Elizabeth & Matt

Some of you might remember Elizabeth and Matt from the winter when we took their engagement pictures. I mentioned how Elizabeth and I talked on the phone the first time she called, and it really did feel like we had been old friends. There was just something special about her.
Now this time I have to tell you something special about Elizabeth's mom.
During the receptions, Kari and I always refuse to eat. We are hired hands, and we're there to work, so we've always felt uncomfortable with what we consider laying down on the job.
We get asked all the time, to just sit and eat, but we almost never do.
So when Elizabeth's mom asked, and we refused and went about our business, she instead went into the service kitchen and prepared us a Care Package, 2 plates each, stocked to the brim with all the fixin's from the supper, as well as extra peices of wedding cake for our kids!
She wrapped them tight in plastic and foil, the way your own mother would do for you, and had them waiting for us by the door when we left the reception...
How cool is that!?
Well, it was enough to impress me. Nobody has done that for us before, and she most certainly has our gratitude for taking the time on her daughter's wedding day to care so much.
Here are a few shots from Elizabeth and Matt's wedding. It was elegant and simple, and it began with worship, which is right where Christ needs to be in a newly formed marriage.
Elizabeth's dad is a captain, and we got to play with fire trucks again. The kid in me always loves shooting those weddings with the big red trucks vroom vroom and the flashy lights. I was taking pictures of the little ones behind the wheel and kept wishing I could hop in the Big Seat myself for a quick spin, sirens and all :)

Angela & Jamin

These two have a wedding coming up very soon in August, so we finished up with engagements just in time. :)
I used to work with Angela a few years ago, and if there's anything worth mentioning about her that stands out...it's simply everything. This girl has serious character.
She is very bright, very beautiful, and very level headed. Working with her she always handled her end of the workload and then some, and what I remember most was that I never, not even once, heard this young lady complain.
Not about anything. And we were all pretty good at wearing that hat from time to time.
Her fiance Jamin I've only met twice, and both times I've been impressed. He's a solid guy's guy with a gentle way about him when he's got the girl of his dreams in his arms, and I think that's what she sees in him. He's there for her, and when he looks at her, there's this calm intensity. He'll be up to the task, whatever the day may bring, and this girl is smart enough to have that figured out.

The Weber Family

We finally got a chance to have a family shoot with the Weber family recently. We had a nice day after the studio shoot so we went outdoors to the park. Little Alivea loved it.
This is a perfect example of why I'm so attracted to shooting outside. There is no backdrop more beautiful than God's green earth and a kid who gets a chance to just be a kid. A studio is great, it's a blessing to have, and I don't take it for granted, But being outside is somehow just so much more freeing. I wish there were some way to bring that indoors over the winter. Maybe Winter just hangs around to make me appreciate this all the more?
We're getting the final bids for our new studio. I'm thinking there's definitely going to be plenty of natural light. When I was a kid, and well, even into college, I was always getting in trouble for daydreaming during class. I'd glance out the window during Math and that would be it for me. x+y-z didn't matter anymore.
My mind was out there, far, far away from the green on the chalkboard...

Brandy & Justin

A few fun shots from Brandy & Justin's wedding. We were at the Holy Spirit Catholic church, and got to make a trip out to the Falls again just after. It wasn't so chilly this time around and on this trip to Holy Spirit I even got to meet the church dog. Never knew they had one before, but apparently he's been around for quite some time. He came to sniff me out and give me the thumbs, or paws up. I checked out just fine, and off he went back to the office, Mission Accomplished.
I now think every church needs one :)

Crumb Snatchers

Sometimes I have to just stop and zip off a few shots of my own rugrats. A couple of hams? Yep, but blessings nonetheless....

Tamara & Lowell

It was just a touch chilly for Tamara and Lowell's wedding, but everyone put on their best show, or in this case, groomsmen's jackets, for the pictures at the Falls.
This wedding was fun because these two stayed focused on eachother. Sometimes it's so easy for the events of the day to take over, and I've seen the bride and groom get lost in a flurry of mind-blurring activity.
But she had a CD echoing her favorite music down the hallway while they helped her with her dress, as he waited in the sanctuary, anxiously, but smoothed over like it was Sunday morning.
There was a photo album that they'd put together at the front of the church which was the guest book, and it was already filled with dozens of great pictures of the two of them, happy, on trips, over the holidays, in love, and together. These two are going to be just fine.

Back In The Saddle Again

I love that song, by the way. Yep, it's a classic. A true original in the mosaic of our great American history. :)
We sometimes get so distracted, or in our case, busy, that we fall off the horse, and when you're lying there flat on your back, getting back up seems like nothing more than the wishful thinking of somebodies half-baked idea.
But doesn't it feel so good when we finally pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and get back in the saddle again? :) It's like taking a long, chilly drink of crystal clear mountain water on a boiling hot summer day.
Hope restored.
I'm done babbling.
I'm 8 weddings back in less than a month, so to bring this horse back up to speed,
here's a few shots from Jessica and Erik's wedding.

Giddiyup!

'tis the (other) season...

Okay, I've got a spare 6 minutes between weddings and back-up file transfers to post something.
3 weddings, blessings, this weekend! Yikes. I'm still reeling, and I've yet to step into the third, (1 hour away). I'm sorry to be sliding on the blog. We're right in the middle of our wedding season, and preparing proofs has to take some precedent over my ranting, therapeutic as it may be. :)
Things have been crazy-busy these past weeks. Lot's of training time for my assistant, Angela, who by the way, was proposed to by her boyfriend. She's now leaving us in November to be married and to start her new life. (I've been trying to talk her into waiting a few years, sorry Michael, still, I've had no such luck :) I obviously don't have her best intentions at heart, Kari says. Besides, I know she's not going to listen to me, so I'll just have to get over it....someday.)

These kids have their sites set on the fall, when he will whisk her away in marital bliss, and I'll be left to discover her replacement. Can't you just hear the grumbling in my voice?

sigh.

I'll post some of their upcoming engagements in the coming week.