Holga Time!

I've been planning on filling y'all in on my trip to Michigan, and I've just been completely swamped this week, so I haven't gotten a chance! Here's just one little tidbit for now--more to come later!

I spent some time with my friend, Corey, and her son Aedan, taking lots and lots of pics (and relaxing and enjoying girl time!). I also took some with Corey's hubby, Jeremy, which I will post later. These are some of the shots I took with my beloved Holga. I loooooove Holga shots. For those of you who don't know, Holgas are these cheap little Russian cameras, that use 120mm film and give some pretty wacky results. Focusing is seriously based on these little icons of one person, 3 people, and mountains---real accurate, eh? And for the "shutter speed," you can pick between sunny and cloudy. Oh, and the light leaks that get into the camera create the dark corners, and mine seems to make the bottom right corner really blurry... Each camera has a character of its own!

For these shots, I did do some fun post processing edits on them, but that mainly effected color and contrast. Other than that, any quirkiness you see is entirely the result of Holga-ness (as Corey would say).

This one is my fave:

Becca & Jerry

I'm back!!! I had an absolutely wonderful time in Michigan! I got to see friends and family, the weather was incredible, I saw and swam in my beloved Lake Huron, and I'm just overall feeling refreshed! I'll fill you in on more of that later--right now I want to tell you about Becca and Jerry's special day!

Jerry and Becca are really good friends of my friends, Ryan and Sarah, whose wedding was the very first I ever photographed! I had a lot of fun at their wedding (amidst the extreme nervousness!), so I knew I would enjoy this wedding. They are such a neat couple, and everything about the wedding was special, beautiful, and fun. The ceremony was candlelit and so pretty, and the reception was held under a large tent in the country. It was really nice!

Here's the happy couple: (I tried a couple of new processing techniques on these first two... what do you think??)




When it came time to cut the cake, Becca and Jerry asked the bridal party to stand close by "for pictures." I knew it wasn't for pictures! The cut the cake and then turned on their best man and maid of honor! This is Kate, the maid of honor (and Sarah's sister):


The flower girl was absolutely adorable. She did such a good job tossing petals down the aisle, and right when she got to the altar, she suddenly exclaimed, "I'm out of petals! Mom! I'm out of petals!" It was so cute!


Best wishes to you Becca and Jerry!

Meggo's Bridal Shower

OK, one more quick blog before I head up north and go MIA for a couple of weeks...

Some of you might remember Megan from her engagement session I did not too long ago. Last weekend I drove up to Dayton for her bridal shower. It was great to hang out with some college friends as well as meet some of Megan's other local friends.

This is Megan in her toilet paper wedding dress we made for her:


These are the friends responsible for the dress:


And this is the poor kitty with a cone on his head and a streamer around his neck. At least he found a comfy bed after the dress game was done!


If you want to see the rest of the story, keep an eye out for Megan's wedding pictures in September!!

Laura and Scott's Wedding!

I haven't blogged in forever, and I've really been meaning to, so here I am!

About a month ago, I drove to way-up-north Michigan (otherwise known as Alba) to see one of my closest college friends marry her best friend. Laura and I were roommates our freshman year and we've stayed great friends ever since. During that freshman year, we pretty much both predicted who each other would marry... I had this best friend, Matt, and while I was in denial about us ever becoming anything more than friends, she always said, "You might not ever date him, but I know you'll end up marrying him!" Well, we got married! And she had this looooong-time best friend, Scott, who she said she'd never date or marry. I thought she'd marry him someday. And she did! And I got to witness it!

Here's the happy couple, together at last:


Laura, who was a fellow art major with me in college, did not disappoint with the artsy details of the day. The reception area was under a huge canopy in a field, right next door to the bride's home. Every detail was perfect. Even the cookie table (yes--they cut a cookie instead of a cake!) looked gorgeous. Everything had that special, homemade touch and matched perfectly.



I knew she'd be gorgeous...


The five of us in the middle of the picture lived on the same floor during our freshman year. It was great to get together again! (And I'm really not that much shorter than everyone else... I'm not quite sure how that happened...)


So congrats to Scott and Laura! I wish you all the happiness in the world.

PS Y'all can expect some more blog updates from me in about two weeks. I'll be spending a wonderful ten days in Michigan with family, shooting a wedding, and seeing friends. I'm sure I'll have a lot to update you on!

Wes & Rachel

So, the forecast was calling for a hot day with a 60% chance of thunderstorms all day long, but the weather held off for what turned out to be a gorgeous wedding! Wes and Rachel's wedding was held on a beautiful farm. The scenery was incredible and the barn where the reception was held was perfect! The atmosphere was even better--you could feel the love and support of family and friends, kids were running around having loads of fun, and everyone was having a great time. There was even a huge, blowup play set for the kids to jump around in during the reception!

The girls got ready in the upstairs of the barn, which made for beautiful lighting and refreshing breezes.

The kiss:

Enjoying a little time together after the ceremony:

There were adorable kids everywhere! I think she might be choking the little one....

Being announced as husband and wife:

Nate & Laura's Wedding

Nate and Laura couldn't have picked a better day for their wedding! It was 75 and sunny--which is a big deal in Michigan! The ceremony was at a pretty park with little bridges over a ravine.

This is where Laura is walking to see Nate for the first time that day. They shared a special moment together before all the hustle and bustle began.


Such a happy couple!




At the reception, they played a slideshow of images from their childhood and dating days. People really enjoyed looking at the photos. They played it throughout dinner, which I thought was a great idea.

Waving goodbye!
I got to shoot the wedding with Liz, a friend from college. I had a blast getting to work with her! This is us being silly!

Megan & Brian

Yesterday, I visited Bowling Green, Kentucky, for the first time, to take Megan and Brian's engagement pictures. They were both such nice people and a pleasure to be with! They treated me to dinner at Mariah's. The food was great! I had the best potato soup ever! :) Then, we headed out to Fountain Square to take some pictures. After that, we hit another park to get some more. I'm totally looking forward to their October wedding. I'm sure it's going to be beautiful!

The Zoo

My cousins, Katie and Dave, came down to visit us this week. I'm so glad they came. We had a blast! We did tons of stuff all over Louisville. One of the highlights was our trip to the zoo.

This little dude was so cute! He kept looking around and I caught a few of him looking straight at me. He was pretty funny :)


We fed the birds, which was really neat. This one stole the cup of nectar.


Love birds! Or, maybe they're fighting? Or maybe they're conjoined twins?

Megan & Andy's Engagement

I just got back from spending some time in Dayton with my friend, Megan, and her fiance, Andy. It was so great to spend time with them. Their love for each other is so evident! I'm incredibly happy for my friends and wish them all the best! I can't wait to shoot their wedding in September!

We took the pictures at the Arboretum. Unfortunately, the skies were dreary and it was very drizzly, but they toughed it out and got some fun shots!


Talk about an awesome umbrella!




They're always laughing together--such a great part of their relationship!

Derby Days

I had my first Derby experience this year. I spent Friday and Saturday taking pictures at the Oaks and Derby days at Churchill Downs. It was really neat to see all of the festivities up close! And, of course, there were tons of pretty hats and dresses. Here's a small sampling of what I saw: