Katie Lewis Photography, Inc.

**This post will stay at the top of the blog until May 2nd. Please scroll down for my newest posts!**

I’m so excited to announce the finalists for the 2014 Wedding Photography Giveaway! There were so many great nominations and it was so hard to choose just five……so I chose seven! Read through their stories and vote for your favorite at the bottom. You can only vote once per computer so vote from as many different computers as you can and tell all of your friends, family, co-workers, strangers on the street, whoever!!! The poll will not show who is in the lead because it’s gotta be a surprise!! Voting will end at midnight on May 2nd. For a reminder of what the winning couple will win, just go HERE!

PLEASE VOTE IN THE VOTING BOX BELOW. FEEL FREE TO LEAVE COMMENTS IN THE FACEBOOK OR COMMENT BOX, BUT KNOW THAT DOESN’T COUNT AS A VOTE! ONLY BY CLICKING IN THE VOTE BOX NEXT TO THE COUPLES NAME AND PRESSING VOTE, DOES YOUR VOTE COUNT!! THANKS!!!!

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Troy Rinehardt + Molly Stevenson

Nominated by Angel Evenson

Wedding Date + Location: March 1st, 2014 in El Dorado Royale in Riviera Maya, Mexico

How the couple met + their love story:  Troy and Molly met while living in Watertown. Troy was a firefighter and Molly was a single Mom raising her son. They met and instantly fell in love. Troy immediately accepted Kate, Molly’s son, as a huge part of his life. He is an amazing father figure for Kate and is Molly’s true love. She has been through so much and to this day says that God has blessed her beyond belief just by placing Troy in her life. Kade refers to Troy as ‘Dad’ and Molly wouldn’t have it any other way. He proposed in the absolute perfect way as Molly is a very low key, private person. He had a book made and in the book were pictures of their little family and how blessed he is to have met her and to have Kade as a son. At the end was a picture of the ring box and she looked up and he was holding the ring. They are such an incredible couple!

Why should people vote for this couple?

Troy and Molly deserve this prize because they are a true testament to love. They each went through their trials in life and eventually found their perfect partner in each other. Molly is a very humble person and does not like anyone to focus on her ever, and I think she deserves to receive an amazing gift.

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Chad Noyes + Janna Ness

Nominated by Barb Ness

Wedding Date + Location: Not decided

How the couple met + their love story:

Chad and Janna met online via a good friend. Chad was serving with the Air National Guard in Bahrain. He returned to Fargo last October 2012. A cute story – when they met face to face for the first time (October 11th), he introduced himself and shook Janna’s hand (even though he already knew her quite well and had strong feelings for her – thanks to Skype!). He then asked her to join him while he went out to reconnect with his friends. She declined – thinking he didn’t need a tag- along acquaintance while he went out to celebrate his homecoming with good friends. He said she just didn’t get it!But it was basically love at first sight for both of them, even though they didn’t admit or verbalize it at the time.

A friendship quickly developed. Janna and I had a conversation at which time she told me that she never believed me all the years when I continually told her, “You will know when you know”. She then said, “I get it now!”. Then followed that up with, “What was your and Dad’s timeline?”. She was double checking to see how long it took from the time we met to the time we got married. It was about a year. I knew then that she was in love. Now it was up to Chad.

A few weeks ago, he asked Janna’s father for our blessing and it was given before he even got the question out of his mouth!Chad is already family. He is a die-hard Sioux Hockey fan and we are die-hard Bison Football fans! This makes our family gatherings a bit more fun. Janna is allowed to wear Sioux Hockey apparel but Chad, then, has to return with Bison Football apparel. That’s fair – right?

Why should people vote for this couple?

Chad has given 18 years to the military and serving our country. He has eight years of service with the 118th ADA in Grand Forks, ND and currently he is serving with the 119th Wing ‘Happy Hooligans’ Fire Department in Fargo, ND. While serving with the 119th Wing, he was deployed to the Middle East on four separate tours. Three tours in Iraq and one in Bahrain. He was also deployed on many humanitarian missions – serving in Norway, Israel, Germany and England.

Chad put his personal life on hold to serve his country. He has told us that he was willing to serve overseas because he did not have his own family and that he wished to take the place of others who could stay home and be with their families. He had plans to stay in the military and be on call – but love is now a part of his life and it is their turn to be a family. Please allow these two young individuals the happiness of having professional photos to document their special day. I want Jann a to have the wedding of her dreams. She has been patient and allowed God to have control (which has been tough). Chad entered her life for a reason.

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Mitch Skajewski + Krissy Hibbard

Wedding Date + Location: December 13th at Carlos Creek Winery in Alexandria, MN

How the couple met + their love story:

It was the fall of 2004. He was 19 and had just moved hundreds of miles from his small town home to pursue a BFA with NDSU’s theater program. I was an 18 year old wild child, living on my own and actively working in community theater and NDSU’s open improv troupe. Our social circles inevitably collided. I remember the first time I saw him vividly. His eyes were striking hazel. I teased him over the difficulty of pronouncing his last name, stating someday if he were to marry, his fiancee may choose to keep her surname. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and blushed. I felt my heart flutter. The attraction was instantaneous and, unbeknownst to us, mutual. Unfortunately, so was our shyness around each other.

In the fall of 2008, he came to a play I was starring in. We spoke briefly after the show. I was awestruck at how quickly being next to him caused butterflies in my stomach, even after four years had passed. Later that night, I received a message asking me out for ice cream. Our first date was surprisingly comfortable, both confessing to longstanding feelings and each elated to learn the other was actually interested.

