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!

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!

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!

Their wedding took place at the gorgeous Wine Country Gardens winery. The site is gorgeous and the staff all wonderful. Becky and I met there for lunch in the spring to talk about the details of the wedding and I was impressed right off the bat with the location, which they chose for the warmth and friendly, unassuming atmosphere. Becky said it was unlike other wineries, and she was absolutely right – the atmosphere is more down to earth, and more about truly enjoying oneself and present company rather than partying it up.

But don’t let that fool you – we most certainly DID party. With a family and wedding party as great as theirs, it’s a party whenever you get them all together!

What I’ve loved most about working with these two is their laid back personalities and warm sense of humor. Both Brandon and Becky smile easily, laugh easily, and are warm, fun people you just really want to be around. And that was apparent at their wedding as well – their friends and family all encircled them with smiles, hugs and a ton of love, and their magnetism (and the infectiousness of their love) permeated the entire event. It was perfect.

As a result of some really well-thought-out planning, we were able to get a ton of amazing pictures. Becky and Brandon opted for a first look (kudos to them!) so we had plenty of time to hang out with the wedding party on the (lime green) bus and trek around the winery. We also hit up Klondike park and took advantage of the golden evening light.

Becky and Brandon, you two are amazing. I was so honored to be part of your day, and I can’t wait to come up with some excuse to hang out with the two of you again (maternity photos???? Or just wine? ). Thank you so much for allowing me to capture your special day.

Love and Gratitude,
Sam
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Getting Becky into that amazing dress!

A few moments from their first look:

Off to Wine Country Gardens for photos:

Definitely one of my favorites from the day:

Are these two not absolutely GORGEOUS? They are!

The Butterfly in Becky’s flowers was for her grandfather who passed, a way for him to be there with her on her wedding day… so sweet.

My favorite from Klondike park:

And then, the ceremony! Here comes the bride!

Husband and Wife!

The beautiful ceremony site at sunset.

One of the coolest cakes ever – a wine barrel monogrammed with their last name! (plus delicious german chocolate and carrot cake cupcakes!)

Becky’s matron of honor, Jennifer, gives her speech with a few tears:

First Dance and Father/Daughter.

And… the party people!

Becky’s grandmother, who is 90 years old, still goes dancing once a week!

I love working with Seniors and wish I was able to do it more often. Nico was so much fun, and he was totally down with doing his portraits at the graffiti wall, which I thought would fit his personality so well. He liked it, and we got to talk about what he’s doing in school for design – I went to college for graphic design, so hearing about what he was doing was really interesting. I also got to listen to his band and just generally get to know him better, which was awesome because I don’t get to see him very often.

Thanks Nico, for hanging out with me for the day!

This is one of Nico’s favorites:

And this is one of my favorites.

I started out with the girls at Stacy’s parents’ home, then we all transferred to the church to get Stacy into her dress.

I also popped over to see AJ and the gentlemen, and got to get photos of AJ reading the letter Stacy wrote to him. Then it was ceremony time!

After the ceremony, we hit up Gus’ for pretzels and then headed over to the Arch for some portraits. Then it was party time! Their reception was at The Edge of Webster, and I loved their oreo cupcakes!

Stacy and AJ, your wedding was a blast! Thank you so much for allowing me the honor of participating in your big day!

We hit up Tower Grove Park first, then for some contrast scooted over to Laclede’s Landing. Their first date was at the Old Spaghetti Factory so of course we had to go there for the memories – look at where that first date led!

Congrats, you two! I had a blast with you on your engagement session – you two looked fabulous (and really, is Kristy not AMAZING in that black and pink ballerina-inspired dress, and is Jimmy’s hair not totally hip? Methinks they are both fab!) and I am really looking forward to their wedding next steamy, sultry July!

Enjoy the photographic goodness:

Debbie and David have been together for a long time (like a million years!) and it was so sweet to see their family and friends rallying around them on this BEAUTIFUL October day. Their ceremony was at the rustic outdoor venue, Alpine Park and Gardens, and Alissa and I truly had to stop ourselves from skipping off into the gorgeous landscape on the way. Everything was golden and gorgeous, a perfectly warm Autumn day.

We rode to Mizzou for some pictures at the mandatory “Mizzou” landmark, ‘the Pillars’, and ok, just look how gorgeous these two are. Then we headed back to the ceremony site to get ready for the ‘I Do’s'! Debbie’s nephews escorted her down the pathway to the picture-perfect stage to join her Groom. The ceremony was sweet and full of love, reverence and personal touches, such as David’s father doing a reading for the Bride and Groom.

You have to check out how awesome Debbie’s friends are – they made her a little table dedicated to her love of Harry Potter, complete with Fizzing Whizzbies, Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans, Dumbledore’s Lemon Drops… see if you can pick out the rest in the picture! The Sorting Hat even made an appearance!

Debbie and David, your ceremony and reception were wonderful. It was such an honor to be there with your families and hang out with your friends for the day. Thank you so much for having me and Alissa! Your love, laughter, light-heartedness and respectful, enduring relationship is so inspirational. We hope you have an AMAZING honeymoon!

David's face lit up during the First Look

Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and her rings - Just For Debbie!

Pure Awesomeness.

David's Dad smiles at Debbie during his reading

I had a blast with these two (and their sweet pug Olivia!) during their engagement session. Crystal’s outfit at Forest Park was SO. CUTE. Those boots? Hello Nurse. They were both nervous and Crystal doesn’t like to have her picture taken, but as you can see, they loosened up when they realized I wasn’t going to just throw them to the wolves, and we got some of my most favorite engagement photos ever. There’s more photos from their session on my Facebook page! Click here to take a peek!

Crystal and Pete, thank you so much, and I can’t wait until your February wedding! xo

Their ceremony had a handfasting towards the end, which was new to me. I’ve never seen it worked with a wreath in the way that their officiant did it and thought it was really interesting – the wreath was twisted into an infinity symbol and then placed on their wrists, their fingers laced together. It was a beautiful visual symbol to have during the blessing of the marriage.

The flower girl and ring bearer were Kyle’s twins, Lily and Logan, and they were so adorable. Lily at one point stuck her tongue out during the ceremony and Logan was appropriately the most gorgeous man there, dishing out dashing smiles at every pretty girl he saw.

Amanda and Kyle, your whole day was so personalized and unique, so sweet and emotional. I was honored to be a part of it and wish you a lifetime of happiness, health, and the best of everything else!

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