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  • Welcome to our blog!

    Welcome to the action packed blog of Rae and Wesley Leytham. We are a husband and wife premium photography team in the FL panhandle that travels the world to deliver our clients beautiful wedding portfolios. This is where we highlight some of our favorite images and the occasional quirky thing about us and our life. The photos below are available for download with digital use only for facebook and other digital media. Please do not print or remove our logo. Make yourself at home here in ours, and be sure to contact us for more information or with any questions!

Ashley & Devin | Pensacola Engagement Photos

I am so far behind on blogging engagement and family sessions from the last 6 months that I’m holding my head down in shame as I write this.  However, I am blogging this recent session with Ashley & Devin because this is the perfect time of year if any of you want one like this.  We went to Ft. Pickens recently and had an awesome and creative experience, but time is limited.  Once the weather turns warm, the ground is covered with so many ants throughout the fort that you cannot even walk without them crawling all over you.  It’s like a bad horror movie!  Get in touch with us soon if you want a Ft. Pickens E-session!

Now about Devin and Ashley…. LOVE THEEEEEEM!  They are originally from Pensacola and were sweethearts in early high school.   They eventually parted ways though (I’m sure it was Devin’s fault because he’s a guy and girls don’t break hearts, right Ashley?) Somehow after college they both found themselves working in Orlando.  They reconnected, splashed a little pixie dust on the situation, and here they are planning a Fall wedding:)   They were in town from Orlando recently to meet with the uber talented Danielle Atkinson from Lucky Girl Events and we decided it was a great time for a photo shoot.

Devin is quite the force to be reckoned with when it comes to his manliness….

But Ashley knows exactly what it takes to keep him in line!

Love, love, love these next couple….

February Adventures | Florida Snow

So the first two weeks of February have been quite adventurous for us.  In addition to  our Atlanta trip and some out of town meetings, we have been on the road a lot!  We did manage to squeeze in a little holiday fun though with some milestones to go with it.  The wedding season is fast approaching which makes a few adventures even more special before it gets crazy in our household for 4 months!

Avery got her first haircut thanks to Ms. Amber, one of our upcoming 2010 brides….

Then we got some Florida snow.  I know, it’s not super impressive, but it’s FL, and snow……….Baxter dog wasn’t sure what to think about it as you can see it on his fur.

A little clearer view against the shed….

What parent wouldn’t grab the kid and thrust them into freezing weather for a photo op right?  She’ll appreciate it when she’s older!Then we had lovely Valentine’s Day…. This is my favorite valentine!

And last but not least was Mardi Gras!  We managed to make the Mobile, AL parades a couple of nights(top), but Avery’s school had their own little parade too.  Who can pass up pre-schoolers throwing beads and candy?

Who wants some Wedification? 2 Free tickets!

Two brides will win seats to Wedification for them and a friend/fiance/maid of honor/mom/sister thanks to Southern Weddings Magazine!  This new event in Destin, FL, is designed to help brides navigate through tough wedding decisions and broaden horizons on what is possible in wedding design and planning.  Our friend, Stacie Framcombe, of Get Married is the featured speaker along with SW charter supporters Kebbie Hollingsworth of KH Floral, Danielle Atkinson of Lucky Girl Events, Renee Armour of Two Fishes Artistry and the dynamic photo duo, Rae and Wesley Leytham.  To enter, follow the link HERE!  We’ll see you there!

Our promise to you (Wesley’s annual rant)

So those of you who have been following our blog for a while  know that I like to do my annual January rant.  I don’t have a lot to rant about this year though which is one reason this is six weeks overdue.  2009 was a good year to us.  This blog had over 64,000 hits last year.  We photographed some really great weddings, met a lot of nice people, and finished up a couple of things that had been weighing us down for the last 4 years.  The wedding industry is booming, and we started 2010 with more bookings than ever.  We consider 30 weddings a full year, and we already had 24 retainers for 2010 on January 1, with a few more since then.  We are actually going to have to expand this year and hire some help for the first time ever.  We are very blessed to do what we love so much and have so much fun doing.  I cannot imagine our life any other way at this point in time.

