Now for the final installment. I am gonna be honest, these are my favorite shots from the whole session. The sun completely and utterly cooperated with us on the timing of the final scene. Nothing but dreamy, creamy, warm backlighting. The girls did an amazing job styling themselves for the field shots in their sundresses, boots, and accessories. The beauty of friendship and motherhood seems to ooze from these and I find myself smiling with each edit. Please be inspired and leave them some love.
Once again my wonderful friend Sarah, from Solace Restoration, hooked us up with some great props. For mother’s day, her husband made this amazing sign from some old barn wood. He hand stenciled a portion of a song of blessing on the sign. It is a powerful song with incredible lyrics of blessing for children. The sign was perfect for these mommies-to-be. I also grabbed some vintage pillows that she sewed out of old sugar sacks. The quilt is actually an unexpected find of Adam and Lauren’s. If I remember correctly, they were given an antique china cabinet from Adam’s great grandmother and in one of the drawers they found this half sewn quilt made by his great grandmother from the 1950’s. The quilt will grace Beatrice’s nursery. Without further ado……
Scene 3: “The Field”
ADDENDUM since posting: Some of you asked for full lyrics. Here they are. Song written by Dennis Jernigan.
I bless you with joy and peace and love that won’t let go. I bless you with grace and faith and fire in your soul. I bless you with dreams and visions most men don’t know of. i bless you with a deeper knowledge of our Fathers love.
I bless you with strength and power, grace through any trial. I bless you with wisdom and with comfort in your smile. I bless you with great adventures, journeys yet unknown. I bless you with hearts gone wild because you are His own.
I bless you with the heart of a warrior, grace to stand and fight, I bless you with brothers who will stand right by your side. I bless you with courage till the battles have been won, I bless you with the faith to hear your Father say “well done”.
CHORUS:
I bless you with joy and laughter, I bless you with a steadfast faith, I bless you with the hopes and the dreams that your heart goes after, I bless you with amazing grace.
This next one cracks me up….either we are really funny or we were confusing them with directions.
Beatrice was making her presence known.
These girls are amazing at pulling out vulnerable, beautiful looks.
A little out-take. Getting in this position for Lauren was a logistical feat. She had to balance against Kristin’s thigh which Kristin was a little too zealous to lend; tipping her over.
Much better.
Before we end with the adorable watermelon eating I just want to break to our two prop wenches that helped load and unload all over the property for us. These are not flattering shots but alas, we want to give honorable mention.
This is Kristin’s Adam working the pinwheel while frolicking with the horses.
and Lauren’s Adam taking a quick shot for Kristin’s sister.
These watermelon shots absolutely crack me up. The girls were starving by the end as it was a HOT, long five hours from start to finish. They devoured these watermelon slices in seconds.
Le sigh…..
Girls, I have said it a million times but THANK YOU! You exceeded each and every expectation I had for this shoot. We are so proud of the images and we are so pleased that these remind you of the blessing of pregnancy and friendship. We can’t wait to meet Violet and Beatrice in the upcoming months. Blessings!
I don’t know where to begin to explain this shoot or my sheer delight in working with Lauren and Kristin. I am going to save the story for Part 1 of 2 posts coming soon. All I can say is this was an adrenaline shot to the heart for me in photography. Every once in awhile I have to plan a shoot that is left of center for what we normally do and remind myself why I love working with women and why photography is such a powerful medium. Enjoy the sheer amazingness, beauty, and exquisite detail of this shoot. Lauren and Kristin you are pure pleasure. (Oh and not to shaft Ryan, he was totally there too, but he won’t take credit for the ideas, just the amazing photos…thanks babe!)
Third trimester and in bathing suits, I couldn’t love them more for agreeing to this!
Both ladies are expecting “pink”! Little Beatrice will be joining Lauren and Adam in September. Little Violet will be joining Kristin and Adam (different Adam..I know it is confusing!) in August.
My friends and renovation specialists at Solace Restoration, loaned me this sign. This is a portion of a song of blessing we sing at our church. Ryan and I sing this song to our kids every night before bed. It is incredible.
I've been thinking a lot about the attitude of scarcity versus the attitude of possibility recently. The attitude of scarcity is the notion that embraces the idea that resources, clients, knowledge are so scarce so we must "take and guard" what is "ours." It is viewpoint that sees the pie as small with limited pieces for people. It is an attitude that breeds competition rather than "co-opetition." This attitude keeps people from being excited about the success of others. Instead, we feel threatened by them, we feel jealousy creep in. The attitude of scarcity surrounds us in people and society every day. It is the outlook of the person that wakes up in the morning with the assumption that life is about merely staying alive and surviving in a world of very limited resources. It is what keeps people from sharing an ultimately growing. This is an attitude and outlook rooted in the enemy... fear.
