Happy New Year! 2011 was a great year full of wonderful memories of working with fun couples on their special day. I invite you to join me as we Relive Every Moment with the Best Weddings of 2011 contest.

The Best Weddings of 2011 is a fan-based voting contest featuring the couples I worked with over the past year. The couple with the most votes at the end of the contest will win a $500 grand prize package consisting of a $250 donation to the non-profit organization of the winning couple’s choice and $250 in Courtney Goldman Photography services, perfect for celebrating the couple’s first anniversary or other special occasion. From the American Red Cross to the Wounded Warrior Project, there are a lot of great non-profits represented.

To vote, click the image above or visit the Courtney Goldman Photography Facebook page. Once on the Facebook page, click the “Best Weddings of 2011″ tab below the page’s profile picture. The contest will run through January 31, 2012 at 11:59pm. During the contest, voters are allowed to vote once per day. After voting, please consider sharing the contest link on your facebook profile, twitter account, blog, or forwarding this email to your friends.

Thanks for supporting these great couples and the non-profits they are representing!

I’m editing this wedding, and couldn’t wait to show this photo.  It’s just too sweet.  Besides the obvious moment between the bride and groom, the couple in the background is the groom’s parents.  Ain’t love grand!

Daphne is one of my favorite models, as she’s also one of my favorite little people!! She lives down the street from me, so we hang out quite a bit. In August I took a few photos, and they are just too cute not to share.

Oh, and her parents are musicians, so you can see that she just may end up following in their footsteps!

This summer one of my photos was featured on Moment Junkie, and today a photo from another wedding was featured! Janet was second shooting for me and captured this gem.

Here’s a link to the post.  And this is the description of the blog – taken from their site:

Moment Junkie is a blog devoted to showcasing the best in contemporary wedding photojournalism, with a focus on moments between people that are timeless, heartbreaking, hilarious, or all of the above. We love gorgeous portraits and well-planned details, but so often we’ve found that the photos we hold most dear — the ones we would give anything to hold onto — are those that encapsulate a memorable moment or remind us of how we felt as much as they show us how we looked. So we’re here to tell those stories, with submissions from some of the best working photographers around today.

Baby Harper was less than 3 weeks old when I took her photos.  She was a perfect – and very sleepy – model.

Ellen and Trevor were married this summer at The Foundry Park Inn in Athens, Georgia. The flowers were from Gardenia Floral.  Sarah Ketchie played the harp during the ceremony. The reception was held at their music venue, The Melting Point. The Highballs performed, even letting Trevor and his brother get in on the action and sing “Twist & Shout!”  The Foundry catered, and provided a cake by Cecilia’s Cakes. Mary Ellen of Consultant’s Unlimited brought it all together perfectly!

Instead of just some favorite photos today, I decided to show their whole album!  Enjoy.

Some favorites from Mindy and Adam’s engagement session at The State Botanical Garden of Georgia. (I’m getting used to these blog posts of few words. After all, I’m a photographer, not a writer. And I don’t have to tell you how adorable these two are… just look!)

Ollie and his parents are out of town “friends of friends” who had seen some of my photos through Facebook. I was so excited when they decided to have a portrait session done on their visit to Athens this summer! Here are some of my favorites of the day.

Day two of simplified blog posts.  Some basic information and lots of photos!

Grace and Robert were married at Holy Cross Anglican Church in Loganville. Their reception was held at Summit Chase Country Club in Snellville, who also catered the event. The cake was baked by Dream Cakes International and the flowers were from Snellville Florist. The DJ was Bruce King Productions.

Now, the photos….

I know I’ve gotten behind on my blogging – Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I’m blogging a wedding from this summer!! So I’ve decided to do one post per wedding, and let the photos speak for themselves. I’ll just give you a little intro – after all, you want to know the amazing vendors that were at the wedding, then show you the photos!!

Keri Beth and Jonathan were married this summer at Watkinsville First Baptist Church. The bright, colorful flowers were from my wonderful friend Holly at The Holly Garden. Keri Beth and Jonathan had their “first look” in the sanctuary.  The reception was held in The Grand Ballroom and The Palm Room in the revoted historic Georgian in downtown Athens, a venue run and catered by Trumps Catering. Music was provided by MusicMaster DJs.