Last night as I crawled into bed, the side table light was on and Ryenne was passed out on my pillow. The lamp cast the perfect amount of light across Ryenne’s face.

Though she has her own room, she sneaks into my bed nightly. I really don’t mind. I have a great, big California King bed all to myself since Peter and I sleep at opposite times. I love the snuggles she gives me.

I love this little girl. I don’t give her nearly enough credit and praise for how wonderful she is. I love how she believes whole heartedly in magic. When there’s morning dew on the grass she is excited that fairies visited. She thinks that bird houses are fairy houses. She believes without any doubt that there is a Santa Claus and an Easter Bunny. Magic is alive within her – she is pure magic. I have no doubts she was dreaming of magic last night. My beautiful girl.

Mark your calendars! January 29th I’m doing Valentine’s mini-sessions!

The fine print: These sessions are for children only and will take place in the afternoon at the Happy Cow Farm in South Austin (off of Brodie, south of Slaughter). You will receive a link to view your four proofs on January 31st. To receive your free set of wallets (eight of the same pose), and to receive discounts on print products, all orders must be placed by February 6, 2011. Orders placed after that time will be subject to shipping charges and billed at the regular rate. All photographic prints (excluding Canvas) are on sale for 50% off (for this event only). Press printed valentines cards are on sale for $50 per set of 25 (regularly $75). I have adorable V-Day designs to choose from that I will share in your viewing gallery. I am suggesting a $10 cash donation, however, leave it to your discretion. 100% of the donations from this event will be split between my two favorite charities: Austin Pets Alive and the Capital Area Food Bank.

To reserve your session, please E-MAIL me mariah@mariahmilan.com and note that you want availability for the Valentine’s Special on the 29th.

And the other big news???? My new logo is up…. but that’s not all…

The Dagupion ‘Ohana is heading home to MAUI

Join me on Maui for some awesome beach photography! We’ll be there July 27 to August 17th – no travel fees are added and I’ll be creating some very special session pricing for while we’re there.

I met Susan and Scott 5 years ago when they came to Maui for their 10 year anniversary. We had a beautiful session on the beach…

Over the years we’ve exchanged Christmas cards, read each others’ blogs, and just kept in touch forming more of a friendship. When she let me know that her husband had to come to Austin on a business trip, we were excited at the possibility of a photo shoot. It got even more exciting when it became a reality and we counted the days until her arrival.

The day before the shoot I was a wreck. It was pouring rain and everything was muddy. I kept telling myself that the weather would pass. Susan and Scott flew in from Iowa the following morning and we met at my parents amazing property in South Austin. It was extremely humid and muddy, but we were thankful that it wasn’t raining!

We chatted about our kids – Max is just over two months older than Cruz – our last time on Maui, and thoughts of plans for a future Maui trip where we can get our entire families together. It was absolutely amazing to reconnect with Susan in person and I am incredibly honored that she would fly over 900 miles for a photo shoot with me. There is no higher compliment than that!

Max is an absolute doll baby. He charmed me and he charmed the lens. He knew how to work a session! I can’t fit everything in the sneak peek, but I just couldn’t resist showing everything in a slide show.

I’ll admit that the three of us were absolutely exhausted the day after the wedding. But it was a beautiful day, the waves were perfect, and we really had no excuse not to go. We hit up Polo beach and were rewarded with a beautiful sunset.

This is something I miss the very most about Maui. And I teared up a bit… no… I actually did cry. I know that seems so silly. But I really do miss that part of living on an island. I am so happy to live in Austin now… but the beach will forever hold a very special place for me. Thanks guys for dealing with a very emotional (and pregnant) photographer

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I’ll start with a few Finao albums. These are my lovely’s…. I’ll be keeping one in house for showing everyone in person, and the others are going out to a client and to a birth center for display. These come in so many amazing covers. Seriously… hard to pick. I do have full swatches to show off. These books shown are 20 pages.

