Amy Sandoval Photography Blog

Yesterday was our 10th wedding anniversary. My husband is the reason I’m here talking to you right now on a photography blog. Really, if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have the flexibility to pursue a seriously time-consuming second career in addition to my full time job. He takes care of Olivia when I have weekend shoots and takes care of all of my tax/business paperwork (thank God I married a math person and now he’s a CPA, handy!). He also accepts that I’d rather be taking photos than say, cooking dinner or being a great homemaker.

He’s an amazing dad, so kind, seriously funny (don’t tell him I said that!) and is a fully vested partner in our marriage and in fatherhood. He watches entirely too much sports but does not complain when I buy another camera lens even after I say I am done buying lenses.   His British accent could use a little work, but Olivia and I laugh like crazy when he says, “Chip, chip cheerio!”  (Confession: We like to talk with British accents for fun around the house. And Olivia’s getting pretty good!)

The older I get and the more I look around, the more I realize how lucky I am. It’s too easy to take a person for granted. In short, Steve is a fantastic husband. And a fantastic, hands-on dad. We couldn’t be luckier. Our wedding photos were taken with film, so I can’t easily share them, but I do have a few scanned. That’s us dancing together – our first dance. We look so young!

My wedding ring setting was custom made and holds diamonds that were given to us by my mom, my Steve’s mom and some that we picked together. I don’t know why I got it set in yellow gold, but I did despite never wearing yellow gold! So for our 10th anniversary, we decided it would be a nice time to have the stones reset. It was a challenge finding a setting that would work with the stones I already had, but it was important to me to keep the family stones in my ring.

I found a great ring setting online (you know me, I did most of my research online). And I took the info to Long Jewelers in Virginia Beach. They were incredibly patient and helpful – literally taking several hours with me to figure out what I wanted and how to make it work. (I can’t recommend them enough – I have never seen so many beautiful pieces of jewelry in my life and they custom order and design jewelry.) They also custom-made a band to match the engagement ring and hold the remaining stones. I love it, love it! So I had to take a few “detail shots” of my own rings. For our anniversary, I asked Michele Duncan of One Sweet Day to make us cupcakes that look like our wedding cake, which had chocolate shells on it. She made gorgeous cupcakes and they happened to arrive within an hour of me picking up my new rings. So yes, I did stick my rings on a cupcake and take photos!

P.S. I got Steve and iPad and I haven’t seen him since. (Just kidding. But he absolutely loves it! It fit right in with the fact that the 10th anniversary traditional gift is supposed to be aluminum. Hah!)

P.S.S. Thinking about a Family Mini Portrait Session? (See details in the post below this one.) They are going fast. In fact, out of over a dozen sessions, I have about 2 left to reserve. So don’t wait if you’re interested in booking a session!