IT’S AWESOME TO MEET YOU!

Hi! I’m Teri, owner and main photographer at Ciao Bella Studios. I am snarky, driven, nerdy, fiercely proud of my kiddos (who are equally as snarky as I), totally in love with my handsomely bearded, amazingly talented photographer husband Dave Jones of Empire West Live (seriously, go check out his live band photography, the man rocks), and excited to join you on this crazy journey of getting married! I am an inclusive photographer who believes with all my heart that you should never have to say “are you ok that we’re…”. Dude, seriously, all I want to know is this: Are you in love? Do you want epically emotional photographs of an awesome day? And finally, and maybe most importantly, can we hang out? You see, one of those most important things to think about when hiring your photographer is exactly that, would you hang out with that person? Because we are going to spend a lot of time together. And it is going to be AWESOME!

WHAT ARE THE THINGS THAT MAKE ME, ME?

• I can not start my day without cinnamon in my coffee.
• I will never give up cheese. You can’t make me. Give me wine and cheese and we’ll be friends.
• I will go from listening to Green Day to The Beatles, to the ENTIRE Guardians of the Galaxy album over and over. Yes I have it on vinyl.
• I am addicted to vinyl. As are my husband and my kids.
• The best song to listen to LOUDLY in your car, especially randomly at an intersection with all of your windows open is ‘Hooked on a Feeling’ by Blue Swede. Fight me. I’ll win. Ooga-chaka ooga ooga.
• I drive a cafe racer motorcycle. I drive it really slow. Because – safety. But it looks kick-ass. I do want to learn how to drive a dirt bike and drive it really fast though!
• My favorite past times are: going into the youtube rabbit hole selecting random songs. Start with anything by Hall and Oates, you’ll thank me. Putting weird puzzles together with my husband (ask me about the MC Escher one, no it’s not done), watching ANY comic novel movie, hiking, camping, baking and cooking, starting lists, buying notebooks, and reading.
• I can help any woman find her fierce in a boudoir session. Any. Woman. And every woman’s partner will thank me after, trust me.
• I was a nurse. I worked in the emergency room. There is pretty much nothing that can happen on a wedding day that can throw me. I’ve got you covered. This also makes me really good at handling high stress situations. Give me that list of the people that will stress you out on your wedding day, I’ll handle it. Maintaining the calm is what an ER nurse does.
• My business name comes from when I worked as a visiting nurse. I was assigned an older Italian patient who wouldn’t allow anyone to touch her. She didn’t speak a bit of English, and no one could connect with her. My first day with her I walked in and said “Ciao Bella!” It’s honestly the only Italian I knew, but it was enough. That tiny bit of connection was all she needed. She allowed me to care for her, draw her blood, anything that was needed. And all because I made the attempt to connect with her. That lesson has never left me.