Posted by: McLellan Style | February 1st, 2012
Well hello there neglected blog.
It has been a while I know. It’s truly amazing how quickly life can take off with you! Sean and I have moved, are preparing for our daughter to arrive later this month, and all the while have been cooking up some awesome stuff for photographers that will be released to the public very soon. We’re so excited about it all and as you can probably imagine, this particular collection of things has made life very full as of late!
Soooo…since we’ve been neglecting this blog so very much lately, it only seemed right to come back with a bang – with lots and lots of images filled with delicious details and beautiful people. You see, while we are very good with our sneak peeks, we might just be the world’s worst at blogging big wedding features and you’re about to see why: I just love too many of the images and it’s too hard to pick just a few! For so many reasons, Ruth and Frank’s wedding gave me just such trouble…
Reason #1, it took place in Brooklyn. I have to say, the first time Sean and I visited New York City, we didn’t expect to like it. We thought it would be way too crowded and brusk for our nature, but we totally fell in love. Through Ruth and Frank’s wedding, the same thing happened with the eclectic historic suburb of NYC known as Brooklyn. It has so much charm that the Sex and the City girls never gave it credit for and we so enjoyed our time there.
Staying true to the city’s rich history, the couple was married at Grace Church: an amazing old Episcopal cathedral.
The traditional tea ceremony was held first and there were hugs and smiles and adorable babies and of course, tea.
I love this series from Ruth and Frank’s entrance. It illustrates reason #2 I had such a hard time narrowing down the images for this blog feature: Ruth and Frank. They came to us with the “you will love them” stamp from another couple we already loved so we knew we would get along, but oh they are just too adorable for words! Their entire wedding day was filled with silliness and laughter and such joy. I could photograph them all day long.
Reason #3 for ridiculously long blog feature has got to be the details. Ruth was so thoughtful in the way she put her wedding together. Her dress was just the beginning and there will be lots more to come. Ruth looked stunning in this gorgeous Jim Hjelm.
Have I told you lately how much I love a joyful crier? Well I do – a lot, so Ruth’s Maid of Honor Jen makes reason #4. =)
#5 – the emotion of the day. Sentiment and meaningful glances and happiness written all over everyone’s faces is why we love photographing weddings. Ruth and Frank did not disappoint!
Oh let’s get back to the details! How cute and classic are these Badgley Mischkas?
And the flowers by EG Geddes Inc. – whimsical and happy and classic – just like Ruth. 
#6 – An entire wedding party that will run around a city block and be crazy fun without hesitation – in February – in Brooklyn – in the snow. They were superstars!
Yay! Back to more details! These are my favorite. Ruth just amazed me. She hand-drew all of these amazing line drawings for the décor and favors at their wedding. These sketch pads were sitting at every guests seat for them to take home.
She also drew the menu in such a clever way. How fun is that?
Next, she made personalized coloring books for every kid there. The theme of the wedding was Brooklyn so she made drawings of different things that are indicative of Brooklyn and used them in the table settings. She then copied them into a cool numbers book for the kids. Love it!
We haven’t shot another wedding at the Galapagos Art Space, but I’m pretty sure it never looked so amazing as it did for Ruth and Frank’s reception.
More drawings: the NYC skyline as seen from Brooklyn.
Their adorable cake was made by Silk Cakes.
A drink for each the bride and the groom. The Bearded Gentleman for him, and The Green Card for his Canadian bride. And how great is this seating chart?
More amazing flowers by EG Geddes and incredible Brooklyn-inspired drawings by the bride.
Reason #7 rocked my world. I want to move one of these into backyard and eat it every day. It was the surprise waffle truck from Wafels and Dinges that the couple secured for their guests as an after-dinner treat. Hot chocolate and a warm belgian waffle topped with ice-cream, strawberries, and nutella on a cold Brooklyn night? Yes please!
And now to close it out, more emotion, fun, and all-around joyfulness from this beautiful couple and their beautiful wedding.
Thanks for looking! Hope you enjoyed the photographs half as much as we enjoyed being there to create them. To Ruth and Frank – Happy Almost-Anniversary you guys! =)
Amazing vendors not mentioned previously:
Hair and makeup by JP Bridal
Catering by Dinosaur BBQ
Car Service by Promenade
Bride’s Dress purchased at Ellie’s Bridal
Tags: Weddings
Posted by: McLellan Style | January 9th, 2012
You guys! Your Christmas cards were amazing! In the midst of moving exhaustion, going to check the mail and receiving these beautiful cards from you was definitely what we looked forward to every day. Thanks so much for sending them!
