• Suzanne Melissa Photography

    Welcome to Suzanne Melissa Photography. This is the place where you can find all of the information from my wedding portfolio , pricing information , tips for brides and my humorous sometimes sarcastic take on life.

    After spending ten years in a career that I didn't love I took a leap of faith and pursued my dream of photography. I am now a full time wedding and portrait photographer and LOVING every single minute of it. I live in Gilbert, Arizona with my husband and little boy. You can learn more about me here...like why my husband thinks I'm secretly planning a second wedding!

    I know choosing a wedding photographer is a HUGE decision in your wedding planning process. Feel free to take a look around my site and when you are ready to chat about your wedding.

    ~Cheers
    Suzanne

Project Organize: The Junk Drawer

As part of my Project Organize Life I recently decided to tackle my “junk drawer”.  We all have them, but when it became difficult to open and close mine I decided it was time to take action.

Here’s a before and after:

I started by emptying the entire contents of the drawer onto the counter top.

I have this drawer organizer that I was not fully utilizing…mostly because once the drawer started to get unorganized I gave-up and just shoved items in the drawer without looking!

Okay-so once everything was on display I broke everything into groups:

1: Paper work that needed to be sorted (I found 2 bills, one wedding invite and a check…yikes!!).

2. Gift cards: Did you know that nearly $8 Billion in gift cards never get used!  I had about $300 just waiting to become part of that $8 Billion.

3. Prenatal Vitamins…umm, I’m not pregnant and most had expired.  Trash.

4. Accessories: Including 10,000 bobby pins…because you never know when a stray hair might need pinning.

I used a binder clip to hold all of the gift cards and put a sticky note on the front to remind me what stores I had gift cards for.  Now when I am getting ready to run errands before I leave I check the list and see if I have any gift cards.

I added a second drawer organizer to keep paperwork/mail that requires an action from me (e.g. bills, wedding invites, thank yous etc).

Here’s the final product:

1. Car keys: I always dump my car keys here otherwise they will be lost.

2. Gum: I actually hardly ever chew gum, but it’s good to have around.

3. Gift cards and extra pair of sunglasses.  I ALWAYS lose my sunglasses and the sun it like kryptonite to my eyes, so extra sunglasses are a must.

4. Band-aids because there is always a blister waiting to happen or just healing when you spend 10 hours on your feet shooting a wedding.

5. Chapstick

6. Cell phone charger

7: Organized location for mail

The before and after one more time because I’m SO happy to have an organized junk drawer!!

Becca + Peter {Tucson Engagement Session}

 

Meet Becca and Peter..a cute couple from Tucson!!

Becca and Peter are getting married in late September here in Phoenix, but since they currently live in Tucson we decided to meet at UofA to shoot their engagement session.  Since Becca had booked me over the phone this was my first time meeting both her and Peter and I totally lucked out.  These two were SO easy going, fun and completely enjoyable to hang out with.

We discovered early in the session that Peter is a blinker…you know, as soon as the shutter clicks he blinks!  There’s usually one in every couple.  Peter was such a good sport as Becca and I joked continuously about this throughout the entire session.

Here are my favorite images (blinks included!).

Shooting on campus always has some surprises.  About 100 yards from where we were shooting there was an outdoor music festival.  Live performers and all…minus any actual attendees!  A rap du0 hit the stage and kept shouting, “Hands in the air!!”.  There was NO ONE within 200 yards of the stage…they were singing to themselves!!  As I told Becca and Peter to walk towards me for this next series of shots I also encouraged them to get their inner hip-hop dance on.

As we started to leave campus Becca bolted to this newspaper stand and grabbed a copy.  Turns out she likes to complete the crossword puzzle while on break at work.  Since she had to work the night shift that night (she’s a nurse) Becca was pretty stoked that she had a new crossword puzzle.

I thought it would be fun to take a few pictures in this local candy shop…who doesn’t LOVE candy right?  Answer…Peter.  We moved on after a few shots!

The lighting at this outdoor cafe was soft and beautiful.  A perfect place to end a fun engagement session!

Carnival Themed Birthday Party

 

Hot dogs, cotton candy, donkey rides, face painting…best birthday party ever!  Oh and cake too!  Check out this birthday party planned by Emily with Your Heart’s Desire.

Note to self-start planning Andrew’s 1st birthday ASAP!

I haven’t eaten Pixie Tix since I was in junior high and would buy them from the ice cream truck as I rode my bike home.  Hey, at least I was burning calories as I was eating pure sugar right?

The birthday boy himself!

What’s a party without hot dogs right?  I’ve seen these little veggie cups all over Pinterest…such a great idea for parties!

Emily – Your Heart’s Desire - I love them Suzanne!!!! Thanks again for coming in and saving the day! You are very talented and have such a wonderful spirit! I look forward to many years of working together! xoxo

Senior Session

This is Jamie, a high school senior.  I tagged along on this senior session with Marnee Marriott.  I will be second shooting a couple of weddings with Marnee this month, so we used this session as a chance to get to know each other.  Aka-to ensure that neither of us are crazy and that we could spend 8-10 hours at a wedding together!  The good news is I think we are both sane:)

I’ve never shot a senior session, so this was pretty fun!

Jamie was so sweet and soft spoken.  This outfit seemed to totally match her personality of fun and light hearted.

Then there was an outfit change and WOZA!!!  I almost fell over.

Yes, I feel old saying this.  OMG!!!!  My parents would have died if I looked like this in high school.

 

Jenny + Adrian {Mesa Temple Engagement}

Meet Jenny and Adrian!

Jenny and Adrian are getting married later this year in Utah, but wanted to have a few engagement pictures at the Mormon Temple in Mesa.  It was easy to see from the start of our session that Jenny is completely, 100% head over heels in LOVE with Adrian.  Adrian is a little more quiet and reserved at first, but as we walked around the Temple and chatted it was clear that he was just as smitten with Jenny.

The Temple grounds are SO beautiful.  I loved all of the flower.

Oh Jenny…you are so stinking cute on the inside and out!

Jenny and Adrian it was SO much fun to meet you both and I wish you all the best for your wedding later this year!!

Erin - So cute! Beautiful pictures.

Jenny Schow - These look great! It was so much fun spending the morning with you Suzanne! Thank you!

Linda Schow - This is a beautiful collection of photos. I love the light around them and the radiance you have captured. You’re an artist.

Jim Schow - You look amazing, sweetheart! You too, Adrian/son. Jim/Dad

Tiffany Bryan - WOW!!!! Amazing Photos! Gave me goose bumps! :)

Adrian Wevers - The pictures came out nice, Jenny looks great!

Jenny Schow - Suzanne, people love the photos! You did a wonderful job! My mom commented that the first shot is the best engagement photo she’s ever seen!

vickie - Jenny you are glowing!! Those are great pics.

Erin Hill - You both absolutely shine in these pictures! You two make a lovely couple and I wish you both great happiness and joy in your marriage.

Becca Bleazard - Nice pictures! You guys look great!