Holidays!

Happy New Year! Merry Christmas! :) I hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful time of the year.

I am so sorry I haven't blogged lately, but I promise to have more pictures up soon. I am getting ready to go out of town, but as soon as I get back I WILL blog!

God bless you all!

Tara

Italy!

Finally I have a few pictures for you of my trip to Italy with my husband. What a wonderful and amazing place. We loved the culture, the history, the food, and just walking around the streets of Rome and Florence. Our favorite time to walk around was at night...so beautiful at night. We checked out the hotels, etc. that my bride and groom will be staying at for their wedding, and they definitely exceeded my expectations. I was very happy about this! If you have not been to Italy, I highly recommend it! It is actually so hard to believe that we were actually there...the whole time we just figured we were on an elaborate movie set! :)

The Colosseum...

Me walking through the Colosseum...looking like I belong in the Matrix! :) Just seeing this site and knowing of all the battles that went on in this place made this site very special.

This was one of our favorite places...the Mamertine prison that held both Peter and Paul, along with many other martyrs for Christ. The upside down cross symbolizes how Peter was crucified. He wanted to be crucified upside down because he did not feel worthy to die in the same way as his Savior and Lord. We could still see where the shackles were on the walls. Breathtaking to know what occurred in this prison. Peter,Paul, and other believers continued to praise the Lord through their suffering in this place. Many prisoners were saved and baptized from a miraculous spring that bubbled up through the prison floor.

St. Peter's Square (which is actually round!) in the Vatican City. We saw inside St. Peter's Basilica, and boy was it was massive! We saw the tomb of Peter and of many popes, including Pope John Paul II. We just happened to arrive at the Vatican City when the present pope came out and spoke to the masses of people. We definitely didn't expect to see the pope! :)

We thought it was hilarious to see an Italian with a confederate flag helmet!

Authentic Italian Tiramisu! It was yummy!

We had to take a picture of these cars because they were covered in bird poo! I guess they parked in the wrong place that day!

Jonathan and I in front of the Trevi Fountain. One of my couples (Lindsey and Nick) were engaged right here in front of this fountain! I have pictures of their wedding coming very soon...

The Borghese Gardens in Rome. It is like New York's Central Park.

Our view from the Spanish Steps in Rome. It was so crowded that evening, that cars could not even get through. The street you are looking at is where all the expensive stores are...Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, etc. Needless to say, we did not shop there...well, we window shopped! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thankgiving! This year I was a little under the weather, but I still enjoyed being around family. Now it is Christmas time! Hard to believe it is already here.

I received some pictures of Laura and Daniel's wedding back in August from Audrey Goforth. The wedding took place on the Sammon's Terrace at the Grove Park Inn, and the reception took place in their lovely, Skyline Room. Laura and Daniel were such a fun couple with a love for art. They gave each guest a piece of artwork to take home...made their guests feel special by adding such a personal touch.

Laura and her mom, Sibbie...so nice to see a mother and daughter so close.


Lovely flowers by Julie, the Grove Park florist. Dana, with A Fine Line, hand painted each table number. She has so much talent, and does the most beautiful calligraphy of anyone I have every seen.

Sibbie and I...loved her!

Such a sweet picture of Laura and her dad!

Sibbie and her friends having a good ole time! :)

Watch out...we have a break dancer!

...and an air guitarist!

And the exit...thank you for giving me the opportunity to work with you all!

Blast from the Past

I ran into Aaron with Aaron Imaging at Corey McNabb's Rockstar Workshop. I haven't seen him in a long time, so it was nice to catch up. He sent me some pictures of a wedding we did together back in 2005. This was one of the sweetest weddings I have done because both the bride and the groom were deaf, and the love that the shared shone through them. When the saxophone player with The Asheville Gentlemen played a song, they both laid their hands on the instrument so they could 'listen' to the music. There was not a dry eye in the place. I had to share these pictures...







Here are some very kind words from Aaron...

