Lauren and AJ had a very cold, but very beautiful wedding at the Shrine of St. Josephs and a reception at the MAC. To start we met up at the Missouri Athletic club for some getting ready pics.
I love love love the getting ready shots. It’s so cool to see what I like to call “the transformation”..
first the hair

getting ready for makeup


next the foundation

then the eyes


last are the lips

and….voila…a stunning bride

Here are a few other favs and you can also CLICK HERE FOR THE HIGHLIGHT SLIDESHOW

We were really concerned with the below freezing weather and snow that we wouldn’t have any good place for pics, so Shelli, from Allred Wedding consultants hooked us up with one of her contacts at the four seasons. YAY Thanks Shelli and thanks for the referral! It was a great day!
And a funny but true story…the priest forgot to have them exchange rings, so for the first time in history of me shooting weddings I didn’t have the “ring” shots. We “re-created” it later because after the ceremony right before formals he realized he forgot and had them do it real quick….You can kinda tell in the slideshow it’s not real (because if how close I was) but still…it was kind of an odd thing to happen…

is a game that Shelley and her sister, Tina and some friends used to play when they were little girls, and that is EXACTLY what she ended up with on Saturday. Shelley and Brent’s wedding at Caroline Vineyards was one of the most beautiful weddings I have ever shot. The day was super georgeous. I was sooo looking forward to this wedding ever since I met Shelley and her mom at the initial consult. These two are so great together. I swear Shelley’s cheeks must’ve been hurting because I don’t think she ever stopped smiling one time all day!
Click here to see a mini slideshow also thanks to Jerren for second shooting with me!

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)

Funny story…so LaWana booked about a year ago from Arizona. She came in and we did bpics in August…took a look at the contract last weekend and there was no ceremony location or time written down…”No worries” I thought…she’ll call this week…well when I didn’t hear from her by 4:30 Friday afternoon I started freaking out a little…but after a little Private investigator work…I figured out what time the ceremony started and went from there…so that’s my first “first”…not knowing when or where for sure the ceremony was.
It was at New Town Chapel just in case you were wondering!

This is La Wana after telling her to stop looking at me…ha ha

on to the other list of “firsts”
La Wana was the first bride I had to wear gloves…and have silver sparkly nail polish! COOL

Loved the way they looked at each other during the ceremony. It’s the first time I have had the brides daughter be the MOH and son be the best man…It was neat


First time I have seen a 10 year old boy so emotional. He was sooo happy for his mom that he teared up about 10 times during the day! awww


First time I have ever seen a bride with a rifle and the groom holding a dead animal


Kevin shot the goose in the morning and it was only fitting because the theme of the wedding was a hunting/duck theme…Lawan says kevin can’t take a good picture unless he has a dead animal in his hands. ha ha
First time I spent three hours at the groom’s mom house hanging out

first time photographing an arm wrestling match

First time that I was asked to photograph animal mutilation…Kevin, the groom, asked if this was the most redneck wedding I ever shot and ironically enough it’s not…but it is the first time I have photographed something dead..

love that he didn’t even take off the tux…I’ll save the yucky pics for just the bride and groom but here’s a funny one…think of the movie “Brave heart”

first time I have ever seen Busch in a camo can

First time I have seen people whip out their guns…at one point someone told Todd to NOT point the gun at me to make sure they got all the good pics of the goose..ha ha



First time I got to go to the honeymoon suite of the bride and groom…WEEEEEEEE


First time I have snuck into the conservatory to do pics when the wedding wasn’t there


Congratulations you two and thanks for making my day one to remember! Have a safe trip back to Arizona!

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!

It feels like I have known Erin forever. She booked me back in March of 07 so maybe that’s why. Anyways I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend yesterday than with these two. Seriously the day went off without a hitch…no drama, the weather held off…just basically an all around pleasant wedding. Here are just a few favs, but you can click HERE to see a few more.

I very rarely see brides cover with a veil any more…I love that she couldn’t take her eyes off Scott

YAY!!

Erin is so pretty…

Scott isn’t too bad either..ha ha

Jilian and RIcky were married yesterday in one of the neatest churches I have shot in. It’s called “Little Flower Catholic Church” and the place is round with the altar in the middle!

