No really, I do. All the other husbys out there think they're the greatest...
(BUT THEY'RE WRONG!)
Okay, so I can't actually speak for the other husbys out there but I can speak about mine.
My husby brought me chocolates. Not just any chocolates... GOOD'S CHOCOLATES!
So the wait maybe hasn't been so long for you JSP lovers + friends but it's been excruciatingly long for me! As you saw (or didn't see) from my live tweeting my first styled shoot, this is it. I've been waiting since JANUARY to share these photos with you! Due to timing and other boring behind the scenes things it's taken me some time to share these photos with you. Now the day has finally come!
One cold, January day an incredible team of vendors and two beautiful people gathered to meet me at the Omni Severin hotel to let me take pictures. I believe it was bout 4 degrees outside and incredibly windy. But it was beautiful. In light of the upcoming Captain America sequel: The Winter Soldier releasing in April, I set off to create a Captain America styled wedding shoot. With the incredibly huge help of Sarah Cooper of Cooper Events we accomplished the goal of a Captain America styled shoot. We wanted to show brides how to incorporate Captain America into their wedding in a classy way instead of it coming off kitchy or themey. At a beautiful location, with beautiful flowers, a beautiful dress, and a beautiful "bride" and "groom. Everything was just BEA-U-TI-FUL! I loved it! Was it a wedding day? No. DId I capture beautiful images to use for my portfolio and for other members of the creative team to use for their portfolio? Yes. Was it worth it? YES!
Because this wasn't a real wedding day, I don't have a lot of storytelling commentary to give you. Because of that I will just give you some amazing photos and little bits of who contributed to each photo. Enjoy!
I have waiting all of my photography career to photograph at The Mavris. It's where I wanted to be married but with our rushed wedding date they weren't available. (Insert sad face here!) I had waited so long and it was all I hoped and dreamed it would be. Even in the winter.
When Laura + I met for the first time it was love at first sight. Well, love for Yorkies. Her and Jon have 2 Yorkies and I have my little monster Buddy. We met at a Panera and over a smoothie and Mountain Dew we discussed her super fun day, our love for Yorkies, and general good times. We knew our partnership was destined to be.
This is one of my favorite photos of the two of them together. The purple lighting was so cool and although I know it leaves a weird affect on their skin, I kind of like it. I felt like it told the story of their day.
Which is it? So many parents-to-be anticipate this moment where they find out if they're going to be buying pink or blue. (Or whatever strikes your fancy for your gender!) It's a pivitol moment in your pregnancy and I know I very highly anticipated the moment we found out we were having a sweet little boy. If you remember, we did our own gender reveal photographing myself eating some delicious Gigi's cupcakes. (Mmm...) But in this instance I had the honor and priviledge to be in the moment with this lovely couple as they found out if they were having a boy or a girl.
Kim and James are old time friends of mine. Kim was roommates with my childhood friend Kari back in our Freshman year at Ball State. They hit it off pretty well and stayed roommates for years after they left the dorms. Due to my friendship with Kari that sort of rebirthed in college I became good friends with Kim. Kim and James met while we were attending school and their relationship has blossomed and grown through graduation, grad school, and a big move to The Windy City for Kim's new "big girl job" upon graduation. Of course when Kim told me she was pregnant I was thrilled for her. And even more so thrilled and honored when she asked me to photograph not only their gender reveal but their maternity photos in June of 2014. So keep your eyes peeled for an extra special Chicago maternity session featuring this adorable couple!
For their gender reveal they decided to throw colored powder in the air depending on the gender. They brought along assistants to throw the powder for them so they wouldn't know the actual gender until the powder was in the air. It was a surprise for not only the people who would view the photos later but for themselves too. So cool! After they threw the gender specific color they threw the other color in a good old fashioned color fight!
Watch the reveal unfold!
That's what my little man says.
In honor of the holiday of the heart Beckett donned his cutest V-Day outfit and hammed it up for the camera.
Granted he was pretty tired and cranky when we did these photos he still looked pretty adorable and I got at least one smile out of him!
Check out the rest of his cute little photo shoot!
So as many of you may know last week was my very first styled shoot! (WHAT WHAT!) I expected it to be relaxing and less stressful than a wedding day and BOY was I wrong!
Not that it couldn't have been less stressful, it's just that in a true example of myself I was freaking out and constantly stressing about everything. The problem is I could photograph ALL DAY, no questions asked. But at this shoot I had models who were in uncomfortable clothing, vendors watching, and a venue donating their space to us. And honestly, the circumstances weren't that bad and I probably was overreacting but I like to push myself. So naturally I was Stress City.
