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Photographer Natalie Mae

Ann Arbor Wedding Photographer

Featured Vendor: Biggby Coffee | Jackson, MI Photographer

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Just ask any photographer, we can’t survive without our coffee and those 3a work nights definitely wouldn’t be possible without it. That’s why this months Featured Vendor is Biggby Coffee. In 1995, Biggby opened a single store in East Lansing, MI and only 7 years later they have 157 stores! They have the best coffee that I’ve ever tasted and their baristas always have a friendly smile on their face. Trust me, I have Biggby radar when I’m driving all over Michigan, have stopped at a number of them, and have yet to be disappointed! My favorite drink to get is their Tan Line (vanilla and caramel) or their caramel apple cider which should be coming out really soon for the fall season.

The Knot has some really great ideas for weddings and one of my favorites for out of town guests is to put together a gift baskets filled with local favorites. There would definitely be some Biggby coffee in my baskets,  probably some Faygo, Michigan cherries, Better Made potato chips, and Sanders fudge too!

Featured Vendor: Howard’s Feed Store

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Usually I post Featured Vendors that can be helpful for a session in some way, but today I decided to do things a little different. I’ve decided to feature Howard’s Feed Store here in Jackson because they’re a local family owned business. When I first moved to Jackson it was kind of hard to find food for my dogs since one is allergic to corn and I feed them specific food. There was one store that sold it, but it was quite a bit more than what I had been paying for it so I needed a new option. Just on a whim one day I stopped into Howard’s to see what they carried, low-and-behold they carried the food and it was the cheapest I’ve ever saw it. I thought it might have been on sale or something, but nope, it was their everyday price!

The more I went in there to get dog food the more I loved it. The staff is always so friendly and they carry the bag of food out to your car for you. Plus, they have other things that are not so common in the other pet store here like leather leads, food grade diatomaceous earth (this is a fine white powder that is used as a natural defense against fleas, ticks, and internal parasites), and HUGE pigs ears. The only downfall is their hours are not so congruent with my schedule, but I will go out of my way to give them my business because of their amazing service. I know they close at 5:30p on the weekdays, noon on Saturday, and closed on Sunday.

If you’d like to check out Howard’s Feed Store for yourself, the address and phone number are listed below.

206 West Louis Glick Highway
Jackson, MI 49201
(517) 789-6081

{FEATURED VENDOR} Ink & Iron

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It’s been a minute since I posted a Featured Vendor and I’ve been wanting to add the wonderful woman of Ink & Iron for awhile now. I try to buy local as much as I can and while I was in school, we had to have business cards for our final portfolio. From the moment our teacher showed us a letterpressed wedding invite, I KNEW that, that’s what I was going to do for my business cards. They were elegant, caught everyone’s attention, and were just downright stunning. What’s letterpress you ask? It’s a type of press printing. Plates are made and pressed into the paper, then another plate goes over with the ink. It’s not like a photo, so there aren’t very many colors that you get printed at once. Most letterpress projects are one to two colors because the process is really expensive. So on my search I went to find a local and affordable letterpress.

I actually came across Ink & Iron on Etsy where she had letterpressed cards for sale. I saw that she was out of Port Huron, MI and her cards were reasonably priced, so I e-mailed her for a quote. She was very fast to respond and WELL below the other quotes I was receiving of $400+ for 50 business cards. I already had my card designed out so all I had to do was e-mail over the design and the specific colors. She had them plated, printed, and shipped to me within a week! Talk about excellent service! Her cards would be great for any occasion, I highly recommend checking out her store and if you don’t see what you’re looking for, shoot her an e-mail.

{FEATURED VENDOR} Ella’s Lead

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Usually my Featured Vendor has something to do with weddings, but I want to switch it up and give you pet lovers something awesome so I present to you Ella’s Lead. But wait! This month has a twist, you can use them for your wedding too!
For the longest time I have been an enormous fan of Ella’s Lead! Their collars are absolutely stunning and are all handmade by the owners Ben and Rebecca. They craft custom collars AND leads ranging from a plain leather to bedazzled extravagance. Oh and did I mention they have a set of collars that are specifically made for various charities and a portion of each sale goes towards that charity? How sweet is that?! Another awesome reason to love them is they’re parents to three rescued bullies, Ophie, Luke,
 and Maggie? Look at those sweet faces!!!
Ella's Lead dog Ophie Ella's Lead dog Luke.