When we first started dating, my father was in the midst of a long battle with lung cancer. He lived in Texas and I took as many trips down South each year as I could afford. For my 24th birthday in July of 2009, Mitch surprised me with tickets for us to go visit him. We spent the week in San Antonio and South Padre Island, my father’s favorite place. A close family friend owned a charter ship for bay fishing and dolphin watches. We spent an entire day with him, as we did each year. It was the first birthday I had spent with my Dad since my parents divorce. It would be my last.

My Dad died on May 27, 2010. I spent the last two weeks of his life with him. He wished to have his ashes released into the Gulf of Mexico at South Padre. Our family friend reserved the ship for his private service. Mitch was by my side. He was the only man I had ever brought home to meet my father. He was the only one I had ever wanted to.

On May 25th, 2011, Mitch’s step-father passed unexpectedly, suffering a massive heart attach. We had both lost our Dad’s in one year. Our heartache was overwhelming. We relied heavily on each other. In 2012, we returned to South Padre Island. It was my first visit since my Dad’s funeral. We surprised our family friend who greeted us with his enormous laughter, bigger hugs and firm insistence that we spend the day on the ship with him. While we were on the deck of the captain’s cabin, my best friend asked me to marry him. He had to ask me twice. The happy tears were making me unintelligible. The center diamond of my engagement ring was the solitaire given to my mother by my father 27 years prior.

Why should people vote for this couple?

We are saving for and paying for this wedding ourselves. The smaller details are falling into focus, but so far the only things we haven’t yet agreed on are my dress and the photography. We’re only doing this once and we want to make sure we are able to capture the joyous feeling of our families uniting and quiet candid moments. Knowing our photographer would be confirmed would alleviate one of my biggest worries. I can’t say that we deserve it more than anyone else, but this day will be 10 years in the making for us. We are ready for it to be as perfect as it can be…hopefully we will be fortunate to have your help.

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Ben Jacobson + Alyssa Black

Wedding Date + Location: June 7th at Hope Lutheran Church with the reception at the Plains Art Museum

How the couple met + their love story:

It was late August 2008. The sun was shining and a bunch of young, nerdy Concordia Cobbers gathered for their first day of school. A new beginning. They were all awkward and nervous , but for tow of them, this was one of the most important days of their lives. I remember seeing her for the first time. I remember what she was wearing (pink shirt and jeans). She hardly remembers one thing about it. We had no idea then that we were meeting the person that we would spend the rest of our lives with. Skip ahead one year to our first date. I had had a crush on her since that first day and now was my big opportunity. If flopped a bit. The CD I had burned didn’t work in my car. The brownies I had surprised her with were mushy. The waiter messed up our order. But apparently something about it was okay with her. So we had a second date and a third and a fourth. This pattern continued through college. We became inseparable. We hiked. We drank coffee. We read books. We talked. We hugged. We kissed. And then we graduated college and moved apart. I went to graduate school in St. Paul and Alyssa stayed in Fargo to work as a nurse. A few days before our three-year anniversary I couldn’t take it anymore. I took the money I had saved and bought a ring. Long story short, she said yes. Now all of our memories of time hiking together, cooking together, drinking coffee together and snuggling together will become our future. And as we look forward to our future, we look back to that first day at Concordia and thank God that amidst the awkwardness of that new beginning, we were really starting something much bigger.

Why should people vote for this couple?

We will not pretend that we are the most special couple on the face of the earth, but we really do feel that we deserve this. We have sacrificed our time together for careers that serve others. Alyssa is an oncology nurse in Fargo and I am attending seminary in St. Paul. Our time apart has been hard. We give all of our time to our work. She works nights and most of our time together is a quick hello over the phone. We would love to have this help in starting our lives together.

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Rob Huber + Brittany Haaland

Wedding Date + Location: August 30th at Rustic Oaks in Moorhead

How the couple met + their love story:

Rob and I are high school sweethearts. Cheesy, I know but our story is anything but ordinary. There is too much time in our relationship to go through the details, but here is a little summery. Our parents were good friends, our younger brothers were in a band together and our sisters played hockey together. Even with all these ties, we never really crossed paths. It wasn’t until the day I was running outside trying to catch my cat when Rob pulled up in his beaten up, junky Chevelle that we finally met. Rob was picking my sister up for hockey practice and I caught my cat outside and quickly ran back into our backyard. Rob asked my sister, “who was that?” and before I knew it, my sister was running inside telling me to go to Rob’s car because he had something to ask me. I walked up to the car, introduced myself and Rob muttered the oh so romantic words, “Uh…so…would you want to come to a friends band practice with me tonight….in their basement?”. With the giggles of our sisters in the back, I replied, “Sure”. We have been dating ever since. We have had our ups and downs. We have had our break-ups, Lord knows we have been thrown obstacles, but we have always beaten through them and found each other again. On November 22nd, 2011 we welcomed our little boy, Parker, into our lives. He is the spitting image of his mama, but has the personality and sense of adventure of his father. We got engaged in Hawaii in January of 2013 and have decided on having a simple and fun wedding at Rustic Oaks in Moorhead. I have been in love with this man for almost 9 years and I cannot wait to spend many more with him. We live a very busy life, but never lose sight of what matters and that is our little family.

Why should people vote for this couple?

We deserve to win because we have a lot of fight for what we believe in which is this family. Anything that is thrown our way we have worked through and have come out to be a fun and tough young couple. Simple minded and a love for hard work make us who we are and we love it! My fiance is a remarkable daddy and his hands are always dirty. He is a tough man and has the biggest heart. I am one lucky lady.

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Peter Tartaro + Caitlin Walseth

Wedding Date + Location: April or May in the Twin Cities, MN

How the couple met + their love story:

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**Please note: You must vote in the poll box below. Leaving a comment or ‘liking’ it in the Facebook section DOES NOT count as voting. Thanks!