Okay yeah... so I might be like super, ULTRA, MEGA pumped to participate in my first styled shoot. But it's only cause I'm working with an AWESOME creative team!
Obviously the biggest secrets are still to be revealed but PLEASE keep tuned because this 1940's styled shoot is going to be pretty redic!!
Although I plan on having sneak peeks as soon as I possibly can please follow at #JSPStyledShoot on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to see behind the scenes photos of the event.
Otherwise stay tuned for the final reveal when the time comes!
Thank you again to the amazing creative team that made this vision come to life!
Accent Floral Design | Cooper Events | Cakes By Cathy, Inc | KJ's Vintage Button Bouquets
Omni Severin Hotels + Resorts | Something Blue Stylists | LGi Linens | Violet Vintage
Sage's Simple Syrups | Antique Limo
I can't wait to work with each and every one of you tomorrow BRIGHT AND EARLY! It's going to be a blast!
Until then, keep rockin' JSP fans!
What you've all been waiting for! DA-DEN-NAH-NAHHHHH! The 2013 Top Wedding + Engagement Portraits!
Let's not wait, boom, number 25!
WELL I AM!
Be sure to stay tuned tomorrow for:
I'm pretty anxious about these freaking SWEET moments about to be unveiled to your eyes. Cause they're awesome. Ch-ch-check 'em out! Let's start with number 20!
Today I am posting the top 20 Wedding + Engagement favorite photos of 2013.
Keep your eyes peeled for the rest of the 2013 favorites:
Posted tomorrow, 01.16.2014
and
Posted Friday, 01.17.2014
Let's kick this countdown off with numba 20! (Remember, not in any super specific order!)
Time for the top favorite photos of the previous year to be featured on the blog! This is always one of my favorite but most tedious parts of the year. (Which is why it takes me until the third week in January to release them! This year we've added a new category: FAMILY + MATERNITY. I had some pretty kick ass family/maternity sessions this year and I really wanted to make sure I showed them off.
Over the next 4 days, including today there will be 4 posts featuring the top photos of 2013. The blog posts will release as follows:
Posted Today
Posted tomorow, 01.15.2014
Posted Thursday, 01.16.2014
and finally...
Posted Friday, 01.17.2014
SO! Let's get this party started with the top 15 family + maternity favorites of 2013. These are SOMEWHAT in order of the most favorite. But let's be honest, every client, every session, every wedding... they all ROCK!
So many things happened this year...
Here is a year in review in photos. A compilation of iPhone photos, wedding outtakes, and Facebook photos.
I love it. I love being crafty and creative. But Cait, she brings it to a whole new level. If you remeber my super cute couple from a few months back, Cait + Colin, with their adorable camping themed enagement.
So anyways, being an art school grad, crafty with a sewing machine, and super imaginative you have to know that Cait + Colin's wedding was super adorably DIY'd to the max, in all the best ways!
They did a first look and I looooove Cait's natural amazing smile when she sees her man for the first time. Adorable!
Sarah and Andy. These two are quite possibly the cutest little couple I ever did see. Their wedding was simple and fun, which made it extra awesome. Being best friends with Cassie Conforti of Conforti Photography and the owner of her own wedding coordinating business, Cooper Events AND the owner of the venue, The Barn in Zionsville, I just knew this wedding was going to be AH-MAZING. And, it was.
Aside from having a barn wedding, which I'm in love with by the way, they had a theme of a tandem bicycle. Why a tandem bicycle you ask? Well because they live in Downtown Indianapolis and they ride it everywhere, that's why! Cause they're just that cool. I don't care how cool you are, you're not "riding a tandem bike with the love of your life" cool. Unless you're Sarah and Andy, then you are that cool.
This is quite possibly my favorite photo of the 2013 season. I mean, adorable couple, tandem bike, red lip stick, awesome locale? Swoon.
When you talk about a striking couple Bri + Kyle are definitely one of those couples. Bri beautiful as ever and Kyle with a sense of style that could only be rivaled by Justin Timberlake. After completing their engagement session last year in Downtown Indy I just knew they were going to be stunning as a bride and groom. And I wasn't wrong.
With their gorgeous coral-orange, white, and grey color scheme and a reception hall that is so unexpectedly beautiful Bri + Kyle had a wonderful wedding for the history books.
Now this is a story all about how, my wedding season got flipped turned upside down. And I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there. I'll tell you how I lost my mind before I photographed this affair.