Next we move on to the Couture Books. These are completely  hand made (here in the US). Both of these are wedding albums, but they make amazing displays of portraits with quotes, song lyrics, ect. This first is a studio sample of the French-Paris line. It comes with a vellum overlay, but sadly my children have gotten to it. So this is the woven cover underneath the vellum.

And finally is the Couture NYC book. It comes with a slipcase and a full image wrap cover. This is going out to El Paso today for Nasla & Amador.

Each of the Couture books shown have 100 pages. This give me lots of room for image display

Thanks for letting me share!!!

I took the weekend off to celebrate Halloween and my husband’s birthday – so I’m back to work this week with some great sessions coming up and lots of editing to catch up on. Here is more from Justin and Leighanna’s gorgeous wedding on Maui on October 10th. I still have more to edit. And they have been soooo patient with me. Love them…. really… my clients are just the most awesome people. I am so happy that many of you have become my friends as well.

Okay… onto the gorgeousness!

The bridal party was really awesome!

All of the above images were taken at their friends taro farm. The light was magical. The love in the air was palpable.

And then we walked over to the creek where Justin played as a child. It’s so neat that they got to get married in such a special place.

See?? Magic, right?

Hope you all are enjoying these teasers. More to come!

XOXO, Mariah

I’m shortening this part so there are some surprise images for the bride and groom to go through. But here’s one of dad and daughter that I absolutely adore… and a close up of the amazing bouquets that each of the bridesmaids held.

Leighanna sees Justin waiting for her.

A couple of my favorite moments from the ceremony. The light was a bit of a challenge for the ceremony. As you can see from the aisle walking in, the light is PERFECT. But then there’s a clearing and the sun beamed down directly on the bride and groom and nobody else. I felt like the sun was blessing them, and I loved that inent, but it made it quite difficult to shoot!

Okay this one totally cracks me up!! After we did the family portraits, it’s always advisable that the bride and groom get something to eat and drink. OYSTERS! And everyone is making sure that nothing spills on the gorgeous dress!

Such a secret garden locale…. beautiful.

And today I leave you with a very happy bride skipping along the road. Part three features images from the taro farm.

XOXO, Mariah

This is one amazing wedding. I am so happy I got to spend time with Leighanna and Justin while they were getting ready. Especially Leighanna… getting ready in the old plantation house with amazing windows and amazing light.

Absolutely, positively GORGEOUS!

Leighanna’s mom made these beautiful little purses… one for Leighanna and one for each bridesmaid. Aren’t they sweet? And I love Leighanna’s wedding slippers.

This dress… oh this dress! It was as if it were made for Leighanna only!

I just loved how everyone is doing something.

And then I made a quick trip over to check on the boys. This made me laugh!

Leighanna’s dad showing Justin what’s waiting for him if he’s a bad husband (which would never, ever happen cause they are made for each other!). And then back to the house to get Leighanna’s finishing touches.

Some of the most beautiful, creative bouquets I have ever seen!

Mom getting Leighanna into her dress. And I loved this moment because look at Leighanna’s face. I just love all the emotion here.

Kissing Justin’s ring before the ceremony. Couldn’t decide if I liked it vintage or in color with the natural lighting from the lamp.

The veil comes on!

A mom and daughter moment.

The guests have all arrived and she’s ready to be married!!

I am having a ball editing this wedding! Stay tuned for part two in the next week.

XOXO, Mariah

of a 100 year old plantation house,

Justin & Leighanna were married today.

It was beautiful and I was honored to be there.

More to come from this amazing wedding in about a week.

This image is quite special to me. My husband was the first grandson and the first to be born in the United States. Growing up, he spent a lot of time with his grandfather. We call him “Pupu”. Peter went fishing with his Pupu, hung out with him, joked with him… and now Pupu is getting very old.

We went to visit him while we were on Maui. Pupu laid in his bed and quietly nodded as we each said hello to him. But when he saw Peter, his face lit up. He reached up and grabbed Peter’s hand and held on tight. I could tell that he had been waiting for his grandson to come home to see him. A magical moment, indeed.