thank you all for your love and support, i appreciate all of the kind words i’ve received. i truly have the best clients and friends. thank you all from the bottom of my heart. xoxo.

i’m officially starting my “maternity leave” today, so i wanted to update with a little bit of what will be going on around here for the next couple of months and how scheduling will work for the rest of 2013. my due date is in less than a month (yipee!) and i’ve finished all the sessions that i’m going to shoot before the baby arrives, and everything is edited and mailed out as of today. if anyone hasn’t received their discs by the end of this week, please let me know!

i have a small number of sessions scheduled for late spring/summertime (beginning at the very end of may through august), but at this point, i’m not adding anything else to my schedule until after the baby joins us and i can get a better idea of how my life will look with two kids. for anyone who is interested in a summertime session, i’m making a list and can contact you in may to see about scheduling. at this point, i don’t have any weekend availability until the middle of july, and will probably only be taking a few more appointments for the summer.

in the fall begins wedding season for me! my first wedding is in the middle of september and my last is at the middle of november. i won’t be accepting anymore weddings for 2013, but am beginning to book now for 2014. i will miss summer weddings this year (i love them!) but am really excited to soak up all of this precious time with my family. any wedding consults for 2014 will be held after june 1st, but i’m definitely open to chatting and exchanging as much information as possible until we can meet in person.

as far as sessions for the remainder of 2013, i will only be shooting locally for the rest of this year. since i’ll have a brand new baby, i won’t be traveling outside of warrenton, haymarket, or gainesville for outdoor shoots. i have tons of great recommendations for parks and outdoor locations in this area that i’d love to share with you! because of the weddings i have in the fall, i will be taking on FAR LESS family shoots than i typically do and focusing mostly on weddings in that time frame. i know fall is a really popular time for family photos because of holiday cards (and because fall is just so beautiful in virginia!), so i’m considering doing mini sessions (one or two dates) in october. i will make a decision on that after the baby as well, and will announce the date(s) as soon as i have them.

i think that’s all for now! if you have any questions, feel free to email me. i probably won’t be as prompt with return emails as i typically am (especially for a few weeks after the baby arrives) but i will get back to you! thanks so much for all your patience and support in this new phase of our life. i have so much gratitude for each and every one of my clients (whom i consider my friends, really) and for those of you i’ve yet to meet. this “job” truly is my dream, and i couldn’t feel more blessed that it’s been able to evolve through the past few years and will now evolve further as we add another little love to our family. although things will be a little bit slower this year, i’m really looking forward to what is to come with a big open heart, and can’t wait to share more with you all.

with so much love and gratitude,

ali

PS — the next blog post will be of the baby!!! yay!!

[all images in this post by tara polly photography -- love you my sweet friend!]

tasha + randi, you were meant for each other. thank you for choosing me to capture such an incredible time in your lives. congratulations a million times over and the best of wishes for a lifetime of happiness! you are so lucky to have chosen one another. xo.