6 Years Today...

Today marks our 6 year anniversary. I feel so blessed to have spent my last six years married to Shane. When I first met Shane, he was a Recon marine and I was just graduating high school. I worked at a local Christian bookstore and Shane had just come back from a 6 month tour with the military. Of course I had to help get him up-to-date with the new music that had come out since he left. I said I would leave a brochure at the check-out counter for him the next day and instead, he waited and showed up the next time I was working. The rest is history.

Our first date was a bike ride along the beach at sunset. At the time I didn't know it was a date, but looking back on it, Shane masterfully planned that one out. I stayed in North Carolina to go to school for a little while and Shane got out of the military and moved to Colorado. After a long-distance relationship, we decided we wanted to finish college together and we found a university between our families in Kearney, NE. One year later we were married. For any of you who has met Shane, you could probably already guess how much spunk and spark he's added to my life. I love you hun!

ps: digital photography was so new at this time, hardly anyone used it. We had our wedding pictures scanned in.

2007 Highlights

Here's a quick web-show with some of our favorite shots from 2007. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

This blog comes from both Shane and I...we hope everyone is having a great Christmas!

Shane's pie admitted defeat this time. He got distracted talking with the family and it wasn't until my dad noticed a light on in the oven hours later that he realized he had forgotten about the pie (approximately 3 hours after putting it in).
Shane's parents brought a new version of Domino's for us all to play. It was actually a lot of fun.
Once everyone had left our home, we went out to play in the snow.
It's rare to find Shane without his coffee...
He probably should have put the camera down for this moment...
Run away!

We just received the new Grace Ormonde Wedding Style that will hit the shelves soon. We are a platinum list vendor and are honored to be listed with who we feel are some of weddings greatest vendors. In it you will find photography by some of our favorites... Ray Santana, Mike Colon and Me Ra Koh.

D3 Baby!

Although this isn't technically a Christmas present, it arrived just in time! Last night and this morning I had to break it out and play a little. This camera is sweet!

Here is a shot of our Christmas tree ornament taken at 3200 iso. Can you believe it? Almost no grain. There's been a lot of talk about this camera's release and abilities, but finally getting it and using it...Nikon's new D3 is all it was talked up to be. To anyone considering buying this camera, it's well worth the investment.

You can now see Andy & Elizabeth's wedding in print by picking up a copy of Nebraska Wedding Day's spring issue. This is their fifth anniversary edition and it looks great! We recently had the chance to sit down with it's publisher, Courtney, and are so excited for her and the the rest of the staff at NWD. They put so much time and care into this magazine, our congratulations go out to them on one of their best issues yet.

For those of you wanting to see this wedding on Nebraska Wedding Day's site...patience...it's coming.

Bob Davis & Mike Colon

I am happy to say that I will be attending the Master Your Craft workshop with Mike Colon and Bob Davis. My friend Kenny, who I met at Mike's last workshop, is letting me crash at his place for a couple days while I'm out there. Thanks Kenny! This should be a great workshop and if any of you are considering going, I would recommend it. It's not often you get the chance to learn from two of photography's best in the same day and at this price.

Christmas Party

So, over the past few weeks we've heard so many people saying that their work has had "Christmas Parties." After hearing the stories, I began to miss them so Shane and I called up two of our bestest friends and we went out to dinner and played a game of Canasta at our favorite local coffee shop. It has been officially named (by Danielle) the "1st Annual Melenbacker Photography Christmas Shin-dig." I love these two! I have never laughed as hard as I do with these guys!
By the way, the stolen camera has been returned.

Children's Museum

Last night our local Children's museum held a party for area children who are in need. An anonymous donor had donated enough to keep the museum open late, provide the families with their Christmas dinner and all their Christmas day presents. Thanks to this person's generosity and last night's volunteers, these kids will have a Christmas they won't forget. We were extremely excited to help provide the families with pictures of their children playing throughout the night and pictures with Santa.

Cut Frame TV

I was taking time to visit some of my favorite websites today and wanted to share one of my favorite photo resource sites with you. Cut Frame TV is like a You Tube for photographers and it's filled with great tips, tours of photographer's studios and lots more. Dane Sanders is the man behind the website and we have him to thank for such a great resource. Here's one of my favorite videos of a Trash the Dress Session.