For our own card, we barely got them out this year with everything going on with the move, but after establishing the annual printing of the “Happy Holidays Post” last year, we couldn’t skip it! If you haven’t already seen it, this was the front of this year’s edition:
Before we announce the winner of our 2nd Annual Holiday Card Contest, we just want to say that the love that each of you put into your cards was so evident and made us feel so fortunate to know you. We loved your creativity, your warmth, and the opportunity you gave us to catch up with you and your families.
There were a few that stood out and they’re all worth seeing so for our honorable mention category, check out these guys:
Bobbi and Mike were our winners last year and they brought it again this year! Their card was creative, beautifully done, and made us laugh. Well done you guys!
Eric and Karen took the photos from their travels this year and made a whole comic book for their Christmas card. How awesome is that?? So fun guys and way to think outside of the box!
AND NOW…THE WINNER IS….
Adrian and Brian (and Benny too)! If you haven’t seen this movie poster in a while, you should Google it. The attention to detail is great and knowing Adrian, we would expect no less. The drawing on the back really put it over the top. We loved it! Congrats you guys! A $10 iTunes gift card will be coming your way, soon!
And now it’s back to unpacking and sorting for us! We hope you all had an absolutely spectacular Holiday Season and that 2012 is off to a tremendous start!
- Mel and Sean
Tags: Weddings
Posted by: McLellan Style | December 12th, 2011
It’s that time of year again. Time for the…
2nd Annual Christmas/Holiday Card Contest!
It’s always fun to look at everyone’s Christmas/Holiday cards. Checking the mail at Christmas time is one of our very favorite parts of the season! We love seeing what people put together for the cards they send out every year–so please drop one in the mail to us!
We’ll be picking our favorites and featuring them on our blog at the beginning of the year. In addition to that, our favorite card wins a $10 iTunes gift certificate!
Our mailing address is:
McLellan Family
188 Front St.
Ste 116-85
Franklin, TN 37064
Also, for our card this year we are continuing our Norman Rockwell style we put together for last year’s theme. We would love to send it to you! So, if you would like to get the next installment in our Happy Holidays Post series, just email me (sean@mclellanstyle.com) your name and mailing address, and we’ll drop one in the mail for you! We sent out nearly a thousand cards last year — let’s see if we can top it this year
Looking forward to seeing your cards!
Sean & Mel (and Seven!)
Tags: News
Posted by: McLellan Style | November 21st, 2011
Well, we got so busy getting straight to work on the images Melissa and Rhyan’s gorgeous wedding that I completely forgot to share it with you all last week! These two are so much fun, so warm, inviting, and completely in love. Spending their wedding day with them was such a pleasure and a great way to end our 2011 wedding season!
The couple married at the Church of the Advent’s classic stone cathedral downtown, and then danced the night away at The Club, an awesome venue overlooking all of Birmingham.
I love this first look series. Getting to capture a couple as they admire each other for the first time up close is the best. :0)
The fall details and vintage crystal elements were stunning against the candlelight and city lights!
Love the architecture of this church and this awesome wedding party…
Melissa and Rhyan, thank you so much for having us along to document your beautiful memories. Congratulations you guys!
Tags: Weddings
Posted by: McLellan Style | November 6th, 2011
The captain just came over the loudspeaker of the airplane cabin announcing we’ve just reached 36,000 feet.
And it just hit me.
We’ve been so busy preparing for PartnerCon (I didn’t sleep last night) that we somehow missed telling you three important things:
1. That PartnerCon is happening.
So… Surprise! It’s a great photography conference put on by Pictage, it’s in San Diego, and it starts tomorrow!
2. We’re speaking at the conference
Come listen in on “The Brand Called We” on 11/8. Hope to see you there!
3. We are a convention sponsor–and we’re also sponsoring a sure-to-be-awesome rooftop pool party at the Hard Rock Hotel!
Now you’re in the know.
Come stop by our booth if you’re planning on being at PartnerCon and you’ll be one of the first to see what has been keeping us so busy…
Tags: News, partnercon, photographers, photography convention, Pictage, Wedding Photography
Posted by: McLellan Style | November 5th, 2011
There is nothing more kissable than a newborn baby, don’t you think? This little 8-day-old fella is the latest addition to the Alvey family and one of our friend’s would say, he is so smootchie!
I love his contemplative stare.
I also love his crazy big sister.
