Thank You!!!!

Thank you to each and every one of you that has made 2009 my best year ever!!! I am so lucky to have the best job in the world where I consider my clients my friends:) I am so excited about the up coming year. Although 2009 was my best year yet, 2010 is already giving it a run for it's money!!! I am very lucky to have so many weddings booked for next year and always get a little sad when I have to turn someone away. I am also very excited about the many things that I am doing to continue my education and strive to be the best and offer the best to each and everyone of you. Topping my list will be a 1 week workshop with one of the most influential wedding and portrait photographers of the 21st century!!!!

Again, thank you for your continued support. I look forward to working with you this year and watching your families grow. Happy New Year!!!

And the winner is.....Th

We are happy to announce that the winner of our 2010 Wedding Photography Contest is

Matthew & Jenna

Thank you so much to everyone that entered and voted. There were a lot of deserving couples and I'm glad we at-least get to help out one of them:)

Vote for your favorite photographer!!!

We have been nominated for best photographer in the Grand Strand but we need your help. Please take a second to follow this link and vote for your favorite photographer:)

http://wmbf.cityvoter.com/contests/best-of-the-grand-strand/4754/weddings/photographer

2009 Wedding Contest Finalists

Our 3 finalist have been picked!! Thank you to everyone that submitted their story, we got a lot of great entries:) Please take a second to read the 3 stories below and send your vote to: info@brookechristl.com with vote in the subject line and name of couple their voting for in body. 1 vote per e-mail address.

Jenna & Matthew

This is the story of a Canadian bride, and an American groom. The two are here to tell their story in hopes that you will choose them as the wedding photography give-away winners!:) Their relationship began in Myrtle Beach in May 2005. Jenna traveled to Myrtle Beach to lifeguard for a summer. It was there that Jenna and Matthew met at their first lifeguard training session. From then on, the two of them were inseparable! They spent a summer full of love and laughter together. In September 2005, Jenna was forced to return to Canada after her work visa had expired. What started as a summer romance became something the couple had never expected. They were so in love, that a long distance relationship became the natural next step. For three years Jenna and Matt would spend endless hours on the phone, racking up phone bills that were unimaginable, but they didn’t care. Jenna would fly to North Carolina every chance she could get, and Matthew would fly to Ontario whenever he could! This relationship was anything but normal, but they liked it that way! In July 2008, Jenna and Matthew Graduated from University. They knew that they couldn’t spend anymore time apart. The couple embarked on a journey to South Korea where they spent a year teaching English. It was there at a dolphin show, that Matthew proposed to Jenna (where naturally, she said YES!). The couple decided to get married where they first met! They booked their wedding at the Breakers Resort in Myrtle Beach. They are now in North America where they are planning their wedding (Jenna in Canada, and Matthew in the Unites States). The couple has endured their share of challenges, yet would not trade it for anything in the world! Matthew and Jenna fell in love with Brooks photography. However, due to their financial situation, they need your help! The couple noticed that there is a contest open, so they decided to register and tell their story! They are crossing their fingers and their toes in hopes that you will find them deserving enough of this amazing prize package!

Nikki & Al

We met back in 2004 while Al was stationed at Fort Bragg. In November 2004 Al was deployed to Iraq and returned in November of the following year. Unfortunately, just before returning home his father was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. In the following months we saw little of each other, as he was back and forth between Oregon and North Carolina spending time with his father. Near the end of 2006 we left everything behind in Pinehurst and moved to Oregon to spend time with his father. One year (and four days) after arriving in Oregon we returned to Pinehurst to try and rebuild what we had left.

We have great friends and family that have helped us along the way, they supported the move across the country...then back again, and have helped us get on our feet when times were tough. The wedding will be the first time our families meet so we would like to make it very special for everyone. We would love for Brooke to be our wedding photographer, she is very talented and we wouldn't be able to afford the cost of a photographer like her without this prize.

Ann & Jason

We meet July 3rd three and a half years ago in Myrtle Beach. Ann was working a school summer internship and I was on a short vacation with friends. We met at Broadway at the beach of all places. I knew something was special about Ann when we first met. We instantly clicked. I ended up spending more time with her than I did with my friends I was vacationing with. Next thing I know I was on my way home wondering if I would ever see Ann again. It just so happened that her school was only 2 hours away from my house in Ohio. What a coincidence! We planned to meet a month and a half later when she returned north. The day before we were going to see each other she sent me a message "What happens if we have a good time"? I remember thinking about this for a long time and replied "we take it one day at a time and go from there". I realized I was already falling hard for her, but knowing a long distance relationship wasn't going to be easy. We ended up having an amazing time together and started seeing each other as much as possible on the weekends. After Ann finished her last year of school she agreed to take a job in Myrtle Beach. We both loved Myrtle Beach, but I owned a house in Ohio so I couldn't move with her. Luckily a few weeks later I was able to find a job in Ohio that allowed me to work from home so I could visit Ann. We had thought the two hour distance apart was hard. I made the 11 hour drive once a month to be with Ann. One of the trips last January was in a blizzard and I had seen 6 accidents before I made it 30 minutes from my house. I ended up making it safely through the snow, but the police in Aynor got me for a speeding ticket. Each trip home became harder and harder for me to leave. She considered moving back to Ohio, but we both fell in love with the Myrtle Beach area. I finally sold my house in Ohio this spring; it wasn't an easy financial decision since I owed a lot more than the house was now worth. I finally was able to move to Myrtle Beach to be with Ann every day. I planned the most romantic proposal I could think of. We took a sail boat ride at Sunset shared a glass of champagne and I asked her to spend the rest of her life we me. She said YES and we are now planning our dream Myrtle Beach wedding! The journey wasn't always easy, but looking back I'm so glad we decided to take it one day at a time to see if we really were meant to be together!

