Abby Jo Photography

11/09/2024

Humility and Truth is what we need..

29/08/2024

It’s engagement season! So many sweet stories are flooding the inbox these days and I just love hearing each one! Thank you Brides-to-be for sharing your smiles with me! It’s always such a delight to meet new friends and start planning to capture wonderful memories with them.

If you got engaged recently comment below with a photo of your proposal or that sparkly new promise on your finger! And if you’re looking to book a photographer that’s going to be so excited for every detail on your big day let’s chat!

09/08/2024

🍁Let’s go Fall! I’m ready for the season change!
🍃Summer is coming to a close which means it’s time to start thinking about fall sessions. I don’t normally hold fall mini sessions but I’m curious if there are any interested.
📸Mini sessions are great because they are usually short and sweet just enough time to update the family photo wall and it won’t break the bank. If you’re interested drop me a DM and I’ll put you on the early access list to sign up.

09/07/2024

Mid summer check in!

This summer will be quite intense. Cody and I have an exciting opportunity for travel! We are headed out of the country to experience a new culture and serve young children through our church. We are looking forward to all we will get to see and how God might use and change us through it all. When Cosy and I were in high school we went on a missions trip to Mexico with our youth group. It’s crazy to think our parents let us go, now that sounds so dangerous. That trip taught me a lot about loving others and I saw how other kids my age lived in another country. As a youngster I took a lot for granted.

We get to take our oldest on this upcoming trip and I’m so excited for her to experience another culture. We pray God uses this to spur her along in her faith. Could this be something God uses in her sanctification walk to prepare her for what He has planed for her life? We will see. So thankful for this opportunity and prayers appreciated as we go!

And as soon as we get back I’ll be headed into the end of summer wedding season and gearing up for all my fall brides!

01/07/2024

Can you believe it’s July 1st! Summer is truly flying by.

Just a couple of notes!

Seniors! Class of 25’ If you’re looking to get your session scheduled before school begins now is the perfect time to book. I still have some session dates open before school starts. But also! It’s totally ok to book through the fall! Message me for all the details.

Family’s! I’m considering doing a few rounds of mini sessions this fall. If you’re interested send me your email address in message so I can give you access to the early booking info before minis are released for booking. That means you get first pick of times and dates!

29/06/2024

I love shooting sunset photos at !! It’s absolutely stunning out there!

Cheers to all my recently engaged couples! I hope this summer is extra sweet as you continue to plan for your big day!

Venue:
Couple: .schaffrin

24/06/2024

Sweet sweet love

05/06/2024

2025 Brides!!
Just a reminder books are open for the 2025 wedding season and dates are staring to fill up. If you’re thinking He might propose and your interested in Abby Jo Photography serving you next year give me a shout. I would love to hear more about the details and share in those sweet memories.

I don’t like talking about myself on here much but I know it’s good for you all to get to know the gal behind the camera a bit. So let me do a little intro for my new friends here.

Hi I’m Abby Jo, I am a wedding photographer with over 7 years of experience. I have served over 100 brides and still absolutely enjoy working with couples right here in Central Illinois. I specialize in life style wedding photography that feels like the day unfolded and looks just as joyful as the moment felt. My desire is to provide clients with that small town love but high end feel. I want to be the professional you hire and the friend you have for a lifetime. Brides appreciate my calming presence on a wedding day when things tend to get overwhelming. I want to be a smile you can count on a firm anchor you can look to when things get out of place. I am always there to make sure your day goes how you hoped and if it’s needed I’ll help you see the silver lining when an expectation falls through. (Were my 2021 brides at!? They know something about plans changing!)

If you’re looking to add another vendor to your corner give me a shout I can’t wait to serve and cheer for you as you say I do.

PS! If you’re a PAST BRIDE I would absolutely love it if you would share this post to your story or share it with a friend. I wish I could see you all again! I’m so thankful our paths crossed how ever many years ago it’s been and I pray you’re doing well today! Also if you could share one of your favorite wedding photos I’d love to reshare it on my story to reminisce on your wonderful day!

