intimate vows: Asheville Photographer, Sonya Stone

Love is sacred and the vows of marriage are intimate. Maybe that's why I like small wedding ceremonies. There is a tenderness to an event that is shared with only your closest family and friends. I was honored to photograph a wedding like this at the Sweet Biscuit Inn recently. Enjoy a little peek into the special day...congratulations R & M!

Mother's Day Gift: Family & Child Portrait Photographer, Sonya Stone

I am unbelievably excited that Spring is here! The beautiful colors, the warmer weather, the spark that ignites growth and light. Yay! And to celebrate, I am offering a Spring Mini Session special just in time for Mother's Day. Because let's face it, I am a mother...I know what mother's like. They like photos! Scratch that...they LOVE photos. They love photos of their babies, who may be not so little any more, but will always be their babies!

SO if you have a mother, are a mother, are married to/dating/friends with a mother, let me offer a golden piece of advice, get beautiful, keepsake photographs for Mother's Day and you will hit the home run of gift giving. If you have children who are small and/or husbands who are gift giving challenged, GIFT YOURSELF. You have a right. And everyone will understand and thank you for it. Trust me.

Here are the details, the weekend of April 9 & 10, I will photograph children, families, pets, and the like all in the name of celebrating Mom. I will discount my session fee over $50 to give you an opportunity to have custom family or child portraits. You can order prints that are guaranteed to be delivered by Mother's Day. So you can have gifts wrapped and ready to go. And if you include Mom in the session, you get to tell her what the gift is and milk this truly awesome gift for a whole month before Mother's Day.

Then when she opens her prints on Mother's Day, viola; she will be overcome with joy and will be grateful for the whole next year. Make that her whole life because this moment in time cannot be replayed. It is in the here and now that we are laughing and playing and loving. It is here and then it is gone. But the photographs that you hang and archive, those will be the keepsakes that keep these sweet memories alive.

Get in touch and I'll fill you in on the details. And in the meantime, enjoy these photographs of an incredibly cute, sweet boy from last year's Spring minis.

Birth & Breastfeeding Expo, Asheville Event Photographer: Sonya Stone

What a great and exhausting day! Today the BirthNetwork of WNC hosted The Joyful Birth & Breastfeeding Expo at the Asheville Mall. Over 60 exhibitors were on hand to share services and products that support normal birth and breastfeeding, loving parenting and overall feel good family vibes. We also featured some wonderful speakers and inspiring films. I saw many friends who share the passion for nurturing families during the precious and formative time of pregnancy, birth , and early childhood. It is an honor to be in a city like Asheville where there are many of those friends!

Here are a few shots from the day. We had a maternity and children's fashion show...this first little guy sporting looks from Lollipop's Consignment Store.

Katherine Hensley modeling a handmade wrap for the Mama Community Project...

the beautiful moms who wore maternity fashions...

Dr. Lillian Thomas demonstrating the safe and effective use of chiropratic during pregnancy!

LOVE Grow with Me Learning Co-0p...sweet preschool and kindergarten cooperative where my girls have thrived and made wonderful friends!

excited to welcome Azalea Mountain School to our community offering Waldorf education!

can't have kids activities without cool face painting...oh yeah, and lots of adults jumping in too!

Joyful Birth & Breastfeeding Expo arrives

As a co-leader of BirthNetwork of WNC, I am happy to announce that our Joyful Birth & Breastfeeding Expo is here...almost! This Saturday, March 12, from 10am-5pm, 60 exhibitors will fill the Asheville Mall on Tunnel Rd. to greet an expected 1500 attendees. We have a day full of speakers on normal birth, breastfeeding, parenting and more! There will be free activities for kids, free keepsake photos, giveaways of ALL kinds, a maternity fashion show & film screenings. ALL FREE!!

A full program is listed at our web site, www.birthnetwork.org under Events.

And yours truly will have a table so please be sure to stop by. A fantastic giveaway for the discriminating photography client will be up for grabs!
Here are a few shots from our last expo...