Welcome to Honeybee & Peony

Honeybee & Peony is the creative cooperative of Leann Manning Photography and Sarah Wachholz, designer. We are both mothers with a flair for the creative. Leann is an on-location photographer who will come to your home and capture images of your children and family as well as your most favorite pets and special occasions. Sarah is a graphic designer who has a special interest in providing creative and beautiful products for families at down to earth prices. She offers such products as birth announcements and greeting cards as well as custom designed invitations and stationary.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Welcome, Henry!


This is Baby Henry! He was named after his great-grandpa and is laying on a chair that WAS his great-grandpa's!! He was only about a week old when we took these photos and I was very impressed by his super long feet and toes.

Thanks for a Great 2008!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Santa Baby


Here is Elijah doing his best impression of a naked Santa Baby. He is just way too cute. What a good little poser. Such sweet grins!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

One I missed...

Looking at these photos really makes me miss the fall weather :( I had a lot of fun with Ella and her mom and dad running around at a park in Woodbury. She was such a cute little model and enjoyed walking through the tall grasses and smelline dandelions! Cutie pie!

Catching Up. Enjoy!

Katherine and Sydney are growing up so quick! I remember when Katie was just a little thing and we were taking photos of her in a giant pumpkin at my house on 44th and Harriet. Now she is a big sis and also has a new little brother coming in the spring. I feel like Sydney was just born but am so excited to meet the new little one, too!

Little Allie turned 3 months old and did great at her photo shoot. We attempted to put her in a stocking. Unfortunately, she would not fit, so I had to test my photoshopping skills to make her appear to be in the stocking. What a doll.

I totally forgot what it was like to have a 10 month old crawling around. Ethan reminded me! Wow, can he get around quick. Luckily we were able to get him to hold still every here and there. Cooper the dog was also a fabulous model.

Sometimes the weather works out so great for shoots. This day was great! The snow made for the perfect "natural prop". Max and Charlie were troopers and Max is so good with Charlie and getting him to smile.

I always get just a little case of the nerves when going into a large family with children spanning many age groups. But it seems to be that they are the most cooperative!! The Hjelle's were so much fun to photograph and SO photogenic. All of those beautiful blue eyes are just killer!

Oh my gosh. These two ae just WAY too cute :) There's something so cute about babies in Santa hats... and then you add a little nudie butt and it gets all the cuter.



Here is little Julia and family. Her mom really wanted a shot of her with the surprised look on her face (bottom middle) to go with a photo of her when she was younger. We tried so hard to get the shot and finally, I had a few minutes alone with Julia and she finally gave "the face"!! A small victory :)

Baby G

Last Christmas, my wonderful clients used Honeybee & Peony to annouce their pregnancy to their friends and family with a photo I took of their dog Rex looking in an empty baby basinette, waiting for the Little Man to arrive! This year, he is already 8 months old and such a cutie. We wiere lucky to get some good smiley shots at the beginning of the shoot, because halfway into the shoot, he sneezed and boogers were everywhere and he got very unhappy with our efforts to get photos of him with the dog. He had developed his first real cold and was not about to be happy just for the sake of pictures. So, here are some great ones from the beginning of the shoot!

Monday, December 8, 2008

Holiday Sessions and Card Deadlines

Happy Holidays to You All!

We are so pleased with the response to our Holiday Cards this year and you are keeping us very busy, indeed!

There are a few deadline we would like you to know about in case you are still pondering your Christmas Cards:

December 15th!! This is the last day we will be taking orders for cards. Any orders submitted after this date can not be guaranteed delivery prior to Christmas.

December 8th (today) Leann will not be taking any more photo shoots prior to Christmas other than those that have been previously scheduled.

Please let us know if you have any questions!

Leann & Sarah

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Welcome Finn Oliver!

A big warm welcome to Finn Oliver who was born on Sunday. He came 2 weeks early and was still 8 lbs 7 oz. Big Boy! I got to take photos of him when he was only 2 days old. Wow! Big Bro Lou is doing great with him. It is so strange, because Finn looks nothing like Lou when he was born. Congratulations Mom and Dad. He is a beautiful little man. And PS, I LOVE his middle name :)

Welcome, Vera!

A few years ago, on New Years Eve, I got the pleasure of meeting Andy and Briony and photographing their wedding. They now have to beautiful little girls. When I photographed Vera, she was only 7 days old and big sister Lucy is such a doll. It was great to see you and to meet your family.

Giving Thanks

Thanks so much to everyone who has entrusted me to photograph your most precious memories. Your newborn baby, your wedding day, your toddler being his or her precious and precocious self, your favorite pet...the lost goes on! Thanks for keeping me on my toes and busy. Every now and then I find myself complaining a little about being busy and staying up late editing photos, but I truly love every moment of what I do. Getting to meet new families and brand new little people is so much fun. I'm thankful for all of you who have passed my name along to others. THANKS!

You have all been keeping me busy this holiday season and I have fallen a bit behind on my blogging. Here is a batch of some collages from my most recent shoots. For those of you who are still waiting for you photos, more coming soon! I'm finally catching up. Yay!

I hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving surrounded by those you love.


Smiley Sean is already 3 months old and SOOO cute! This time we also took some whole family shots.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Jack!

Carson and Nolan were so full of energy and fun! Thanks, guys!

For those of you who have seen our new business cards, the star of the cards is curly haired Grace in the photos above and new little sis, Lily.

Molly and Marlow are too precious! Molly is so full of energy and LOVES her chalk!