Fabulous Friday

I'm very well aware that this makes me a total dork, but I just got pretty dang excited watching the trailer for the upcoming season of LOST, and I couldn't keep it to myself. The new season premiers January 21, 2009.

Albums :: Leather Flushmount

One of the best ways to display your wedding photos is in an album. I often get questions from clients about album options, and wow, there are quite a few options to choose from. So, in effort to explain things a little more clearly, I'm going to blogging this winter about the several different types of albums that I offer for my clients. Today we're going to be looking at a leather Flushmount album.

This album is a sample I created from images taken at Jessica and Brandon's wedding last August. It's a 10x10 square album with a rustic brown leather cover with a square cameo photo. I really love this leather choice, and the album company I work with offers an amazing selection of leather colors and styles.


The spine


Page thickness


A flushmount album is a collection of prints which are mounted directly to the album leaf and span across two pages (also called a spread). After the photo is mounted, it is then sprayed with a protective coating to protect it from aging. Of course, you should still take care in handling the album and turning the pages, but this protective coating is a valuable piece of the flushmount package.


another view of the page thickness. I really like the density of the pages... they're thick enough to be sturdy and convey a sense of weightiness, but not so thick that you feel like you're turning a page made of cardboard.


One of the things I really like about this album company is that they crease the prints before mounting them. That way, I can design spreads with photos that go across the whole spread without breaking the continuity of the photo.


I have a background in magazine layout and design, which makes designing a wedding album such a fun task for me. My style is clean and simple, with a focus on the photos, not on a trendy design that will look dated in the next ten years. The last thing you want is a wedding heirloom that your kids look at and say, "Ugh, that's SO 2008" :).

If you have any questions about flushmount albums or would like to set up an appointment to take a look at the different types of albums I offer, please don't hesitate to shoot me an email.

Marvelous Monday #23 :: First Day of School

Look who had her first day of school today


She looks all cute and cuddly here, but beneath those puppy dog eyes lies the energy of an ADD three-year-old who's overdosed on pixie sticks and candy corn. If you've been to our apartment, you know what I mean. She loves people and she shows her affection by repeatedly jumping on our guests, licking any visible skin, and -her new favorite- biting pony tails. Yeah, that's not so much gonna fly when our little baby arrives :).

So today Jon dropped her off at dog training school and she's been there all day long (and I've been strangely productive... weird how that worked out). I'm so glad she's going to be a little more obedient, but I've spent a good part of the day worrying that the other dogs won't be nice to her. Sounds like those motherly instincts might be kicking in.

Ellen and Jay at Lafayette Square

A little earlier this fall, I met up with Ellen and Jay on an unseasonably cool day at Lafayette Square Park. We were all pretty frigid, but Ellen and Jay rocked it, amidst the brisk conditions :). Here are some of my favorites!

Beautiful fall colors

classic










My favorite alley. I just love the light here!

Thanks for braving the cold with me, Ellen and Jay! I'm already excited for your fabulous wedding next fall!

David and Brianne :: Early Morning engagement shoot

So, David and Brianne are going to school in Bolivar, MO.
they are both originally from Kansas City, MO... as am I.
I live in St. Louis, MO.

So all the stars needed to align for us to find a time - a place - to meet for their engagement session. I was in Kansas City for a weekend baby shower and so were David and Bri, so we jumped on the opportunity to get together! All our evenings were full, so we met up in the morning after sunrise for an engagement shoot. I've got to admit, I'm not a morning person. At all. But once you see the gorgeous sunlight in these photos, you'll know why getting up early is TOTALLY worth it :).



See what I mean? Gorgeous morning light in the fall just can't be beat :).






I love using my trusty assistant to test the light. He's the best :)


There's that light again :).


And the sky just looks even bluer in the fall. I love the fall :).








One of my fav engagement pics ever. How adorable are they??


I love how romantic this is!




Thanks so much, David and Brianne, for meeting me so early! We had a great time with you both and can't wait for you wedding in June!

marvelous Monday #24 :: Photo Booth Fun at the Perk

This past weekend, Jon and I spent our Friday (and a good part of Saturday morning) at the Perk - a student event at MBU that we planned from start to finish. We, along with an awesome crew, turned the gymnasium into a coffee house in a day's time and filled with student performers who sang, danced, and acted the night away. the event was quite a departure from our usual weekend activity of shooting weddings :). It was a great time - terribly tiring - but great :). Since I'm just a little prego, I wasn't able to help with all the heavy lifting and loading that I usually help with (for those of you who didn't know, I'm totally hoss when not with child), so I decided to focus some of my energy on setting up a photobooth for the students to use during the event. After some research and some testing, I got it all figured out and the students had great time using the photo booth. It was totally unsupervised and I laughed pretty hard when I saw the final outcome :). These are just a few of the hundred or so photos taken that night:















marvelous.