"In the summer of '05 I got a call from a gentleman in North Dakota. He said his youngest daughter had been dreaming of her wedding day all her life and he planned on making it one she would never forget. He said the wedding might be different from most I photograph. The groom and his family are from Puerto Rica and speak little to no English. I told him that was cool, I do allot of international weddings. Then he told me the bride and groom are both deaf and speak sign language. Wow! A special needs, three language, high end wedding, sounds like a recipe for disaster to me!

Arriving on location the wedding day, I could tell from the first moment the day was going to go well. I was greeted by a full time ASL interpreter, who had come from Raleigh. I did not know there were full time ASL interpreters. Who finds people like this? At the end of the day, I knew whoever found her, found the best.

The musicians were incredible! But why have top notch musicians at a deaf wedding? I learned soon enough..... Lisa and Alberto can FEEL the music together with their hands. Wow again, who thinks of this stuff?

The minister and interpreter worked together like they were one person. The minister was very sensitive to the bride and groom's needs and gave them a ceremony that I know did not come out of any book.

I was given ample time and help to photograph the couple and we had a blast. Dinner was nothing short of spectacular and the cake was elegant. A perfect wedding ended with some toasts that left no dry eyes. Dad delivered his promise to his girl, she got her dream wedding.

It turns out Tara Jordan was the hero behind the scenes, thinking of the little things that made the day, making the potential nightmare wedding into a dream wedding. So it does not surprise me one bit that Weddings with Tara has quickly risen above the crowd and became a premier service for the discerning bride. Keep up the great work!"

Corey McNabb's Workshop

This weekend I had the pleasure of hosting the opening party for Corey McNabb's Workshop that is taking place this week. We held it at Corey's studio in Asheville, NC. Thank you to The Purple Iris for the fabulous flowers, to Eric (28806 catering) for the delicious food, and to Ryan with Masterpiece Ice for the coolest ice carving ever! The electric guitar ice carving was the hit of the evening!

Check out the pictures that my husband took...







Corey also asked me to be one of the speakers at the conference...what an honor! Thank you, Corey, for the opportunity! My 'talk' will be taking place on Wednesday, so I will let you know if I ever get asked to do it again! :)


On Saturday we went up to my parents house in Waynesville, and just enjoyed being with family. One of my parents' neighbors has a cute little boxer puppy named Oscar. So, we had to take Toni and Bezer (my mom and dad's dog) to play!

Jonathan, Oscar and me!

The meeting...

Okay, let's play!

Ya gonna let me down, Troy?

My sister-in-law, Laura, and my dad's ear getting kissed!

Ready for a walk!

More to show you

Hello again! Jess and Jake were married at the Cliffs Glassy Chapel, in South Carolina, on October 13th. Their reception was held at the Cliffs Valley Clubhouse. If you have never been to the chapel at Glassy, the views are unbelievable. You can see miles and miles....views of both North Carolina and South Carolina. Amazing! Pictures just wouldn't do it justice!

Here are some photographs taken by John Gillespie. I really enjoyed working with John and Jeff Bradt, the videographer. Enjoy!

Look how beautiful Jess is! Loved the bouquet by Sweetbriar!

Jake is in medical school, so as favors they gave these 'Prescription' bottles filled with candy!

This past weekend, our friends Amy and Cody were married at Pink Beds in the Pisgah National Forest. This time I was just a guest, so that was nice! Amy and Cody are moving to Mexico to live as missionaries, to spread the good news of Jesus Christ and His saving grace. Jonathan and I, along with family and friends watched this beautiful union, and we were in awe of the love that was so apparent between them. One of my favorite parts of the ceremony was when they washed each others feet. Take a look at my husband's photos...

Cody's dad made this cake...he owns a bakery/cafe in Mexico. It was delicious!!

Cheesing it! :)

This past Sunday, Jonathan and I went down to his parents house in Greenville, SC. Jonathan's brother, Chip, was back from Afghanistan for a 2-week leave. So good to have him home. He brought over his new puppy, Madeline Belle (Maddi). I instantly fell in love!

Chip, Jonathan, and me (holding Maddi)

Awwww.....

You think Toni's jealous?

Goodness gracious, look at that face!!!