30/05/2024

What true love is all about..
Someone to give you a kick in the pants when you need it.

27/05/2024

Loved spending time with Ian and Emma this weekend. The weather and everything else was just great!

It’s also Cody and Is Anniversary this weekend! I can’t believe we said I Do 11 years ago?! Where has the time gone? I can honestly say I love this man more and more every passing year! Im in awe of who God has made him to be. Cody is so hard working, long suffering, thoughtful, loving, funny, wise, full of integrity. AND He still gives me butterflies in my stomach. I just love seeing him come home after a long day of work and our girls running to greet him as he walks in the door. He brings such joy and peace into our home. I praise the Lord for the love and friendship we share. God has given us a sweet thing here on earth and we know Heaven will be even better than the blessings in this life. Cheers to my Hubs I hope God gives us another 11 + together I love you!!
Fun fact my husband never gets in here if you go to his page he still has a photo of us from our honeymoon! 🤣 we were just babies!

22/05/2024

First wedding of the 2024 season! I just love how every season brings fresh colors and life. Congrats Ben and Ally it was such a perfect day!

08/05/2024

We moved into my parents basement Easter weekend of 2023. We wanted to save a little more money over the summer and had some design work to finish with our contractor so we didn’t official begin building until August 1st 2023. Our move in date wasn’t until April 13th 2024! 8 month process! A little longer than we had hoped but overall not a bad timeline. Builders were able to get most things enclosed by winter so the interior work was done through the cold spring months. The biggest hang up through the build was getting sub-contractors there. After covid workers became very few so everyone was understaffed. We learned to be patient and enjoyed every new thing that went up on the property. Check out my stories for some building shots and videos!

Would Cody and I do it again!? Absolutely! I had a lot of fun going through the whole process. Was it stressful at times? Yes totally but that’s cuz we did some of the work ourselves. And building a home is a total sacrifice towards many things. You naturally spend more time focusing on what’s needed for building which takes you away from prior commitments, friendships, family time, and many other things. I do feel a little like I’ve come out of hibernation. It’s a little shocking the last year came and went as fast as it did. But it was so worth it and rewarding. We hope God allows us to stay here for many many years and share it with so many.

Next questions I’ll be answering..
what was our design process like?
How did we save money? / what did we do ourselves.
How did our marriage do through it all?
What dis our kids think about it?

08/05/2024

From start to finish what was our building project process like?

5 years ago we went to dinner with some friends and randomly talked about how fun it would be to buy some land we saw in town and then to build our dream homes someday. That’s really how this all started. That next day we started inquiring with the current owners of the land. Together with our friends we bought 12 acres of land and subdivided that into 5 different lots. We kept a 4 acre lot and planned to sell another 2 acre lot ourselves. Our friends kept a 4 acre lot and built and sold a 2 acre lot.

We honestly figured we would sit on the land for 10 years before we would built BUT then COVID happened and the upswing of the selling market started to boom. We saw many friends and acquaintances start to sell their house for top dollar and knew if we didn’t sell soon we would miss the market. It was 2021 and we were having a baby. I knew I couldn’t handle moving and building with a brand new baby so we sat tight for another year and worked on finishing our current house to be ready to sell and hoped the market would stick around for a little while and it did thankfully! We also were very unsure what kind of home we wanted to build so we began looking through plans that year and discussed what we liked and didnt like. We also started getting in touch with a builder in the area we knew and trusted. We began designing with them in 2021. I’ll share more on our design process in my next post. We tried selling in the fall of 2022 but we had missed the summer market that year. We sat tight for the winter and put the house up for sale spring 2023 and it sold right away (Praise the Lord!)

See next post!

