My favorite part is eye crinkles. Eye crinkles are those beautiful lines that appear beside your eyes when you really smile. I first noticed them in my mom and dad’s wedding album. The photographer took an image of my father just looking at my mother. He had to sweetest smile with a twinkle in his eyes and those magical eye crinkles. My father died when I was just thirteen, and I have very few photos of him. But when I see a bride and groom with eye crinkles, it reminds me of my dad.

My husband, Nathan, wooed me officially into the family studio in 2005 when we were married. I assisted him and was his second photographer for years until the day I photographed my first wedding as the lead photographer. I remember one day after a wedding I second shot with him, Nathan viewed my images and said, “Mell Bell, you’re a freaking awesome photographer.” To this day, I still have him repeat this to me before every wedding I photograph. I hired him back in the day to take my photos for my college senior portraits. In fact I was officially the first person to hire Nathan specifically to take pictures, and the rest is history.

I love Wonder Woman, Diet Dr Pepper, Jack Daniels, flip flops, and nice people. If you’re nice, lets do this.