Would you like a little sunflare with that?

Big red balloons and a golden fall sunset? Yes please.



more soon :).

Lauren and Erik :: Engaged

Ah, there are so many words I could use to describe the weather in St. Louis this month....

gray.
wet.
depressing.
dark and cloudy.
blustery.
so rainy that my jeans that are too long are always wet from the over abundance of puddles.

But, there's something I've found that makes all the nastiness of this cold rainy weather all but disappear.... and that is a couple in love.

Lauren and Erik are one of those couples.

We had scheduled their session months in advance and the weather looked like it could go either way the whole day. It was cloudy and even rained during a bit of the session, but that didn't stop Lauren and Erik from having a great time with each other. And that made their photos just a little bit awesome. well, who am I kidding.... they made their photos a WHOLE LOTTA awesome. Don't ya think?

We started the shoot out at a coffee shop while I hoped and prayed the skies wouldn't open up.


The back patio of the coffee shop is amazing. Uh and so are Lauren and Erik :).


I love this sequence of them walking from the coffee shop




I think this one might just be my favorite.




how amazing are Lauren's shoes??




See how fun they are? I knew right away it didn't matter if it was blue skies or torrential downpour, Lauren and Erik would have a great shoot because they are such a fun couple.







Thanks, Lauren and Erik, for being the bright spot in the day :). Can't wait for your wedding next year!

Matt and Tiffannee :: e-session in the city

It's always a blast to pull up to a lovely spot for photos only to find bright pink tape everywhere, roping off entry to everything cool. Such was the case when I met Matt and Tiffannee at the City Garden downtown for their engagement session. I wasn't about to let a little pink tape stop my shoot, though. We had an amazing sunset and an even more amazing couple, which made for some ah-mazing photos.

For all you folks who didn't know, "ah-mazing" is one cool-level up from regular old "amazing." And just to be clear, even though it goes without saying, Matt and Tiffannee are most definitely ah-mazing :).





I love when couples laugh at each other and create precious little treasures like this.


Tiffannee has some serious style, as you can see by her choice in footwear. I know that her bridal shoes will not disappoint :)






Seriously, Mr. Sun, could you be any awesome-er?












I'm a little obsessed with motion... come to think of it, ever since I took my first photography course and had to do a project showing motion, I've not been able to get enough of it. This is def one of my new faves.


And so is this... I heart Tiffannee,

St. Louis Staycation

A few weeks ago, I got a rather somber voicemail. It was from a client of mine who was informing me that they had decided to call off their wedding.

I hate voicemails like that.

I was immediately so upset for the two of them, knowing that they must surely both be devastated. At the same time, though, I was so proud of them. It's such a tough thing to do to call off a wedding, especially when it's only 5 weeks away. It takes guts and gumption and a whole lot of humility. And I really respect them for that.

So fast forward 5 weeks.... I found myself with a free Saturday and I hardly knew what to do with myself. Seriously... a weekend without a wedding? Maybe I could hold a shoot or book another event or spend the day editing away or work on my new website or ... spend time with my family. Yeah, my choice was pretty easy :).

Being a photographer who's married to someone who works at a church means that weekends are never stress-free for us. But last weekend was dang near perfect. Blue skies.... mild fall temps... crunchy golden and red leaves covering the ground... it was quite the departure from the dreary weather that's recently covered the St. Louis area. So, instead of sleeping till noon (which is always my default on the rare occasion I should get a day off), we decided to go to Eckert's for some apple picking and pumpkin patching.

It was Kaden's first trip to Eckert's and he was elated from the get go.


I think the hayride might have been his favorite part


But of course, the apples were pretty thrilling.






Jon took these of Kaden and I. It's clear to me that I look a little looney, but I treasure these photos. Because I'm usually behind the camera, I so rarely have my photos taken. I'm so lucky to have such a talented man.


Peach trees in their autumnal bliss.


And then it was off to the pumpkin patch.


Thank you, Kaden, for appeasing your cheesy parents.


And when we were finished, we made a stop by my favoritest bakery in the whole wide world, the cupcakery.


Nearly every Saturday, we're shooting in Forest Park and I always sigh in jealousy as I watch families walk by, just enjoying the day. Don't get me wrong, I love love love shooting weddings. like really love it. But every now and then, it's nice to be the little family just enjoying the day :). So we stopped by Forest Park after our cupcake fest.


My boys. I love them.


yup, that's my Kaden.








Jon saw this patch of tall grasses, and since I usually like to photograph my clients in such scenery, he thought we should try to shoot some pics of Kaden there. I didn't think it would work out too well, but I was wrong :).


It was the perfect fall day, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Photobooth sneak peak

I had such a blast going through these photos that I couldn't keep from posting them right away :). Amber and Keith (who's wedding you'll be seeing very soon!) wanted to do a few fun, unexpected things at their reception for their guests. So they asked me if I could set up a larger format photobooth in their reception hall. Of course, I had been DYING to do something like this for such a long time that I jumped at the opportunity. I had just purchased an awesome black and charcoal grey damask backdrop, which I thought would work just perfectly and I hired a genius set of photographers to run the booth while we were shooting the rest of the reception. Amber purchased a whole slew of accessories and props to make it even more fun. It was such a hit, I think I may begin offering this as an add-on on a regular basis :).

A hairstylist and his clients. That's one of the things I loved about the photobooth... Amber and Keith got some photos of groups of people that aren't normally on a shot list :).

This shot of Amber's mom cracks me up every time I see it :).

a little role reversal. ugh, i think i'll stick to my place behind the camera...




The amazing Rick and Katie who did a completely amazing job of running the booth.