30/04/2024

Post continued!!! (See previous post for the whole story)

🏡Did we know what we wanted!? This was so hard! We have three little little kids which means our family is just starting and long term family needs are hard to know at this point. We tried our best to choose a plan that would grow and retract with us as we aged. But ultimately we didn’t fully know we just planned the best we could and made some open end options in case we needed to add to our plan some day. I would say we thought through our house plan for 2 years refinding and adjusting spaces for needs and tastes. I went through several plans and worked with a designer to create a unique layout. When we finally decided 2023 was the year we were going to build that pushed us to shore up the rest of our layout design as well. A dead line makes a difference in making decisions. I’ll save some of these details for another post! It was a fun process for me!

😉FINALLY are we old enough!? Cody and I are both in our 30s which seems young for building our forever home but with almost 11 years of marriage and remodeling 2 homes together we kinda knew what we wanted and were ready to make something that we could put roots down into. If building is something you know you want to do and God blesses you with the means to do so then building could be right for you. It’s not as big and scary as it may seem. We asked a lot of questions from others who had built, sought counsel on the truly important things for a house while still keeping an eternal perspective on the whole princess. Cody and I reminded each other often that this world is not our permanent home. Our perfect eternal home is in heaven someday and this house we are building will only last as long as God allows. Which means work hard to glorifying God through it all but don’t allow ourselves to become discouraged or discontent in the process; it won’t last forever and perfection is only in Heaven.

30/04/2024

Future house builders! I’m planning to spend time the next few weeks answering questions yu all had about our house build. Check out todays notes…

1st questions: How did Cody and I know the timing for building was right for us?

This was a big debate. We went back-and-forth on this for almost 2 years. We sought wise counsel. We considered all the pros and cons. We came up with a 10 year plan and a 5 year plan and then ultimately just pulled the trigger.

Questions we had: are interest rates too high? Should we wait for building costs to come down? Do we really know what we want? Are we old enough to do this and what if it’s not perfect?!

Here were some of our deciding factors:

🗓️ Interest rates fluctuate always and even in a struggling economy with inflation at an all time high we concluded that refinancing is always an option when rates come down. And they will even if it’s a few years away. We sat down and calculated worst case scenarios just to be on the safe side with our income and budget for a mortgage. We would have never said yes to building without a certain threshold in our savings as well. We also had a few investments that we cashed out on that helped cover costs as we built. It’s probably wise to have around 30% of your building costs in cash when you start probably more!

🛠️Should we wait on building costs to come down? So this was a particularly hot topic because it was 2023 we were coming out of covid. EVERYTHING was expensive. There was talk that costs would come down and maybe waiting on that is a good idea. But what we heard and came to find true: building costs never come back down. Once manufacturers get comfortable making a certain amount of money they stay in that range and rarely decrease. If they do, it’s very minor. We were able to save money in some areas and i’ll share that in another post! And builders secret if you choose a good builder they will save you money in the long run by doing it right the first time….

See next post for the rest…

28/04/2024

Best friends having a lifetime of fun together.

24/04/2024

I just love it when couples wear white at their engagement session! Just makes them pop right off the background! And I love this sweet couple right here! 🩵

23/04/2024

Engagement sessions are in full swing this season. I love exploring new places with sweet friends. Can’t wait to see Jess and Pierce say I Do forever this fall!

01/04/2024

T- one month until wedding season kicks off for me! I gotta say I’m getting more and more excited for some happy days to start rolling. But also a little overwhelmed when I think about all I need to do in this month.

Cody and I are just about through our list of To Dos at the new house and hoping our move in date is in the next 2 weeks!

Wow I can’t even believe how close we are! This last year has gone by fast and slow at times. But so thankfully for the process it’s what makes the end result that much sweeter. Much like trials in our lives they may be long and exhausting at times but O so sweet to look back on and appreciate the work God has done and where He has placed you today.

Today I’m choosing to be thankful for the process because I know God is always refining me for the day of His coming.

He is Risen! And He is coming again soon.

07/03/2024

When you make a motorcycle look that good.. This was a special motorcycle from the grooms childhood, his uncle gladly brought it for the wedding day just for some fun photos. Boy was I glad he did!

