“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” -JFK

It was a late Friday, 1955. My father was eighteen years old, a Cuban immigrant who spoke little english. In his short time in the U.S. he had found disappointment, heartbreak, and a new found passion of all things rock’n'roll. As he stood in front of the Miami post office, he saw hope. The recruiting officer tried to explain that it was too late in the day for any more recruitments into the United States Army. With his mind full of dreams, at eighteen, my father was lost. He had no idea what he wanted to do, but there was a feeling, deep down, of yearning to make a difference. He was unsure if the officer felt bad for him or just wanted to meet his quota, but what this man did, changed my father’s life forever. He offered my father a place to stay for the weekend at a nearby hotel, meal vouchers so he wouldn’t go hungry, and even money so he could buy a movie ticket that evening. He instructed my father to be back at the office first thing Monday morning. My father asked the officer one question, “How do you know I’ll be back?” The officer replied, “I can see in your eyes how much you want this.” A few days later my father was declaring an intent for U.S. citizenship and preparing to ship out to Europe.

Growing up, I never truly understood the depth of my father’s patriotism. I would hear his stories and sense how important the U.S. was in his life and find myself wondering how he could be loyal and have fought for a country in which he was not born. I often wondered if there was a difference between my father and I. Being a U.S. born daughter of immigrants didn’t really make things easy for me at school. I often felt as if I didn’t fit in. Too Hispanic for the American crowd and too American for the Hispanic crowd. So, unlike my father, I didn’t express my patriotism in the same ways. I was proud to be born from Spanish and Cuban origins. I was proud to write and speak two languages. I loved everything about the origins of my family. Where I was from and where I were going. The thought that maybe I took things for granted because I didn’t have to fight to get it was always in the back of my mind. Until later in life, I realized my father’s patriotism and devotion was to an idea. An idea of being free to hope, to speak, to dream.

The same idea that is behind this beautiful country that makes it possible for a Cuban immigrant and all others, born here or not, to make choices and live their life, freely.

Today, I thank my father for serving our country and for what he has taught me. It has helped me become who I am today. I join him in reflecting and thanking the families and all the men and women that have served our country and made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

We could not be more thrilled to be a part of the bay area’s first edition of  CRAVE Tampa Bay, the ultimate guide to finding unique women-owned businesses in the Tampa Bay area. It was such a beautiful experience, getting to know more about our community and meeting such talented women! I look forward to sharing each shoot and featuring the amazing women I photographed in the next few blog posts. For now, be sure to visit their web pages and get to know more about each one. Sheri’ Taber of Peak Performance Group, Sara Stonecipher of MISRED Outfitters, Michelle Jennings-Wiebe of Studio M, Jennifer Aguiar of Aguiar Plastic Surgery, Soozie Lazenby of Urban Coast and Heidi Bundy of Heidi Bundy Designs.

The CRAVE book launch party was so much fun and a perfect way for everyone involved to meet and get to know one another. Christy Schutz and Nancy Vaughn did a fantastic job and there were so many fabulous businesses that were part of the book that helped contribute to an evening full of delicious food, raffle prizes, and much more! We had a chance to meet with Melody Biringer, a true business start-up junkie (we are talking 20+ businesses!) the master-mind behind this awesome project that inspires the community to connect and build each other up. Melody’s cheerful personality is contagious, so much so, that within 5 seconds of meeting her, I was standing around with 4 other women I didn’t know (yet) and she was snapping a phone pic of our bright-manicured toes!

We look forward to seeing the CRAVE wave throughout the bay area and supporting the talented women in this community!

• Cafe Dufrain
• Carrie Wildes Photography. Art. Design.
• Jam Entertainment
• The Grand Beauty Spa
• Posh
• Intensity Academy
• Marketplace Interiors
• Pupcakes
• Sassy Cucina
• Schakolad
• Urbancoast
• The Web Decorators
• White Book Agency
• Working Women of Tampa Bay
• Zyr Vodka

MMD Events may not know this fun fact, but in 2009 while I was planning my own wedding, I came across their website. It was before we had our photography business and I was not familiar with the wedding industry at all. But I do recall that I would open up their website every morning just to let their website song play over and over again throughout the day. I fell in love with the remix and lyrics of “Where do I begin” and unbeknownst to them, they became part of my wedding planning memories! MMD is a wedding and event planning business, specializing in distinctive decor design and creating events with edge. We absolutely love their creative imagination and dedication to making each event unique! You may have caught a glimpse of the stylish lounges MMD created for the NACE event that we featured on our blog yesterday, but we had to follow the post with part II and share their beautiful vintage collection. Be sure to keep up with the latest MMD creative work on their blog or facebook page and contact them for your event needs!

P.S. We heard it through the grapevine that they will be launching their redesigned website on June 1st and we can’t wait to see!

We are thrilled to be part of NACE, a professional society that provides resources to better serve our clients, networking opportunities to meet with the best wedding professionals in the Tampa Bay area and ways to expand our knowledge. Last week’s event was held at the gorgeous Vinoy Renaissance in St.Pete. It was our second time attending a NACE event and it was great meeting new faces and catching up with some of our favorite wedding pros! The night was filled with delicious food, great conversations, a stunning display from MMD‘s vintage collection (which we will be featuring in a part II of this post tomorrow) and much more. The topic of the evening was the elements of floral design. We learned about scale, the art of floral design, and how an experienced floral designer can help you make your floral dreams a reality. The best part of the night was putting into practice the information that the floral expert shared. Every table was given certain elements to create a client’s dream floral arrangement, while implementing the design principles we just learned. From the images, I’m sure you will see how much fun and what creative pros we have in the bay area! The evening ended with judges choosing the winning table and some fun raffles.

We photographed the event for NACE and here are some of our favorite images from the evening. Enjoy!

Vendor Credits:

Venue: Vinoy Renaissance

Linens: Connie Duglin

Flowers and Speaker – Ian Prosser /Botanica

Lounge vintage pieces: MMD Events

Drapery, lounge areas, chairs: Showorks

I am utterly in love with this session. The gorgeous location and antiques, Summer’s beautiful baby bump, and all the details that came together in perfect harmony to create such sweet memories! Summer is the sister of one of our recent brides, Stevi, and I am sure you will see a resemblance in their lovely smiles! It was great spending time with their families and seeing the love they share. Summer’s session was actually scheduled for the morning of her baby shower day and that made the session that much more special! Her mom gave Summer her gift before we started the session and as you will see in the images, it was absolutely breathtaking! It was a beautiful book with a lovely pink dress, but what was extra special about this gift, are the words from the book, which are written on the dress itself. Isn’t that the cutest idea ever?

Summer had her beautiful baby girl, Charlotte, on April 30th and we are thrilled for her and the family! This is such an exciting time for them and we hope that these images bring you even more happiness!! Much love!