podcast and blog called Hip Tranquil Chick which blends some of my very favorite topics; entreprenurship, creativity, yoga, style and travel. I am hooked!

- This season's line of Camper shoes. I purchased these (which are coincendally named Laura):

which feel the closest to sneakers that I have ever had in heels. They are the perfect city shoe for walking to work and running around doing errands in. I actually just got back from a photo session with two three year old twin boys and they still feel super comfortable!

- Finally, I have gotten many questions about what I use on my photos to create beautiful color and toning. A lot of what I use comes out of the Totally Rad Action Mix, and my absolute favorite action in the mix is the Pro Retouch. I use it all the time and it's the perfect enhancement for smoothing skin and highlighting eyes. The whole set is great and perfect for perfecting an image to it's maximum potential.

For example, here is a 'before' photo straight out of camera from Cortney and Alex's incredible wedding two weekends ago, which I will be blogging about very soon

with a little bit of density correction and toning, the action set takes a good image to great!

Do you have any fun finds that I should be checking out?

Becky looks so much like Cameron Diaz, don't you think? When I asked her if people often commented on that, she quipped back "yeah... BEFORE I got pregnant." Too funny. I think she still does and looks fantastic! Becca, our associate photographer, photographed Becky's wedding last June and it was so nice to see her again for maternity photos. A lot of people ask about what to wear for maternity sessions and I think Becky's black strapless dress looks absolutely perfect.

I had the best time photographing this handsome little guy, Ronan, and his family. His dad was a former Navy Seal and Ronan actually means little seal in Gaelic. Very clever!

Right after photographing the photo below of the entire family in the tall grass I saw something moving... and wouldn't you know it was a huge snake. Mom and I went running and screaming while Dad appeared very entertained by the both of us.

I am sharing this last photo just for laughs - Ronan wasn't overly thrilled with his mom's recommendation to not eat the grass.

For the second year in a row, we are participating in Wilmington's Flower Market today, tomorrow and Saturday held in Rockford Park right down the street from our studio! The Wilmington Flower Market is a Delaware Mother's Day tradition that includes children's rides, merchants and of course flowers. A percentage of all sales from Flower Market is distributed by the Board of Managers to a wide range of charities throughout the state of Delaware supporting children.

Here are some photos of my booth!

Here's Becca, our superstar associate with one of our client volunteers, Catherine. Catherine runs this great organization called Girls on the Run which is supported by Flower Market Charities.

and of course, right next door is Sweetheart boutique - they are next door to us normally so mine we figured we mine as well travel together to Flower Market in the same fashion! Sophie, the owner, is on the right next to some lovely friends helping her out.

Finally, I would like to share an amazing group of women who I just came into contact with through one of my wonderful clients. They stand for everything I believe in: empowering women, celebrating courage and defining yourself by the moment you live in. Together they are called One Brave Chick and I highly recommend you check them out either by visiting their website or at Flower Market

see you soon!

For all the brides out there who might be looking for a cool outdoor venue in Philadelphia, you might want to consider The Waterworks which is located right behind the Philadelphia Art Museum. I photographed several weddings and events there last year and not only is the location gorgeous but the food is incredible! The restaurant is family owned and you get the nicest feel from everyone who works there.

Last week we had a few models out and I took some photographs for their next brochure. You can see some of the different areas where a ceremony or reception could be held in the photos:

Last weekend I photographed the incredible, stunning wedding of Cortney and Alex - which I will blog much more about later. In the meantime I can finally share Cortney's bridal session which I photographed last month at the Greenville Country Club. I normally do not get many requests for bridal sessions which is too bad because they are so much fun!

I loved Cortney's Vera Wang gown made of silk tulle which just photographs so beautifully.