Happy Sweet Sixteen, Ari! 

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When your Aunt Sandy is a photographer and all you ask from her for your 16th birthday is a modeling session, that's exactly what you get. 

Ari is pretty special...she's drop dead beautiful, super talented and has more sweetness in her little finger than most people have in their whole bodies.

This session in downtown Lewes, De was pretty darn fun to plan. I had her come over to the studio, go through my client closet, find combos that would fit her teeny tiny body then I put the accessories before her to pick out her favorites. 

She is super agreeable and easy to please so this process took no time at all. The only challenge was making sure she had FUN during this session

and didn't worry about the clothes at all, but rather felt beautiful and funky in them. 

We got lucky in the fact that she had some pretty rad shoes herself ( check out those red boots) and we were able to match them up perfectly. 

After we had several looks ready to roll all we had to do was decide on a location.

When I asked her and her Mom Mom where they would like to shoot,

they both totally put it in my hands. 

Insert------ the beautiful streets and buildings of downtown Lewes. Everything we needed was right there in one little ole town. The only prep I then needed to do on my own was match her outfit choices with locations and colors. I kinda love this part of preplanning.

I hopped in the care one day, drove down to Lewes and snapped the perfect locations for Ari and I. 

Next up: pack the car chock full of matching outfits and shoes and stuff a large bag full of accessories. I always bring 

a travel bag full of makeup, hairspray, combs, wipes, bug spray...you know all the necessities on a photo shoot. 

On this particular day I had no concerns at all about Ari's hair and makeup. She received a gift certificate from her cousin to Grove and Evelyn

in downtown Lewes for a glam session with the fabulous Courtney. THAT made her feel pretty amazing, which...well she is. 

We started our session in Zwaanendale Park...a very historical location and one that offers greenery, flowers, a cool fountain, brick walkways, and grapevine arbors bordering an adorable herb garden. 

From the park we moved onto to the Historic area of Lewes for some beautiful sidewalks, buildings, and most importantly

to me...a street with a LINE down the middle. :) 

Our last location, after a much needed stop at the local Dairy Queen to grab an ice cream cone and drink (hey we had worked HARD) 

was to Cape Henlopen State Park for some yummy beach grass and sand! 

AHHHHH...she's sooooo pretty!!!!!!!!!!!!

What an incredible experience for me to be able to gift these memories to someone I love. To be able to use something I love doing so much

to make her so happy gave me a priceless memory, just as I hope it did Ari. 

Photos are really treasures that you can look back at for years and years to come. 

For Christmas I surprised Ari with a canvas of her favorite photo (she loved the beach shots) and a bound album filled with memories of this day.

See...the gift that keeps giving.

Love you, Ari!