On the other side of that, I have encountered a handful of people in my life that embrace another kind of attitude... one that I admire and strive after...the attitude of possibility. This attitude embraces the idea that anything is possible. In this world of possibility, thought is not impeded by the concern of survival, but stands in the field of optimism with a posture of vast openness. These are the people that share their knowledge freely because instead of feeling threatened by the thought of scarcity they are excited by the thought of continued growth for both parties. This attitude recognizes that there is plenty of business to go around, setting them free to be happy for the success of their colleagues and counterparts. The attitude of possibility doesn't see people with eyes that limit and measure them, but rather, sees them for all of the unique potential that each person posses'. This is an attitude that recognizes that each of us is created with individual gifts and talents and that anyone is capable of ANYTHING they put their mind to. Instead of living in fear, this attitude is rooted in freedom, choice, and love. This is a perspective that recognizes that the pie is enormous and even if you take a piece, the pie is whole again.
Everyday we make a choice about the attitude we will embrace by our thoughts, words and motives. For me, I will continue striving to live in love and not fear. I will choose to see the world for all of it's variety, glimmer, hope, engagement and forward movement. The seemingly small moments of our lives are ultimately what write our life stories. We have a choice about how they will be written. For me I will continue to dance in the vast and glowing fields of possibility....
For anyone who cares to explore this idea of possibility in more depth, I highly recommend a book I read back in January called The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander & Benjamin Zander. It was an inspiring read that offers great insight and perspective.
So… back to our fabulous Charleston wedding.
We are now ready to debut Corey and Tim’s beautiful ceremony and reception at the Old Wide Awake Plantation. Little fun fact, Old Wide Awake Planation was also the wedding site for Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe back in the day. The venue was full of rustic charm from the small lake adjacent to the plantation, horses running in the field past the lake, to the vintage wallpaper lining the interior of the house. It felt cozy, it felt perfect for Corey and Tim.
We can’t say enough good things about Katie Bell of Timeless Designs who designed and coordinated the entire event. As if that wasn’t enough, she also arranged all the amazing florals! I do believe I have witnessed my favorite florals and bridal bouquet to date! I am a huge fan of color but I also love the fresh-picked, non-fussy natural look. She nailed both! Kudos Katie!
Without further ado, let’s jump into some of those florals and details that brought the day to life with vibrance and freshness!
View from the balcony
Corey’s amazing bouquet. I absolutely adore this bouquet.
Bridesmaid’s bouquet
Ceremony time.
Tim’s mom
Corey’s mom
Tim’s father officiated the ceremony.
Reception Time
Cornhole was set up for guests to play. Is it wrong that the junior higher in me snickers every time cornhole is said? Anyone, anyone???
Up next…drinks, cupcakes and DANCING!!!
During “Baby Got Back”
Bouquet toss
Corey + Tim = LOVE
This wedding is one we will look back over and over again and sigh. What an honor to be a part of such beauty and comfort. We made some incredible friends that weekend. This wedding was SOOOOO relaxed, fun and special. Thank you Tim and Corey. It was a shame to call it work for it was nothing but pleasure. Blessings to you in your new life together!
Well, this has been a whirlwind of a week! In addition to moving, and all the icky packing and losing things, and finding kitchen utensils in bedroom dresser drawers, our blog was hacked. So instead of being able to fully focus on our move, Joe was stuck installing and removing and reloading our blog multiple times. The good news is that it looks like we’re back for good now, and that we only lost one blog post. The bad news is that we probably have a few extra grays now.
So if you’ve already seen this for the 12 hours or so it was, we apologize for the duplicate. Of course, we’d love for you to enjoy these images all over again!
Style Me Pretty always has a beautiful collection of images, but we’re a bit biased about the wonderful images they shared this past Monday on their blog of Jordyn and Dan’s awesome Hudson Valley wedding in Garrison, NY. It was our first wedding of the season and we’re thrilled everyone loves the images as much as we do.
Even better, since it’s been a few days since this feature we’ve seen such an amazing outpouring of compliments for Jordyn’s styling. The comments are so fun to read!
Brittany is totally ‘the girl next door’ - beautiful, energetic, fun loving and… a smile….I know I’m not from the South, but.. a smile that my Texan friends would describe as “prettier than nine miles of white picket fence” We met her last winter - she is part of a group of amazing women that keep each other company, lend a hand, cheer each other on good days and support each other through hard times, all while their husbands are deployed overseas.