Now that you've seen my mad rapping skills, I really will tell you a lovely little diddy (not about Jack and Diane), about the events leading up to this momentous wedding day!
So back in November of 2012, as many of you may know I found out I was pregnant with my precious baby boy Beckett. Well after doing some preggo math it was determined that he would be due just 2 weeks shy of Stacey + Eric's big day. Needless to say, I was a little frightened to say the least. I wasn't even sure if I would be able to walk, let alone photograph a 14 hour wedding day. But alas, I am dedicated to what I do and I said, "NO! I WILL do this!" So I hired a second shooter AND brought along my dear husband. And we made it work, just under 2 weeks after my sweet baby boy was born.
The day turned out BEAUTIFULLY. Their photos turned out awesome. It was a super fun day. And the 14 hours flew by like NOTHIN'! And I learned that loving what you do makes a huge difference in how a work day transpires.
Needless to say there are many amazing photos from Stacey + Eric's big day, but these two ladies and gents, are my favorite. (I couldn't pick just one.)
Okay, so I know I say this all. the. dang. time. buuuuuuut,
I LOVE THIS COUPLE!
I know, I know. I love all of my couples! But I definitely love this one as well.
Libby and Shelby are just a super-fun and super-sweet couple that I know through Outside the Box. Libby, works for OTB's parent company Insights Consulting and Shelby owns his own food truck lovingly called The Caveman Truck that serves all paleo diet friendly foods. How cool is that?! So yeah, eclectic couple that I love quite dearly!
Libby contacted me when I was running my wicked February special. Her and Shelby just BUILT (you heard right, BUILT) a new house and she realized that the last time they had photos taken was at their wedding three years ago! So she wanted to have new photos to put up in the new house! I think we have succeeded in achieving some fun photos of the two of them, and they're still just as much in love as they were on their wedding day!
Oh, where do I begin with this couple?! I have to say, I'm truly blessed, I have the most amazing couples ever! Courtney and Nick are such incredible people. They met at Ball State (Chirp Chirp!!) while they were working at Rec Services. She studied aquatics and he studied exercise science and now they both work for the amazing company, Outside the Box! They're amazing group facilitators working with people with special needs and if I didn't mention before, they're mega good at it!
When Nick told me he was going to propose to Courtney I may have peed my pants a little. (Not literally, I was just really excited!) After all of the excitement of the proposal Courtney asked me to be their photographer for their special day. Which was super amazing to me because although I had known Nick from high school, I didn't really know Courtney all that well. But she's super fun and amazing and we've become great friends through this whole process.
We planned for their engagement session in May in hopes that it would be warmer and nicer out than in April. But, alas, we live in Indiana and the weather can never be counted upon. It was slightly chilly and somewhat dreary outside but we made it work! We did have a wonderful time walking around Downtown Indianapolis. But first we started with their newly adopted doggie, only 8 months old, at the Broad Ripple Art Center!
Considering that she was only 8 months old, she behaved very well. Miss Bailey Mae was very sweet!
So I'm sitting here blogging and giving my mom the best Mother's Day present ever.
That is of course sleeping in with my snuggly little dog. Best. Gift. Ever. Daughter of the year award right here!
So I'm thinking about Mother's Day and becoming a mom and what kind of crazy crap I put my mom through and I thought to myself, "Do I really want to do this?"
I mean, seriously! Do I really want to deal with all of the crazy I'm about to be subjected to? Do I really want to wipe up poopy diaper butt? Clean toys that aren't mine? Make dinner for a small mouth every night? Do homework? Get yelled at for not being able to go out that night? All of the crazy?
I'll bet you're thinking the next thing I'm going to say is, "Of course I do!"
One of the few photos I have of myself and my step-son. It's hard when usually I'm on the other side of the camera. :)
Oh where do I begin with this lovely couple!? Cait and I have known each other for around 10 years! It all started when I dated her twin brother back in my freshman year of high school!
It's hard to believe it's been 10 years since I was a freshman in high school! Eek! I think that means I'm getting old!
Anyways, even after her brother and I broke up her and I stayed friends. Naturally I stalked her on Facebook and when Colin proposed I was super excited for them! Then she asked me to photograph their lovely wedding and engagement photos.
The three of us met over some Panera Bread (I've told you guys how much I love carbs haven't I?) and we planned this super cute camping themed engagement session!
Not only am I in love with their session, the props, and them; but I'm pretty sure I had a love affair with their adorable dachshund, Lars.