06/03/2024

“Cute caption”

Sometimes you just want to see a pretty picture and not some long frilly caption.. so here yu go..

01/03/2024

Are you day dreaming about what your wedding day might look like this year? Because I am! I love meeting with my clients before the big day and talking through the details. This helps me to think clearly about what we will be shooting and how to organize my shots to flow creatively through the day. Don’t skip the planning meeting it’s so worth your time to feel prepared for the day.

26/02/2024

Big News!

2024 books are open for Family sessions 🙌🏻

I don’t always offer family sessions through the year due to wedding season but this year I’m keeping some spots open to serve yu all!

AND! If you have been a past or current Abby Jo Bride I am giving you a special offer! DM me for the details and book a date before spots are gone!

Session options:
Extended Family session: this is for multi generational family groups. Grab mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, kids, grandkids and capture some memories together!

Single family session: this is just for mom and dad and the kids and the dog. You’ll have lots of images to choose from and print for the family photo wall.

Mini Session: 15 min session to update the family photo or social media profiles. These are short and sweet with fewer images to look through.

16/02/2024

🗓️Off season…
I knew at the end of 2023 I was looking forward to a long break. I needed some down time to recoup from all the creative outpouring from the year. It’s now middle of off season and I’m of course missing my couples and making joy on the camera.

My first wedding doesn’t start till May this year. Which is a good thing because family life needs my full attention right now. Between caring for three little girls and final house preparations and hopefully moving in by April we have a lot going on over here.

🏡House!
Tomorrow we start painting! I’m so excited about this! I like painting so hopefully this goes smoothly. Not doing to many exciting colors just trying to keep all the rooms cohesive with white and maybe a few darker accent walls. Next weekend we hope to begin the floors! My husband is doing all that with some friends and family. It’s getting real my friends! I will try to capture some photos to share.

📸2024 Wedding season!
Weddings begin in May! I’m still booking a few more this season 🙌🏻 so if you’re getting engaged please reach out! At this point in the year most photographers are well booked but if you stay open to their available dates you can still scoop up the photog you want!

💎2025 Wedding Season
Books are open and I’m taking inquires!

04/01/2024

It’s 2024! Are you getting engaged soon and setting a date for this year? I would love to be apart of your wedding day vision. DM me for a quick scoop on how to get in touch.

01/01/2024

Happy New Year! 2024 wow how have you already arrived? Im so thankful to begin a new year full of so many things on Gods divine calendar. Even though I can’t possibly know what God has in store I’m looking forward to each twist and turn He has set for me.
Lord willing I will be serving all my 2024 brides AND I’m excited to share I’ll be opening up the books this coming spring for family sessions again and of course my ever loved seniors too.
Be on the look out for mini session openings and more! You can also head to my website to view service details and reach out.
Last note I’m now open for booking 2025 weddings! Send me a DM to learn how to reserve your date.

15/12/2023

13/12/2023

This is how excited I’m getting to celebrate Christ’s birth again this year! Only 12 more days! Don’t forget the true meaning to the holidays. A savior was born to save the world! Amen!

07/12/2023

Finding contentment..
This season of life God has pushed me and my family towards and need for contentment in so many ways. It could be so easy to be discontent with living in someone else’s basement. Not having our own home with all the normal things we think we need to daily life. But allowing myself to get stuck on discontent attitudes begins to fuel a fire that’s hard to put out. An out of control, discontent heart can lead to so many bad places you never wanted to be in. Instead it has been so important to focus on being thankful in all things! Even the unwelcomed events in this season. Focusing on a thankful heart can really change your whole perspective on a current situation and give the ability to see Gods goodness. It may even change you for the good.

What can you be thankful for today? Here are a few of mine..
- warm dry home to sleep in
- good health
- working vehicle for running errands
- hard workers at the house today even in the cold!
- two silly girls to love and watch this afternoon (and one in school who turns 7 tomorrow🥰)
- a hard working husband who loves his family so much!
- a waiting season that is maturing me in my patience

✨God is good