So you’ve already seen these guys’ engagements, and bridals/formals, so all that’s left now is the PARTY.  Which in my mind, is as it should be!  We captured them on their way out of the temple, did some quick groups and hit the road… which was convenient because it was if I remember correctly literally over 100 degrees that day.  That afternoon and evening the party moved over to the Maddox in Perry.  This is just a random sampling – some of my favs.  Being that these guys have been my friends for some time, I have a lot of reception pictures of these two pulling faces at me into the camera which I really REALLY wanted to post on here, but I resisted.  Ha.  Maybe I’m too nice!

So I don’t think I’ve laughed as hard as I did on this shoot in awhile…. and not just because Angie has been a friend of mine since we were about 5…for a lot of reasons…. one is embarrassing for me and since I’m writing this I can refuse details, so we will not go in to it, but sufficeth to say that I wore a white sheet from my car trunk as a toga for the last half of the shoot… The other was while we were wandering through the park we saw a lady in the trees on her knees, real low leaning over digging in the dirt (geo caching maybe?) and her pants were…. less than on… I mean, craaaaccckkk city… like worse than crack city… full butt… haha….   Angie and myself had tears in our eyes…. so in the picture you see of them later, you’ll know why they’re ‘crack’ing up.  Ha!

I always love a good pic of a mom eating her baby!

First, I want to give some advice.  I don’t generally do this, but maybe it will be helpful for future brides out there that may be reading.  If you love the pictures below and would love to have something like this for yourself… DO FORMALS!  This means a photo session in wedding clothes at some time before or just after your wedding when we can go to a location or locations of our choosing at a time we choose.  There are so many reasons – so many.  Some brides object to grooms seeing them in dresses before their wedding days – but I feel there are options around this, and just talk to me about them.  When Reed and Caitlyn and I went out we just were able to relax, laugh, have fun and there was no schedules to adhere to.  There were no guests to return to.  There was no one hovering.  I was able to polish prints for them to display at the wedding.  The time of day we were able to choose had much better lighting than the time they got from the temple.  Picture time didn’t cut into free, alone time these two could have been having on the most special day of their lives.  The biggest reason was having as much time as we needed to get comfortable with the camera and take amazing pictures that reflect these two, but the list goes on, etc. etc. etc.  But the best recommendation I can give, after the wedding day and all the events and schedules you know what Reed said to me?  He said that this session was a great, great decision which he would have made again.   I HAVE had people tell me they wished they had done this, I have NEVER had clients who said they wished they had not.

Okay, but now on to these pics… hot! Right!?  We really had a great time, ESPECIALLY after the freakishly large sodas came into the picture, haha.  We did just the temple location so they were done of the wedding day, and then hit one other location in the valley that was more natural.  I really liked what we got, I thought they were fun and beautiful and the lighting at points so pretty!

Check out those cufflinks!

Alex and Kaylie are back for the wedding!  These two are my “i’m not gunna get married” couple! They’re so nice, so happy, so friendly and beaming on their wedding day.  Their family is so supportive and happy.  This was a real party at their reception, everyone dancing and playing.  So Alex and Kaylie, even though you weren’t going to get married, I think you each found the right person for the job.  Lots of love for the rest of your eternities!

I’m moving along on these posts, but still have tons left to go… which will keep it rolling this September, I’ve had a great down time the last few weeks and have really just been kicking my feet up.

Lisa is a great client in that she takes it seriously and want great pictures, but doesn’t turn into a stresshead!  Jake is great to just come and have fun and lighten the mood cracking jokes.  We spent several hours of our evenings (and of course we all had caffiene with us, which makes me TOTALLY at ease… love my Dr. Pepper!) out shooting and joking around.  I’m looking forward to their wedding this October and Lisa’s bridals… so look forward to those!

I say a lot that I think of a lot of clients as friends by the time their weddings are done. But in this case, we actually were already friends! Maybe this was for good, maybe for bad, I suppose you’ll have to decide! I met Reed like a billion years ago now…. okay like 8-9 maybe? He and his friends introduced me to my future husband. Awww. My husband has known him since High School. Then, about 2+ years ago Reed asked if we’d go on a double date with him -which he normally didn’t do (I think because we embarrassed him and know way too much about him)- but anyway he did, and who did we meet? A girl named Caitlyn. Fortuitous that we could be there when he met the girl he was going to marry as he was there when my husband met the girl he would! We both liked Caitlyn for Reed right away… we crossed our fingers he wouldn’t screw it up! And look!!! He didn’t!!! Go Reed!!! Caitlyn has since managed to hang in there over our constant teasing and hazing and even has learned how to dish it out a little when needed (a good skill for survival around here).  Unfortunately they’re also abandoning ship for Hawaii just as they got cool – hehe- These two will appear on the blog a couple more times so no worries… but for now, enjoy!

Natalie is my contest winner from the beginning of the season. This is another ‘reverse destination’ wedding (for me), as I like to call them, haha. The bride and groom are from Texas and out here to tie the knot and escape the heat! These two love the out of doors, are a lot of fun, and you can just tell they love each other very much. Good luck ya’ll!

If you follow the blog you might recognize these guys.  They were back ‘reunioning’ in Bear Lake and I’d taken their pictures the last time, so they called me again!  Which I love!  This is a bunch of families and a bunch of kids and makes for a big shoot!  At least this time I wasn’t pregnant!  I remember being a little warm being pregnant the last time.  This is obviously just a random assortment… we took SOOOO many!  Enjoy!

Tami and Jeramie’s day was hot as hot, but they were such good sports to run around with me.  They arrived early before the ceremony so we could sneak away for some portraits of just the two of them, which is sometimes hard to sneak away for.  But they did awesome and we got some nice shots!  At this point they’ve been married a minute, but like I said on the day guys, congrats!  May you have an amazing and long life together.