The only thing I can really complain about for 2009 is that we noticed a lot of bad business out there.  I’m not sure if it’s the economy just making everyone sour, or the fact too many spoiled brats are working their way into powerful corporate positions now.  I am absolutely shocked at how immature and nasty a lot of people, especially business owners seem to be these days.  We had a couple of situations last year that would make you stand back and go “Wow”.  I had a couple of people lie to my face while I had proof they were lying to me.  We were extremely disappointed in how much we had invested in these  companies to be treated so poorly and basically told they didn’t need our business.  The days of “The customer is always right” seem to be long gone.  That is exactly how I choose not to run our business.  Like Conan said on his last Tonight Show recently, I believe that if you are a good person and treat people with respect and kindness, you will achieve great things.  That is how I hope every one of our clients perceive their relationship with us.  We appreciate all of you and know what a huge investment your wedding photography is.  We DO NOT take that for granted, and we want you to have no doubts that our services are above and beyond what you expected from the beginning.  We started this business because we knew there had to be a better way for our jobs to be satisfying every single day while treating people better than we were being treated at work.  While that now equates to 55 hr work weeks and a couple of all-nighters weekly to get things done, it is worth it to me to make sure I am not “that guy” or “that business” who just doesn’t care.  I’m very non-confrontational (my friends may say otherwise), but I’m encouraging everyone this year to hold businesses accountable for their actions.  If you know you returned that movie on time and the spoiled 20 year old guy at the video store wants to argue with you, smack him around a little bit.  If you know  your car payment was paid on time and the bank says it wasn’t, smack them around a little bit.  If you’re having trouble with a business and they won’t return your calls or e-mails, smack them around a little bit!  Stand up if you’re right!  I’m tired of common courtesy being something from the past and a computer on the other end of the phone line or some guy from India telling me there’s nothing they can do.  It doesn’t have to be that way……So feel free to call on us, where Rae’s warm southern accent with a pleasant attitude will be glad to tell you what we CAN do for you.  Because we appreciate you, and our promise is to make sure you know that:-)

The lil’ Valentine Contest Winner!

We had some great entries for our love quiz, but no one that actually qualified got the right answer. BUT! We are going with the person who got the most right and this person missed only one! So congratulations Nicki Rogers, one of our 2009 brides for your great guesses!!! You have your choice of a $15 Starbucks, iTunes, or Target Gift card so e-mail us!

So many of you did really well, so I’ll explain the right answers below:)

1) How many years have Rae and Wes been married in 2010? a. Five   b. Seven   c. Ten   d. Twelve

The answer is c. Ten We were married in 2000 and are a “millennium” couple.

2) Where did Rae and Wes officially meet? a. Grade School   b. Middle school   c. High school    d. College

This tripped up a lot of people.  The answer is c. High School

While we did go to the same middle and probably passed each other daily, we didn’t know the other one existed until high school! 

***Rae here: we actually went to the same elementary school for several years too.  Wes was a year ahead of me.  Since one hall was only 3rd and 4th graders, we had to have passed each other!  He didn’t know what he was missing.  ha!

3) Where did Wes ask Rae to marry him?  a. at the beach    b. on a boat   c. New York City   d. Disney World

Another good one….. The answer was d. Disney World! at the Carribean Beach Resort by the lake to be exact.

4) Where did Rae and Wes Honeymoon?  a. Disney World   b. Jamaica    c.  Europe   d. Mexico

We couldn’t honeymoon at Disney after getting engaged there, so we went to b. Jamaica for the the 1st and last time!

5) What special day do Rae and Wes share an anniversay with?  a. Valentine’s Day    b.  Tax Day   c. July 4th   d. April Fools

Our anniversary is the most dreaded day of the year since it’s April 15th  b. Tax Day every year!

6) What family members do Rae & Wes share an anniversary with? a) his grandparents  b) her parents  c) her grandparents   d) no one

It just so happened that the Saturday we wanted to get married on was the same anniversary as b. Rae’s Parents

7) What is Rae’s favorite valentine gift? a) Tulips  b) Roses  c) Chocolates  d) Jewelry

Thank goodness it’s not b!  It’s actually a. Tulips and she got some yesterday too!

Thanks to everyone for playing!  We’ll do something else again soon!