Author: Becky

Casual and Comfy | Family Idea

by Becky

Blues are timeless. Choosing a blue palette for your family’s portrait session keeps the look casual and modern without being a color that will go out of style next week. These colors will be able to be showcased in your home for years to come. Plus, finding the right shade of blue to compliment each person is pretty easy.

Save The Dates | Weddings

by Becky
People are so much busier today than they ever were in the past. Weekends quickly fill up, free time just seems to disappear. When you are planning your wedding a year or more in advance, the date sticks in your mind. You want to make sure that your family and friends also block their calendars off for your big day.

But, if you wait until the traditional 8 weeks before to send your wedding invitations, alerting your family and friends to when the wedding will be, you risk their schedules already being booked.

Solution: Save The Dates!

These are designed to be saved! Many people will put Save The Dates up on their fridge, whether they are magnets or cards.

We offer several styles and sizes. We can do:
  • Postcards, that send without envelopes;
  • Two sided cards that go into envelopes ;
  • Magnets, with envelopes;
  • Magnets that coordinate with a card, with envelope

The size and style you choose may influence how much information you include on the card. It’s a good idea to add your web address if you have a wedding website. If you have the room, hotel information is nice to include for guests that don’t use the internet.


You can send Save The Dates at any time. Six months before the wedding is a good rule of thumb, but earlier or later can work, too. If your wedding date falls on a holiday weekend or a high-activity weekend (Badger game, etc.), then the sooner guests can start planning their visit and hotel stay, the better.

If you do Save The Dates, when will you send them out?

Baby Zaila | Madison

by Becky
I first met Zaila when she was a brand new baby. I love when babies are this little and their little feet curl up next to their little rump.

And as much as I love newborns, Zaila’s second session was much more fun since she was sitting up. She enjoyed being outside and seeing everything that was around her.




I can’t wait to see how big she has gotten when we do her next session!

More Albums To Love

by Becky
The great thing about an album is how personal it is and how custom it can be for each person. I love the cover options with the new Chunky Artistic album line. Combining leathers with custom photograph covers gives each album a unique look.

The top album shows the alligator leather, which is a beautiful texture! The bottom album is subtle marbled leather.

These two new albums will be available at The Wilderness Resort in Wisconsin Dells and The Legend of Bergamont in Oregon to view while showcasing their venues.

William | Newborn

by Becky
I absolutely love it when families come back to Appleby Photography as their families grow. Jen and Chris allowed me to photograph Sam when he was a newborn. Then, when Will joined them, I was able to photograph him, as well. It’s wonderful to see how they all fit together as a family.
This session is a great example of how most parents of newborns choose to showcase the images from their session. We usually will do some individual images for the wall and gifts for grandparents.

The Bits & Pieces is still one of our most popular ways to showcase babies. When they are little for such a short time, it’s great to have a way to remember this stage before it’s gone. This is usually done with the matting and framing, however, other options are also available to fit your style.

Birth announcements are a fun way to show photographs of your new baby. The cards that we offer are the ones that don’t get thrown away, either. These stay up on the fridge, or even make their way into frames!

We love for you to show off your family where your family and friends will see them. Ask about getting a Facebook Timeline cover collage with your session images!

Stephanie & David | Wedding

by Becky






These images are overdue, as they have already been featured on the Wedding Planner & Guide website. Stephanie and David were prize package winners from the Wedding Planner & Guide bridal show. We had included an engagement session, which is how we first met them. We were honored when they chose us to also photograph their wedding. It was wonderful to see how much love their family had for them. It really was a special day for so many people!

Keeping The Romance Fires Burning

by Becky

Romance [verb] to seek the attention of someone, especially by use of flattery, to seduce, to woo
When life gets busy and time runs short, romance often takes a back seat. We mean to do the sweet little things that we used to do, but we get distracted and forget. Or we remember the days when we had time to plot out elaborate ways to show our love. But work, schedules, family, obligation take over.
It can even leave you yearning for a sappy, commercial Valentine’s Day card.
Fixing the romantic drain is actually very easy. And quick. And good for you. [wink, wink.]
Write a little love note (it can even just say “I love you”). Hide it somewhere your partner won’t find right away, like a purse, wallet, coat pocket, etc. Then, later in the day, text your partner to look in the hiding spot. Feeling elaborate? Hide movie or concert tickets instead.
Do you have a special place? Where you first met or got engaged? Go there. If you can’t actually get there, recreate it. Your favorite vacation was to Mexico? Go get margaritas or take tacos to the beach.
This website getromantic.com has 100 more ideas, both little and big, that can bring back the romance to any relationship. Have fun!

Clearing The Clutter

by Becky

Spring has come early this year, and with it, the desire to organize!

I have 4 young children and work from a home office with 2 businesses. My life feels far from organized.

I confess that I dream of an organized home. I page through catalogs that promise to manage my house. I look through websites that offer complete systems to create order. I go to stores and seek out products that will make my life easier, simpler. I think up ways that should keep my family and business on track.
Then, I have days when I want to pitch everything I own and just start over.
Before and After:
My suggestion to help you get organized: find a friend to get organized with! It would be great if that friend wanted to come over and clean your house for you, but that probably won’t happen. (On the off-chance you do have a friend that likes to clean, send ’em my way!)
My friend and I have started taking before and after photographs of our cleaning and organizing projects. We will then email or text the photographs to each other. This works because we get to see the improvement from the start of the task to the end, offer suggestions on what might work, get suggestions of things we should do, plus we get the validation of our friend seeing the hard work we put into it and cheering us on. Which is really the biggest reason of all. (Because most husbands won’t notice, which is a different matter entirely….)
If you like websites with real cleaning/organizing advice (not one of those silly “clean these 30 things every day” types) here is one to try: modernmom.com What’s your favorite website for advice?

Carrie & Jose | Wedding

by Becky
Carrie and Jose’s wedding was a multicultural event for us. Jose’s entire family only speaks Spanish and most of Carrie’s speaks only English. However, on the day of the wedding, there were no barriers between the families. Even those that could not make the trip were included, through Skype. We loved seeing the Mexican traditions that were incorporated into the day.

The wedding ceremony was done in both languages, as were all the speeches at the reception.




Carrie and Jose worked hard to make sure that both families were represented and respected. Not being Spanish speakers ourselves didn’t even cause us any worry. The day went smoothly, and the photographs were easy-peasy, with some translating from Carrie (and an app that Chris had downloaded to his iPhone). It was a beautiful day and a wonderful group of people!