New Layout and Design by Kayti Designs

As you can see my blog has undergone a makeover! I am pretty excited, I absolutely love how it turned out.

Back when I lived in Virginia I met Kayti through my old job. Eventually I PCS'ed and we kept in touch and I was so happy to learn she quit her job to start her own full service graphic design studio! I love her work and via facebook I have been stalking following her designs ever since.

When I was debating revamping my blog she eagerly offered her assistance. In her own words, "I am a full service graphic design studio - but my main love is character and blog design - I love designing for women and children the most." As you can see from the Allie on the header and signature she is pretty good at it too! She is able to capture your likeness and personality in a really wonderful way. I remember early on we were talking about how a lot of bloggers use pin ups for their designs, which I love, but it just didn't seem to fit me. I am awful at being flirty and sexy is way left field for me, so I just didn't feel like a pin up would work for me as much as I love them. But talking to Kayti in my vague "Not too sexy but not overly conservative... maybe somewhere in the middle. Just fun?" rambles she nailed it.

Aside from my blog please check out her website for more examples of her awesome work: kaytidesigns.com She is also on Twitter as @KaytiDesigns and of course Facebook.

Now here is the super part.... if you are looking for a blog revamp/design Kayti is offering a 25% DISCOUNT to any My Marine and Me readers who contact her and mention my name or blog! So do it! Kayti is familiar with both WordPress and Blogger platforms and she is wonderful to work with. Her designs are terrific and she works quickly and efficiently. Go check her out, you won't regret it!

Lauré Love Photography

Ryan and I were never able to do engagement pictures or any other fun sort of professional photographs, so when Kaylah contacted me to say I was excited was an understatement! I was battling with a rather difficult photographer via Facebook trying to get nice pictures of Ryan, Rylie and I before he deploys. Kaylah came in at the perfect time and definitely saved the day!

Over email I quickly learned she was not only one of the nicest people but so incredibly willing to work with us and our difficult schedules! With pre-deployment leave and my work hours we weren't the easiest to schedule but Kaylah was super flexible and I was very excited to meet her, especially once I saw her website!

This excerpt is from Kaylah's website:

I graduated in 2012 from the New York Institute of Photography

with my Photographer's Certification. This means I put time, money, and effort into actively learning how to use my equipment to best suit my client's (that's you) needs.

I'm fun. If your husband rolls his eyes and makes excuses as to why you just caaaaaan't get pictures right now, this is huge. I make it a top priority to make the majority of your pictures look unposed & natural, and there's usually a lot of laughing involved.

"I specialize in couples, newborns, weddings, homecomings, lifestyle sessions, product photography, pet photography, still life, etc..." That quote right there? That is not me. While I CAN do all of these, I specialize mostly in couples photography. This means my look isn't generic, it won't look like something you can get done by anybody else, and you won't be disappointed.

I offer more than just a CD with printing rights. I know this is a huge deal to a lot of people - who doesn't love the luxury of owning digital files of your pictures to print off at your leisure? Here's what most people don't know: "At your leisure" usually means "when you get time" (which usually means "never"). My full sessions come with a disc AND a print package - so your pictures can be displayed promptly (which, of course, is why you came to a photographer in the first place).

Awesome right?!

I was especially excited about the second point. Ryan is a LOT of things; happy to have his picture taken is NOT one of them. He grumbles anytime a camera comes into view and when you ask him to smile he gives some weird grimace thing that drives me nuts. My husband insists that if the corners of his mouth are upturned then he is smiling. No. If you ever see my husband's real smile you know how far that is from the truth!!

We met Kaylah in downtown Jacksonville in the early evening. She was right on time at our designated meet up spot and took us to our location. I was pretty nervous, as I tend to be, but that quickly melted away as we got to work. She was very sweet and even tolerated Rylie trying to lunge all over her at every moment. Not only did she capture some amazing images but she made our family translate on film in a way that was very us. It was composed, fun and natural... as you can see below not a fake smile in sight from Ryan! We had a blast, disobeyed a sign or two in the sake of Chive On "I Do What I Want" and had a great time! Ryan got me hooked on the Chive and I knew if we wore our shirts for a few fun shots he'd be more than willing... and Kaylah was familiar with the Chive and right on board!

Check out the AMAZING shots from our session:

Even with the Dup running like crazy, I think she saw her can of treats I had by my purse, this became one of my favorite shots. I think it was the second time she clicked the shutter. Perfect.

These two are my favorite. One I plan on printing to a canvas for our room... a service Kaylah also has on her website for use as well as prints.

 Such attitude. I was trying hard not to giggle and look all tough.... not sure I succeeded but I tried!

Also loving this one! Ryan likes to dip me... a lot! Ever time we dance it usually ends with a fun dip!

All my blogging friends and readers in Jacksonville, I highly recommend Kaylah and Lauré Love Photography. She was a pleasure to work with and I hereby reserve her for Ryan's homecoming, whenever that may be! Kaylah, you may not have a say in the issue ;) I could not imagine working with anyone else! You got my husband to smile and you captured some amazing images we will treasure for a long time. This stage of our lives, just a married couple and a dog, are forever something we will cherish. I cannot stop showing them to everyone! Kaylah was professional but still fun and made us very comfortable to obtain some wonderful images. I honestly give my full recommendation for her as a photographer!

Check out Kaylah's website here and her Facebook here. On this page she has her price packages available, prints included, for some terrific rates. I will probably be ordering some prints from you soon!

Thank you again for everything Kaylah!

nbsp;

Disclaimer: For a services review my session and digital copies were free but all opinions expressed here are my own and are not influenced by that in any way.