05/15/2025
Today is — and if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years behind the camera, it’s that family doesn’t come in one shape, size, or structure.
Family can be brought together by blood or by choice. By partnership, by parenthood, by the decision to show up for each other, day after day, with care and grace. Family is a decision we make every day — to love, to forgive, to grow, to celebrate.
As I look back at the incredible families I’ve had the honor to photograph, I see that diversity and beauty reflected in every frame.
There are personal friends, like Ben, who stood beside my husband and me when we said our own vows nearly fifteen years ago — and now, my team and I have had the joy of photographing him and his wife as they said theirs, and watching their family grow before our lenses.
There are the couples I met through weddings, whose stories didn’t end when the last dance played. They’ve become part of my yearly rhythm, returning for autumn mini sessions and letting me witness their journeys — through parenthood by birth, by adoption, by every path love can take. I’ve seen their little ones grow from tiny, sleepy newborns to vibrant kids with big personalities and quirks that remind me so much of their parents on their own wedding days.
And then there are the families who’ve found me through the grapevine — a friend tells a friend, who tells a cousin, who shares their photos, and suddenly my world is connected by this big, beautiful spiderweb of people who trust me to capture their version of family.
It’s all part of the magic that makes the world go ‘round — love.
So today, I’m celebrating every family:
The ones with one kid or five.
The ones with two moms, two dads, or parents who defy any box.
The ones with beloved pets who are absolutely counted as siblings.
The chosen families who built their circle through friendship and loyalty.
Whatever your family looks like, however it came together — it is beautiful, it is valid, and it deserves to be celebrated. And I’m so honored every time you let me be part of that story.
Happy International Family Day, my friends.