So you’re probably thinking, “What the heck does Ella’s Lead have to do with weddings?” Well, if you plan on including your fur children in your wedding, they’re going to need something stylin’ to wear. Ella’s Lead is a high class alternative to those silly bow tie collars, plus they have a variety of stone colors to adorn the collar with and can match them to your wedding colors!
Before photography I worked in a retail setting for 10+ years, so customer service is really high on my list of musts if I’m going to deal with any business. Ella’s Lead has AMAZING customer service! I wanted some flashy collars with the boys names on it to make them stand out when we go for walks, but also wanted something for them to lounge around the house in. So we just ordered two sets!! When I placed my order I kind of had an idea of what I wanted, but wasn’t too sure on how to explain it or if it would look good on my dogs, but Rebecca walked me through it and gave me some great recommendations. Both sets of collars look absolutely incredible on the boys and go SO well with their fur color. I couldn’t be happier 😀
Personally my favorite part (besides getting the collars of course) is Ella’s Lead usually posts a picture of the collar on their Facebook page or at least that days work! The set below is their “lounging” collars, but don’t let that fool you because these are amazing! I love the leather Ella’s Lead uses, it’s so soft and perfect, and smells SO good. Rebecca recommended the black leather for Niko, and I have to say that I am ecstatic that I went with it because it looks stunning on him, very sophisticated!! Piglet’s been strutting around all day like he’s the coolest thing since sliced bread hahaha.
Ella's Lead has beautiful, quality work.
 
 Ella's Lead handcrafted leather collars.
The embroidered collars take a little longer to make, so I don’t have pictures of those yet, but I will for sure post some when I get them.
CHECK OUT THEIR:
Website

Ella’s Lead gave me permission to use their images in this post.

ELLA’S LEAD UPDATE:

The embroidered collars arrived a couple of days ago and I could not be happier!!! Ella’s Lead has tons of pictures of their collars on their pages, but seriously pictures do not do them justice (the copper looks like the first image, when I uploaded the rest the color got desaturated). I was in love with the pics, but now that I’ve held the collars in my hand, I’m even more impressed. I ordered 2in wide collars, because I think wider collars look better on big dogs, plus Pig can be pretty strong so I wanted it to be able to hold up. They’re perfect! The collars are nice and thick for my strong boys, the embroidery is spot on, and the hardware is perfect for big dogs. I’ve never seen a collar as gorgeous as these two.

Ella's Lead embroidered leather collars

And look, I have shoes that match Pig’s collar so when we go for a walk we will match!

Look how thick they are!!
Piglet loves his so much he’s smiling!

 

FEATURED VENDOR {Tough Love MPD}

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Tough Love MPD: Hair & make-up artistry.
Promoting vanity one face at a time.

I met Taryn when in 2005 while I was going to college at Eastern Michigan University. We ended up being housemates in a house near campus that more resembled MTV’s Real World than what I had anticipated. The lease ended and everyone went their separate ways and through the magic world of the internet we ended up being reconnected. She was just starting to develop her business Tough Love MPD and I was just starting to take photography seriously. Ever since we lived together I was in love with her gorgeous red hair (seriously you need to see it, I don’t think there’s such thing as a bad hair day in her life), so I messaged her and asked if she minded modeling for me. Of course she agreed, so the rest is history.

Taryn, owner of ToughLove MPD
Weddings & Makeovers

Halloween/Costume

 Seniors

I’ve been lucky enough to watch her business grow leaps and bounds in the years since I’ve known her. Taryn’s skills astonish me, I wish I could do my own make-up half as good as she does. Her work is very versatile too! She can do weddings, costume, everyday, airbrush…practically anything. Her work has been seen in Fashioned in Hell, the Ypsi Style Fashion Show, the catalog at Fantasy Attic Costumes, MakeupGeek.com, The Ann, and many more places across Michigan.

She’s the first person I recommend to anyone looking to get hair/makeup services!

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Taryn_mx@yahoo.com
MODERN | ELEGANT | TIMELESS
517.414.2117
SERVING MICHIGAN & BEYOND