Finally I get to Stephanie and Homer’s fun engagement session!
These two are really laid back and really fun, and of course I love any engagement session that involves a doggie! And hockey fans! Ok, I love any photo session that includes doggies AND hockey fans!
Stephanie and Homer, I’m looking forward to your next engagement session and your wedding next September. Thank you so much for allowing me to hang out with you and driving me between Forest Park and the CWE – it was fun!
Now that it’s November, I can exhale.
Any photographer can tell you about how autumn is the most insane time of the year. Everyone wants family portraits while we have great mild weather and nature’s own beautiful, colorful backdrop when all the leaves ripen, it’s a busy wedding month, we come up on the deadline to get albums submitted to be printed before Christmas, and that’s not to mention all the editing involved.
October is my favorite month, for the aforementioned mild weather and colorful leaves, but I feel like I didn’t even see it this year, except through my clients’ photographs. And that is really a beautiful thing in and of itself, honestly – to witness the changes week by week and notice how subtly, and sometimes suddenly, nature can change. When you’re photographing every weekend, it’s easy to keep track of in your mind, to look backward and tick off the weather and the stages of the month at each wedding and portrait session I was lucky enough to be a part of. And when you look at it that way, I may have taken more notice of October while being fully engaged in the whirlwind of weddings and portraits than if I hadn’t had a thing at all to do. And that realization just reinforces the love I have for my career.
Because of the whirlwind though, I am WAY behind on blogs. I promise to get some catching-up done this week and I’m going to start right now, with some photos that I snuck in of my boys last month. I’ve mentioned before that one of my favorite places in the St. Louis area is Laumeier Sculpture Park, so that’s where we went for these shots. We still need family photos done, but getting pictures of them is a good start! Kadin (my older one) is turning into a little model. Max is still the one I have to chase around and coax – but turned it out that if I allowed him to pose himself, he fully cooperated, so I pretty much just said, “Go over there and sit however you want.” Score!
So here are my munchkins, and stay tuned this week for four engagement sessions and a family session!
This wedding was a perfect example of why I love outdoor Autumn weddings, even if the leaves haven’t ripened to their full glory yet. Stacey and Kenny married at Tower Grove Park, in the beautiful Stupp Center garden. The weather was perfect, and we had the most gorgeous golden evening light. The ceremony was small and intimate, which suited the two of them very well and made the emotional impact palpable. My favorite two instances – they pinky-promised after the ring exchange and then high-fived after their kiss.
We had 15 – 20 minutes for pictures of just the two of them in between the ceremony and their reception at Pujols 5, so we got down to business. You’ll be able to judge the results for yourself, but I’m head-over-heels for their photos in the park.
Stacey and Kenny barely know me (in fact it was the first time I’d ever met Kenny!) but they were incredibly gracious and open people and I appreciated them being so welcoming and including me in their dinner with their closest friends and family. It is a nod to the character and how friendly and respectful they are, that they allowed me to jump right in and feel comfortable. They are warm and fun and their love and warmth brightens the space around them and warms the people close to them. It was such an honor to be at their wedding and give them the kind of gift that immortalizes memories for a lifetime – photographs.
Stacey and Kenny, thank you a thousand times over for being such wonderful people and for allowing me the privilege to be at your wedding!
