Category: Wedding

Our photography has been featured! Check out Shelby and Jeff’s Real Wedding on Corridor Wedding Guide! See their beautiful wedding and read about their cute proposal and Shelby’s wedding advice to couples planning their own weddings.

Shelby and Jeff are our wedding clients from last fall and they were so kind as to share their story with Corridor Wedding Guide. They were married at Oak Hill Weddings in Apple River, IL. It’s a fun location, complete with an old church, school and store. You can see images of Oak Hill here.

We started the day in Galena, where they had their “first look” and we photographed the wedding party. We did this because they were getting ready in Galena and they had limited time before the wedding at Oak Hill. Getting wedding party photographs done before we arrived to Oak Hill made  the schedule easier for family photographs and allowed Shelby and Jeff time to relax a little before the ceremony.

Real Wedding features are fun because you not only get a glimpse into a couple’s wedding day, but they also inspire you with your own wedding planning. Looking at the details of things like flowers or favors that real brides did for their special day is great of giving you ideas that you may not have thought of otherwise.

One such idea is the map of Oak Hill that Shelby and Jeff included on the candy bags that also doubled as the ceremony programs. This was one element that did triple duty in the most perfect way! And the beer “growlers” they have collected from their favorite breweries that they used has flower vases on the reception tables. That is such a fun way to share with their wedding guests one of their favorite things to do together as a couple, plus it really personalizes the reception.

We’re so excited that our wedding photography illustrates the details of Shelby and Jeff’s wedding, along with the story of their proposal and that they show the attention to wedding planning details throughout the wedding day.

Take a look at more images and read the details over at Corridor Wedding Guide “Real Weddings.”

Looking at your wedding photographs and reliving all the happy, enjoyable moments of your day is the fun part. The hard part is trying to figure out how you’ll possibly cut out any of these amazing images and still tell the whole story of the day in a wedding album.

[See Steph and Tim’s Real Wedding Feature here.]

This was Steph’s predicament. She loved her wedding photographs! She looked at them online, she paged through her proof booklet, and she loved so many of them.

From nearly 700 images, Steph narrowed her favorites to almost 200 photographs that she felt represented her wedding. And then she contacted me. She didn’t know how to cut any more from her favorites! These included many of her family and friends, as well as special moments and details that let her remember the wedding completely. So, she then gave me her list.

Certainly, I can design albums to hold every image a bride and groom pick out. However, usually the story can be enhanced by some experienced polishing.

My motto is: “It’s not what you leave in, it’s what you take out.” When I first prepare images for a wedding couple, I spend a lot of time to ensure that every image they see is album-worthy. But just as an overly wordy paragraph can lose a reader, a bloated album doesn’t highlight the very special and personal moments that are important to the bride and groom.

The next step with Steph and Tim’s wedding album was to go through this list of images. Steph was a little worried about this appointment. She thought it was going to be so difficult to make decisions about which photographs to cut.

I assured her that I was there to help and to make the whole process pain-free! She and I sat down and talked about what was important to include in the album. We then talked about easy ways to cut images.

For example, she had chosen images of the entire bridal party processing into the ceremony, recessing out of the ceremony and entering the reception. In an album, these images can become repetitive, so we picked the best of the three options. In this case, we used processional images.

We continued through the list of images in a similar way. We would group photographs together that included the same people or were taken in the same place and chose the best ones. This avoided unnecessary duplicates in the album.

Next, we looked at all the remaining images to see how they progressed through the day. We wanted to make sure we told the whole story of the wedding and that we didn’t have any holes in the photo-narrative.

Once Steph was satisfied, my design work began. I custom-designed a 10×8 album with 30 pages, along with a photo cover. Steph then reviewed the design, approved it and the album went into final production.

The result was a gorgeous album that beautifully and concisely showcased the entire day for them to be able to show off, share and enjoy for years to come.

I can’t believe that we are already in 2017! Where did 2016 even go? Seriously, I don’t feel like it could be time to flip the calendar yet–I’m still working on weddings!

I have been working on editing fall weddings and I’m so excited to share some images from Ali and Michael’s special day. Some weddings are casual, some are full of exceptional details. Ali and Michael’s wedding certainly falls into the “amazing” category.

Ali was a radiant bride who paid attention to details. The sublime grandeur of the ceremony and reception were the most elegant we had the honor of photographing this wedding season. I’ll share details from their wedding day soon! Until then, take a look at what a stunning couple they are together!

We are excited that a wedding we photographed this fall is being featured on the Corridor Wedding Guide website! They like to showcase weddings with interesting details to give brides and grooms inspiration for their own wedding planning. And this wedding certainly had a lot of great details!

Stephanie and Tim were married on September 3rd, 2016. The ceremony took place outside, with an American flag as the backdrop. The fun, casual reception was held in a barn, which fit the bride and groom perfectly.
Their wedding was a fun, country-styled affair, complete with the whole wedding party wearing cowboy boots. Groomsmen all wore jeans and the groom even wore a cowboy hat. The bouquets were crafted out of burlap, lace, ribbons and buttons, which exquisitely accented the theme!

Stephanie’s’ mother became like a wedding coordinator for the couple. Plus, Stephanie, being busy with work and such, was thrilled to have her help. Her mother spent a lot of time and put in a lot of effort to create the look for this wedding and the reception. She pulled together most of the wedding decorations, which solidified the “country” theme.

This wedding is excellent to look at for inspiration, not only for the popular “country” and “barn” weddings, but also for its casual, outdoor theme. All the thought that went into the details that carried out the “country” theme made the day feel special and comfortable- it was a beautiful day!

Stephanie shared some super cute details about Tim and her for the Corridor Wedding Guide article. You really need to hop over there and read how she “bought” him at an auction and his marriage proposal is SO SWEET!!

Check out all the photos and details here: Rustic Americana Wedding | Iowa’s Corridor Wedding Guide

Source: Rustic Americana Wedding | Iowa’s Corridor Wedding Guide

It’s always busy this time of year, trying to get everything finished for clients before the holidays are fully here. Here is a little sneak of what I’m working on: a super romantic, gorgeous wedding that I’m totally in love with every detail!