Jilian was such a beautiful bride…she’s one of those people who probably wake up looking like a million bucks..but yesterday she was truly stunning. Her dress had buttons that you had to use a needle to close!! Soooo neat!

There were literally over 900 images that turned out yesterday…so I could probably post a million…but in the interest of time…I’ll just post a few more favs and then you can watch the SLIDESHOW

These guys were a BLAST…I am excited because I hope to see some of them again next year when I shoot Keith and Jackie’s wedding!

These girls were all so pretty and very photogenic…

oooooooooook so funny story…we were at Wash U and this little Asian man kept following us around. He was from Seatle but didn’t speak very much English…He kept telling me he could give me “some tips” so after following us around and taking our picture, Jilian made me go stand next to him and she took our picture! hee hee

Last but not least, I wanted to send a “thank you” to Joe Switzer. It was the first time I have gotten to work with him and let me tell you…HE IS SO INCREDIBLY CREATIVE AND TALENTED and a BLAST to boot…I am not sure of his website but if you are interested you can email me and I will find it for ya! Here’s a pic of us being silly…while Trish was checking the lighting out on her camera…which by the way Trisha, thank you very much for second shooting for me yesterday! Hope ya had as much fun as I did! See you again in October!

Let’s see…I think I will start with the oldest stuff first..
Long story, but this isn’t actually Alyvia’s first day of school…but it is her first day of coming back to my school…so here she is…a big third grader now

some funnier pictures are these…I NEVER EVER EVER get my picture taken…and someone was very insistant that I get my stupid picture taken because I had on a dress…which also NEVER EVER happens..but it was open house and I was attempting to look nice instead of my grubby old hair in a hat and skater short self…also in case you didn’t notice I am also attempting to bring the 80’s back one curl at a time (remember the hair delema awhile back?…yep decided to go with the perm) looked cute for about 3 days back in June and now it just looks dry and very much a lighter color…oh well..it’s just hair right?
look I couldn’t even smile…but at least Brady was excited to get his pic taken

this is me saying ” if you take my picture I am going to hurt you” only I happened to be smiling when I said it..ha

On to more interesting stuff…Some past clients…Brian and Susan welcomed their first child into the world a few weeks ago. Meet Kane…here are a few cute ones

love this one because he looks like he’s smiling..but I am sure it was something else!

And last but not least Brittany and Alex had a beautiful day for a wedding last Saturday. Here are just a few favs

let’s

This pics is a little OOF but I wasn’t originally trying to get the kid…it’s one of those when I went back and looked closer I can tell the bow tie was bothering him and thought it was cute so I am posting it anyways even though it’s not totally in focus!

mmmm yummy

this was a first for me…it was so hot in the church Brittany almost fainted and they had to get a chair

ok well every weekend now through just about November I have a wedding and tons of other shoots as well so stay tuned for much more!

So I have been crazy busy with school here lately with it being the first full week and all…I apologize for not being a better blogger. As soon as things start to get into a routine again, I think I will be better! Anyway, Chris and Dana has a beautiful wedding last weekend. It’s funny because a couple weeks ago when Dana and I met for our final consult the weather was so beautiful…nice and cool for August…but I remember telling her don’t let this nice weather fool you. Undoubtedly it will feel like 100 degrees on your wedding day…guess what…I was right…but we had a fabulous day nonetheless. Here’s a few favs of the day..

This was a first…Dana kept herself hidden from her dad and they did a “first meeting” it was so sweet…lots o’ tears!

Don’t let the pretty blue skies fool ya…I still got DRENCHED when the sky opened up later…ha ha keeping with the “let’s have rain every wedding I have this year” tradition…thankfully I was the only one wet…everyone else was in the bar having cocktails!

Love it when cute stuff happens and the groom can’t get the ring on

also love the “face grab” before the kiss

ahhhh some shade…this kept everyone cool for awhile

after forest park we headed off for some drinks at Lucas Park…snagged this one over there

Oh and I finally got to meet the “sweaty Teddy” everyone keeps telling me about! He kept the dance floor packed all night long…and yes there is a reason they call him that name…