It would mean a lot to us to win this contest because the money we would’ve been spending for a photographer would go towards hotel rooms for our guests or an activity for all of our guests. Almost all of our guests will be from out-of-town and I know a lot of them are concerned with the flying/driving expenses, let alone the hotel prices in the peak season of tourism.

Davis Family

I was so excited to see Hunter, as the last time I saw him was for his newborn pictures!!! This little guy is a spitting image of his Dad (can you say mini-me!!). He is one of the most easy going babies I have seen, just sits and watches you. Really can't believe how fast this year has gone by and that he is already 6 months old! Excited to see him again soon:) Thank you Kris and Erica for letting me help capture your memories:)

Leslie & Jeremy

I got the great pleasure of working with Leslie (Memorable Moments), Jeremy and their "baby" Izzy:) Leslie and Jeremy were one of my first test subjects for getting "Trash the Dress" going so after torturing them for hours, I figured I owed them a shoot for their Christmas Card. Thanks again for all you guys have done for me. Look forward to working with you in the future:)

Spielvogel Kids

This is the second year that I have been lucky enough to photograph the Spielvogel kids and this is the second year that is has taken 2 shoots to get all three kids in a good mood:) It is hard enough just trying to get 1 person to look at you, but 3 kids is quite a challenge!!! But, we sure have fun trying:) Hopefully this shoot will prove to have some great images or mom's gonna make them do it a third time!!!

Demp Braddock

It's a boy!!! Bridgitte and Frank decided not to find out the sex of their baby and everyone thought it was going to be a girl with how high Brigitte was carrying, but we were all wrong!! I was so excited to meet Demp, the name coming from Frank's late father, as he has been a much anticipated baby:) Although Frank and Brigitte are both exhausted, they are enjoying every precious moment of being parents. I hope I get the privilege of watching this little guy grow up:)

Part of the Lewis Family:)

Since Marcus is overseas, it is not a complete family portrait, but we got "fake" one until he comes back:) Anyone knows working with your own family proves to be very difficult and it's no different with photographers!! Besides trying to get 3 kids to even look at you, trying to get a "nice" smiles from the younger ones and trying to get the teenager not to give me the "I can't be seen smiling" look, listening to Aunt Brookie is just not cool:) But, try as they might to torture me, I was still able to get some pretty awesome shots:)

Santa's Little Helper

My chef baby has turned into Santa's Little Helper!!! I am so in Love with Kellen!! I love this baby and all his rolls and I'm having so much fun watching him grow. I can't believe that he is already 9 months old!!! How time flies. Can't wait to see what fun hat we find for him for his 1 year pictures:)

Joanie & Shane

It's always a little tricky when you don't meet a bride until the day before her wedding, but Joanie seemed like an old friend. After a massive down pour of rain, we were still able to have her dream wedding on the beach. If it hadn't been for the storm, we wouldn't have gotten such beautiful clouds in the sky!! To hear the story of how she and Shane got engaged, it was only fitting that there be a little weather drama in their day:) Thank you guys so much for letting me share in your special day, I had sooo much fun:)

Nina's Trash the Dress

I was so happy when Nina contacted me and decided to do the Trash the Dress session. Nina feels like an old friend from school so I didn't have to worry about getting her to relax or making her feel comfortable. She was so open and easy going to whichever locations I wanted to try (even when I may have driven a little crazy when I passed a spot I wanted to go back to!!). Had a great time and can't wait to watch her and Jamie's family grow:)

Lisa & Clark

When I started talking to Lisa & Clark, we got to realizing that we knew some of the same people....sometimes Myrtle Beach can be very small:) I had so much fun getting to know this couple. They are so cute and so in love. They both warned me that it would be hard to get shots with their eye's open, but we didn't seem to have any problems with that:) I am really looking forward to their Wedding as it is at a Venue I haven't shot at before!!!

Jamie, Ryan & Hayden

Some couples you really have to pose and tell them exactly what to do which was not the case with Jamie & Ryan!! I would tell them where to stand and occasionally tell them to look back at the camera, but the interaction between the two of them speaks in the pictures:) They are such a fun couple and Hayden is a little firecracker!!!

Joanna & Mark

Pine Lakes might be my new favorite place to shoot a wedding!! It was so beautiful. It did help that Blossom's had flowers everywhere!! I felt so honored to share in Joanna & Mark's special day. They are such a wonderful couple and after the drama of a broken zipper on a wedding dress, the day went perfectly:) I know that this couple will have their "Happily Ever After" :)