So I have had a bad back for quite some time and have seen a few chiropractors over the last 6 or 7 years but I finally found one that I am going to stick with. He has such a great approach and you can tell he genuinely cares about his patients. I tried to stick in the video clip but as you all know I am a computer moron so hopefully this link works. If you live down south you should definitely check him out. His contact info is attached to the video.
CLICK HERE for the video

So I leave STL and it’s warm and beautiful…get to Jamaica and it’s chilly and rainy…ha ha
I had a wonderful vacation anyway though. It was so nice to get away from it all for a few days. I will say that I wasn’t hugely impressed with Jamaica. Maybe it was the resort we were at, but you couldn’t even go out on the beach without being swarmed with 10 different Jamaican dudes that worked in the shacks next to the resort asking you if you wanted to buy some “ganja” or some other crap they were trying to sell… and FORGET trying to go out to the beach at night…it was downright scary. So hurrican Paloma made the weather kinda hazy and overcast most of the time we were there. It rained at least some part of every day that we were there, but we mangaed to get some good beach time in too! Thank Goodness it didn’t rain on Wendy and Scott’s wedding. I thought originally it was going to be a sunset wedding but it was actually set for 11:00. It’s a good thing it was a little cloudy because full sun near noon is any photographer’s worst nightmare! ha ha
Here’s a few scenery pics
this is leaving STL…love all the red trees

near the ceremony site


FINALLY the night before we left we actually got to see a sunset. It sets over the mountains here where we were at instead of the ocean, but literrly it was hazy or raining almost every night!

Do NOT EVER EVER EVER go here or stay here on your honeymoon. If you want more details email me!

And finally the last morning we were here I caught a decent sunrise…once again not over the beach but over the mountains…still pretty though


and some cool shots from the plane on the way home

Wendy and Scott had one of the cutest ceremonies I have ever seen. If I was to get married again I would totally do it just like they did…on the beach with just a few close friends and family- no stress-no drama-just sun, sand, and a lotta love
Here is a link to their highlight SLIDESHOW

First Monique and Lonnie had the perfect fall day that everyone who plans a fall wedding dreams about. It was so beautiful. Here’s a few favs from the day!


The reception was at Crowne Plaza at the airport and it was beautiful. Erin from exclusive events did a fantastic job with the lighting!




next is another awesome couple getting married this January! Marcie was another mystery bride. She and Brad are so cute together. I was a little worried when we had to schedule the shoot for November but man did she luck out with some GORGEOUS fall color!





speaking of fall color, I am a little sad to leave right now because it is so pretty here. Look at the view from my front yard right now

and the back yard

I swear I could sit in my living room all day just staring out the window. I love love love this time of year. Look at this cool little trail we built in the back yard…well…not really me, but I did supervise ha ha

here is a view from the trail

ok well sorry for the short post but I have to get some sleep. I leave at 3:30 to catch a plane to my long awaited vacation. This is the first time traveling with my gear since I am shooting a wedding down there and I am so nervous. I will try to post when I am down there…but I don’t want to miss a SECOND of beach time so we’ll have to see how it goes!!!

Fall is always my busiest, most stressed out time of the year. In the last 10 weeks I have shot 9 weddings gone to 9 final consults and rehearsals, had 5 initial consults, 16 various engagements/headshots/families, and an all day bpic shoot with my sister on top of starting school again in a new grade with a very challenging class….but somehow in my free time I did manage to spend a little time with the fam… Last weekend we finally made it up to the pumpkin patch…you know the one by this beautiful Jefferson County monument

so of course I made the kids get on it

anyway off to the patch

on the hunt for the perfect pumpkins




Brady insisted on lugging the pumpkins around…here he is showing his “pipes”

ok now I realize I am gone alot…but what the heck is going on here??? What was he learning while I was gone???

and of couse any one who knows me knows that Halloween is my most favorite day of all days…and yes I make the kids do a “dry run” of the outfits to make sure things go smoothly on Halloween..ha ha I am such a freak I know…
but not as big of a freak as my kids…Lyvi is worse…she loves posing and is always like “mom do the picture of me doing this…now this…wait let me try this…it’s so funny. I think I created a monster after all the years of trying new stuff out using her.


“the hulk can beat up a pirate…no he can’t…a pirate can beat up hulk”

More posing from the wierd one..I bet there are 5 more in different poses…but in the interest of time I’ll just post this one (I swear I don’t make her do stuff like this)

and last but not least some more pirate vs. hulk action took place on the porch and the funniest thing is Lyvi’s eye patch broke and she ended up looking like a three-eyed pirate…now THAT’s scary

So after a very busy season I knew I’d be ready for a vacation..in fact it’s the first vacation I have had in like 5 years…I am leaving for Jamaica in exactly 8 days! YIPPPPEEEEE I am so excited I can hardly stand it. I will be shooting a wedding down there too so it’s not a total vacation…but it’s vacation enough!