And baby fingers. Who doesn’t love baby fingers?
I think his parents are pretty taken with him too. ;0)
Welcome to the world Little Man! We’re so glad you came out to play (and at 10 lbs, 8 oz, I know your mamma is too!). :0)
Tags: lifestyle
Posted by: McLellan Style | November 1st, 2011
And Happy Belated Halloween as well. :0) We hope you all are enjoying this fabulous weather and had a great time out with all the little ghouls and goblins last night!
If you haven’t heard yet, we will be moving at the first of the year–out to the country on some beautiful land for the kiddos to run around on. If I had to say the one thing I will miss the most when we move from our current neighborhood, it would definitely be Halloween. I love all the neighbors sitting on their front porches to hand out candy and the droves of kids in their costumes running from house to house. We had a wonderful time yesterday walking the streets with friends and family and then ending the evening together over warm gooey lasagna – yum! It was a great night.
As you might remember from last year, Sean and I like to make Halloween costumes a group effort. My being pregnant this year made our options for purchased costumes quite limited and let’s face it, this is not the time in our life for more homemade projects. We decided to go with a theme that would allow Baby Serai to dress up too…
Our skeleton family ended up providing quite a few new experiences as it turns out. Sean wore eyeliner/eyeshadow for the first time in his life (to which I said I thought his college experience must have been lacking if he made it until now for this). We found that for Seven to tolerate his costume required bribing him with Nerds, and that fighting with a 1.5 year old to get even the slightest bit of makeup on him is quite the undertaking and requires asking for much forgiveness with even more Nerds. In the end, I think if we had pinned ears on him, Seven would looked a lot more like a skeleton puppy with his black nose and no white face paint, but oh well. :0)
Seven’s best bud Violet came trick-or-treating with us. She made the cutest little bumble bee. I love how well these two get along. They always have the best time together.
And of course, nothing makes our little skeleton more happy than to get his hands on his grandfather’s ukelele.
Yes, it was a great last Halloween in here in Westhaven. I’m excited to start new traditions in our new home next year. :0)
Thanks for looking and have a wonderful rest of the week!
- Mel
Tags: Personal
Posted by: McLellan Style | October 11th, 2011
We’re both completely surprised, yet totally excited, to tell you that we’re having a GIRL!
I can’t believe it. I guess we’ve just gotten into the mindset that we have boys. We’ve even been referring to this little lady as “he” when we weren’t paying attention. It’s surreal I tell you!
And yet, on or somewhat around February 23rd, we are now looking forward to welcoming our daughter into the world. Wow. We can’t wait to see Seven in the protective older brother role – you know, after he gets passed trying to club the new little creature that is taking too much of his mommy’s time at first. ;0) It’s going to be crazy, fun and completely wonderful around here!
I know several people will want to know her name. It is Serai Claire (pronounced Ser-ray). Sean and I have loved it forever and have been waiting for a sweet little girl to enter our lives to give it to.
Now I’m going to go back to wasting the afternoon away on Etsy. The ridiculously oversized flower headbands and crocheted hats are way too tantalizing…
Bye for now,
Mel (and Sean and Seven too)
Tags: Personal
Posted by: McLellan Style | September 12th, 2011
I love Hindu ceremonies. All of the thought that goes into each part – the deliberateness, the symbolism, and intent put toward conveying the gravity of the commitment and the meaning behind it is so beautiful. When Josh and Rupa came to us, they asked that we take all of that beauty and create artful images that just happened to have them in them. They wanted the whole picture represented in their wedding photographs and while we were sure to get the close-up emotions as well, it was a lot of fun shooting this wedding with the big picture in mind. Here are a few of our favorites from the day. Hope you enjoy them!
The couple was married in a beautiful outdoor ceremony in downtown Knoxville.
I love this pano Sean got just outside of the Knoxville Museum of Art. Panoramic images are some of our favorites and they always make such great wall art.
The rings…
And finally, the couple’s first dance to a great band on a beautiful evening…
Thanks for looking. =0) Have a great week everyone!
Tags: Weddings
Posted by: McLellan Style | September 7th, 2011
We had a wonderful weekend a few days back with Rupa and Josh, celebrating their wedding. They are creatives, each in their own right, and they share our love for composition, light, and artistic imagery. Add to that a beautiful Indian celebration full of tradition, color, and love everywhere — what more could we ask for?
Here are a few favorites from their engagement session the day before. Can’t wait to share more with you from their wedding!
Tags: Engagements
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