THANK YOU to all of you that submitted your stories! I chose the finalist by putting all qualified applicants in a hat and had my daughter draw the name – I wanted it to be completely random and fair.

I’m excited to announce that Craig + Lacey won my free wedding photography! This is their story:

Craig and I met 6 years ago when we worked together at Carson Oil Company. I was an office girl, and he was the off-limits warehouse boy His sister worked with us, he was 6 years younger, I was recently divorced, and it’s generally not a good plan to date people you work with, so I didn’t really do anything about my little crush on him. I had never seen him in anything but work clothes until the work holiday party, and when I saw how good he looked in jeans, I knew that I had to make my move!! I asked him to come over and watch a movie at my house, and we’ve been together ever since!

We got engaged on Valentine’s Day – he did the asking this time!

I closed my business this year, and have several years before all of the bills from it will be paid off, so I wasn’t thinking that financially we could have a fabulous wedding anytime soon. Craig just bought a house for us this summer, and with the government tax rebate from that, we decided that we could start planning a simple wedding. Craig has a big family-7 siblings total-so we knew that we couldn’t have a small reception, even if we wanted to! We figured we could cut back on things like flowers and photography to save money. We were just planning on having the little disposable wedding cameras on each table and leaving the pics up to our guests, which could be a little scary!

I am just so happy that I have finally found the greatest guy ever and can’t wait to make our commitment to each other official!

xoxo – Lacey Shelby

I think it’s great that they won! I know Lacey from when I had my studio in the Flinn Block Building as she was the owner of the fabulous store “Glam”. Lacey + Craig — I am very excited to photograph your wedding in August!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Hugs,

Sara

The last few years have been hard times for a lot of people. I know many couples have postponed their wedding due to the expense. I would like to help a couple in need of wedding photography but can’t afford it. Are you a couple in need? Tell me your love story and why I should choose you…

To apply please answer my questions above via email and send in a photo of you and your significant other. Also let me know your wedding date and where you are getting married. You must be okay with me posting your love story and photo on my blog. Applications need to be emailed to me by midnight on Saturday, November 21st and I will announce the wining couple on Thanksgiving Day!

*To qualify your wedding date has to be a date that I’m available. This gift includes five hours of wedding day photography by Sara Lil and digital images on disc.

**[ please note: travel fees may incur if it's outside of my vicinity ]

Amanda & John’s Love Story:

John and I met online. We set up an initial time to meet at the Woodburn Outlet Mall the following weekend, which is half way between where we lived (Portland and Albany) and if things went well we would have dinner together that night. We were an awesome match! We ended up meeting, going to dinner and attending a hockey game later night. I fell in love with more than just hockey that weekend. We got married eighteen months later on May 12, 2007 at a beautiful bed and breakfast overlooking the ocean in South Beach, Oregon. You can even see our monogrammed pink rose wedding cake today on their website.

Some fun, romantic facts about us:

John sent me flowers at work so much it became embarrassing; I’ve kept all the cards.

My first gift from John was a travel mug so I would have coffee for my long drives to see him.

John woke up at 4:30 am every morning for our first two years together to go to work in Portland doing construction and would return home around 7 or 8 pm every night so we could be together.

I was in such a rush to marry him that I tripped on my wedding dress coming down the aisle.

Why should you choose us? Well, certainly not because you’ve already shot our engagement photos (September 30th, 2006) or because we are some big fans of your work. Choose us because we are still as much in love today as in your original photographs of us. We have the clothes and are no longer afraid to dirty them; we have lots of ideas and would be happy to share them; we love to laugh, and John has weighed the risk of being picked and having to dress up and said he would commit to doing this with me if I entered and were picked.

Take Care,
Amanda & John

I’m very excited to hear all your ideas for the Day After shoot Amanda & John! I have some great ones too!

Thanks to everyone that entered the contest. The way that I picked the winner was by drawing names. If you didn’t win this time stay tuned because I will have more contests in the future.

I am now offering “Day After” photo sessions in my wedding packages. My definition of this session:

Day After Session – The bride and groom dress in their wedding attire after the wedding and I photograph them without any time constraints. They can play in the sand at the beach because it won’t matter if the dress and tux get dirt on it! These are fun, artistic, creative, carefree photos!

If you are interested in winning one of these sessions please email me with a brief description of your love story, your wedding date, and why I should pick you along with a photo of yourselves. You do not have to be getting married this summer to enter, you can already be married. The only catch is that you have to be willing to get dressed up in your wedding attire (ladies – this could be hard to convince your partners to do!!) and have some fun getting photographed!

All entries must be received by midnight on February 13th, 2008. I’ll announce the winning couple on February 14th!

Email: info@saralilphoto.com and please put “day after shoot” in the subject line.

Day After Session – The bride and groom dress in their wedding attire after the wedding and I photograph them without any time constraints. They can play in the sand at the beach because it won’t matter if the dress and tux get dirt on it! These are fun, artistic, creative, carefree photos!

If you are interested in winning one of these sessions please email me with a brief description of your love story, your wedding date, and why I should pick you along with a photo of yourselves. You do not have to be getting married this summer to enter, you can already be married. The only catch is that you have to be willing to get dressed up in your wedding attire (ladies – this could be hard to convince your partners to do!!) and have some fun getting photographed!

All entries must be received by midnight on February 13th, 2008. I’ll announce the winning couple on February 14th!

Email: info@saralilphoto.com and please put “day after shoot” in the subject line.

If you would like to schedule a family session, portrait session (have a child that will be a senior next year? have a new baby?), maternity session, or engagement session with me and you are an OSU employee just mention that you saw my blog and I will give you $25 Off the sitting fee session, which is normally $150. This offer expires June 15, 2007. Please inquire via email for more details: info@saralilphoto.com

OSU blog readers please pass this link onto all your co-workers and friends that are OSU employees! The 10th email I get regarding this blog message wins a free session!!

Happy Spring!!