Aimee was one of what I like to call, “mystery brides” for 2009. She booked without a consult so it was a nice surprise to see how cute she and Carl were together. I am very excited to be doing their wedding next year! Here are a few I really liked from the shoot. PS…I am officially caught up now on all my posts and weddings…YAY
Initially Carl said he wasn’t crazy about getting his picture taken, but look at how freaking cute and happy these two are! I love that the expression here isn’t “forced”

I guess mother nature is trying to make it up to me that the first part of this year’s wedding season weather was so crappy because Aimee and Shine had one of the most beautiful weather wedding days to date! Aimee and I have so much in common. She’s in the wedding and teacher buisness too. For those who need a WONDERFUL harpist to play at your wedding…Aimee’s you girl!
Click here to see a mini slideshow. It’s a work in progress because I still have so many images to go through. Here are a few favs from the day.

Aimee’s makeup was done by Cindy Rushing and it was FABULOUS
Hair was by April Schaeffer from Panache and it stayed beautifully all day. BOOK THEM NOW. They both did a really great job!
I love everything about this image. Trisha was my second shooter and snagged this one.




and just in case you’re wondering how Aimee got up there in that big ol dress…thanks for the nice pic of my tushy Trish…

Aimee lost a lot of weight befor ethe wedding and looked stunning!



beautiful light

who doesn’t dream of dancing with their dad like this on their wedding day?

Man you can tell wedding season is in full effect because I am super behind in my posts. Here’s a few favs from some shoots over the last couple weeks

first, Nicole is the sister of a bride who was married last year. SHe needed some headshots for a new radio show she is trying to land called “Grey in the Middle”. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Nicole. She is one of the nicest people I have ever met! We had a lot of fun on this shoot and I had a lot of favs but in the interest of time, I’ll just post 3

Next, Here are a couple of Jen Hanneken’s cute little kiddos

and last but not least is Emily and Dan. Emily was my very first bride to book in 2009. She booked back in like late 2007 or something crazy like that. Good thing she did though because I have had like 16 people ask about her date! Here’s a few favorites ( I had a lot)

Ok ladies…so you think planning a Saint Louis wedding in Saint Louis is rough…picture this: You’re living in Denver and planning a STL wedding…a month or so before the big day your FI gets a job offer in Washington DC that starts two weeks AFTER the wedding…now finding an apartment in DC and packing all your belongings in a UHAUL, driving to STL to have the wedding, flying to the honeymoon, and taking the haul the rest of the way to DC…that’s exaclty what happened to Teresa and Tom…how they held it together so well is a mystery to me. These two are such a great couple. You can tell how awesome they are just by the way their family and friends talk about them. THey are two truly amazing people and I was happy to be able to share theier day with them. Here’s a few favs. They got married at my favorite church EVER

Congrats you two and best wishes!

I live in this subdivision that has a cute lake in the front and on the side of the lake…like over this hill and back from it…is this little creek that flows through. I mean there is usually hardly any water in there…WELLLL after all that rain from IKE came in it flooded the creek and the creek overflowed into the lake. It was CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY…here are a few pics. It’s a bummer because people fished in there all the time and I am sure a lot of those fish got swept away. The water was SO strong it was knocking down trees. I just hope my neighbors close to the lake didn’t have any damage!

here is the “creek” which looks like a raging river at this point

This is normally where the hill/bank of one side of the lake is

Here you can see the lake filled up so much it is almost covering the fountain! I wish I would have had my wide angle lens but I was told to “hurry and grab a camera and get in the car NOW”

I wish I had some “before” pics to show you how nuts this was. The water is rushing OVER the hill that leads down the the lake!

hee hee
My school is having a trivia night next Friday September 26th at the Elks lodge on the corner of Miller Road and the West outer road…it’s $100 for a table of 8 and beverages and snacks will be available. I think it’s gonna be a lot of fun. There will be door prizes and silent auctions…and YES I am planning on donating a photography service for one of the silent auctions…you never know you could get a pretty good deal! Anyways girls if you want to get together I think it’s gonna be fun. I am a judge so I can’t actually play but I’d love to get to meet some of my stalkers You KNOW you want to party in Jeffco…don’t deny yourself what could quite possibly be the time of your life…ok now I am exaggerating but seriously if you are interested in getting a table together email me ASAP…I am late getting this out. I meant to do it last week and it just snuck up on me!! Doors open at 6:15 and I am not sure how long it will last!! sjmacky@yahoo.com for more specifics or to register!