Last Tuesday was not only Jeff’s birthday, but also the day he would arrive back home for well-deserved R&R - we were excited to have an opening in our schedule so that we could sneak up to SeaTac to meet Brittany and capture their long-awaited reunion
We rendezvoused at the American Airlines ticket counter at 1400 hrs - after some sweet-talking, the agent was kind enough to give us the gate passes we needed.
Everything that’s brought through security has to be x-rayed - we all stood back and covered our ears - sure that at least one or two would pop - but, luckily, no balloons were harmed during the documentation of our story
Even though we were told that the flight would be arriving about 20 minutes early, it seemed like time was crawling by - until Brittany got the call from Jeff saying that the plane was on the ground and headed toward the gate.
Waiting, watching……
Running, hugs, tears, kisses, laughter…..applause from total strangers
Jeff got to drive the truck…but Brittany wasn’t about to hand over the keys until she got him to pinky swear that he would remember there’s a speed limit here in the States, and that the truck was not a stryker
I’m sure glad that I don’t have to be without Bill for months and months at a time - so many sacrifices our military families make on our behalf! Happy Birthday, Jeff! And Brittany, thanks for letting us be a part of this special day in your lives! Our wish for you is that the clock slows down and the next 21,600 moments are overflowing with happiness…. we hope you know how very grateful we are for your dedicated and generous service in defense of the freedoms we all enjoy.
Our marathon trip up to DC has commenced. We are overly giddy about the two couples we got to spend copious amounts of time with. In a weird twist of fate we found out both grooms went to high school together and know each other but had no idea they had the same wedding photographers…..US!!!
Sylvette and Nate were first up to bat. I seriously had to tell myself “too many Kelly” while picking some teaser photos. I could not narrow down just a few. Sylvette is one sassy looking mama. If you watch the show Modern Family you may find a similarity between “Gloria” Sophia Vergara and Sylvette our Puerto Rican lovely. Nate can hold his own with his freckles, dimples, perfect teeth and charm. Enjoy this teaser of our gorgeous Saturday evening shoot.
If there is one photographer who has set the bar insanely high in photographic community it is Tim Walker. His work consistently blows my mind. Walker is one who places a high value on the creative process and being true to himself. His sets are always beautifully extravagant and his images are full of whimsy and quirk.
I've had his lovely coffee table book Tim Walker Pictures for about a year now. I have a slight obsession with collecting photography and travel coffee table books.... so much so that my stack is about to come toppling over... but I.CANT.STOP. Walker's book is by far one of my all time favorites. The pages within this book are true art. Although our images are very different, Walker is a constant source of inspiration for us. Here is a bit of his bio from his website:
"Tim Walker's photographs have entranced the readers of Vogue, month by month, for over a decade. Extravagant staging and romantic motifs characterize his unmistakable style.
Born in England in 1970, his interest in photography began at the Conde Nast library in London where he worked on the Cecil Beaton archive for a years work experience prior to University. Being placed third in The Independent newspaper photography awards led to a three year photography BA Hons degree at Exeter College of Art.
On graduation in 1994 Walker worked as a freelance photography assistant in London before moving to New York City as a full time assistant to Richard Avedon. On returning to England he initially concentrated on portrait and documentary work for UK newspapers. At the age of 25 he shot his first fashion story for Vogue, and has photographed for the British, Italian, and American editions ever since.
In the spring of 2008 his first major show was held at the Design Museum in London, which coincided with the publication of his first book 'Pictures.' "
I wanted to share this today because I find that many photographers have blinders on to the greatness that is out there in the photographic world. Many are too busy reading other wedding photographers photo blogs and checking flicker to stop and recognize the brilliance that resides outside the wedding photography community. And I would beg those who have not yet heard of Tim Walker to get out of the wedding bubble and explore other types/shapes and forms that photography takes on. It's so important to set the bar high in your creative life. Looking at people that are worlds and worlds beyond where we are creatively is healthy for any artist. Set your bar high.
Oh. and also, please go pick up Walker's book. You wont regret it.
This is the first in my new series of inspirational posts about wedding flowers. As you probably know when I’m not photographing people you can find me in botanical gardens, parks, flower markets, florists or my back garden photographing flowers. It is easy when planning a wedding to think of roses and lilies but there are so many more beautiful flowers out there that you might want to explore for your wedding.
Anemones are gorgeous, stunning but simple flowers that are perfect for a late Winter or Spring wedding.
They come in all colours but I fell in love with these white ones at Colombia Road Flower Market the other day.
They work really well bunched closely together in a small square vase and would also be a dream as a wedding bouquet.
