These little dolls are very special to me!  They belong to my beautiful best friend, Heather!  It was a fun and emotional experience being pregnant together, but now it is an entirely new experience watching our little girls grow up alongside one another.  Their big brother, Austin, is very protective over them and loves his little sisters to pieces!  What a perfect family my friend has been blessed with!!  Love you guys!

 

What a sweet, adorable family!  Kristi is my cousin, so obviously you know where they get their good looks :)  I finally had the chance to meet her little ones and they are so cute!  Sammie is as sweet as can be, Dane full of personality and Audrey is a little heartbreaker!  What a fun, busy combination!  Here are some of my favorites from their entertaining session!

 

Michael and Ashley are such a sweet couple!  Their love story began in high school and the time has come to where they will finally be husband and wife!  It is so much fun to look back to those days....  Ashley was my first paid senior session and I can remember her talking about Michael then!  Time sure does fly and so will the next few months before their spring wedding!  I cannot wait to be there to watch and photograph their special day!  Congrats you two!  I hope you love these images as much as I do (yummy light....!!).

 

Ever since Jessica was a little girl, she wanted to be a princess.  So, of course, she always dreamed of a princess wedding in a beautiful castle!  This even became more evident throughout their wedding day, because everyone kept on calling her "Princess"!  I loved it :) 

Aaron and Jessica met several years ago....even moving to Las Vegas together!  I laughed a little to myself when I found out that Aaron's dad lived in Canadian Lakes, MI because in order to use the one and only castle around here for a wedding, you had to have someone who lived in Canadian Lakes reserve the building for you.  That solidified my feelings that they were meant to be together!! 

Jessica found her handsome prince and Aaron finally married his beautiful bride!  It was a beautiful day that they will enjoy looking back on for years to come! 

Here is a little preview of their royal wedding day :)

 

Some more of the fabulous wedding vendors that we were able to work with are:

Ceremony & Reception Venue:  The Castle - Canadian Lakes, MI

Caterer: Mayfair Restaurant

Florist:  DIY

Music & Entertainment:  Pete Sodini

Hair:  Diane Smith

Photographers:  Us :)

By the way....if you were wondering if that was Joe a few photos up dancing with the big glasses....well...yes...that is him.  He decided that he wanted to dance all of a sudden .... I am so proud :)  haha

Mark and Elizabeth are the sweetest couple.  We met out in the national forest at one of my favorite places on a cloudy fall evening.  I always want as much sun light as possible for my photo sessions, so I was a little disappointed when there was none :(  After a little while of shooting, chatting and walking around, the sun popped out for a whole two minutes!  I was so excited that I nearly shrieked out loud!  We shot as many photos as possible in those two minutes.

Baby Chase is expected to arrive in mid - November and his parents are so excited for his arrival!  With his mom's love of etsy.com, I am sure he will have an adorable little nursery.  I cannot wait to meet him in a few weeks!

Good luck Mark and Elizabeth!  I am so happy for you and can't wait to photograph one of your little man's first days!

 

Dave and Shellee's day started off perfectly .... even after the rough night they endured the evening before.  During their wedding rehearsal, Dave became extremely ill, even being rushed to the ER, staying late into the night.  As a testament to their strong relationship, Shellee stayed by his side the entire night....caring for him and preparing to possibly put the day of their dreams on hold along with a honeymoon of a lifetime to Ireland.  With lots of praying, some hoping and a little bit of luck, Dave pulled through and was able to enjoy their amazing day!  And I am so glad for that!

With the talk of Jersey Shore and big hair, Shellee excitedly got ready with her closest friends and family....waiting to see her groom for the first time at the end of that aisle!  While Shellee was finalizing her makeup and slipping into her gorgeous gown, Dave was....as men normally do....goofing around with his friends, taking hilarious photos near the location of their soon to be vows!

After it was all said and done, Dave and Shellee had a beautiful wedding day (with a few interesting twists) that they will be able to remember forever.  Hopefully these photos will help them remember it well!

Here are the vendors who made their day possible:

Ceremony Location - Luther Church of Christ - Luther, MI

Reception Venue - Fox  Hill Event Center - Cadillac, MI

Caterer - Blue Heron Cafe

Cake - Tasty Cakery - Fremont, MI

Florist - Patterson's - Cadillac, MI

Cocktail Hour Music - The Chamber Players

Reception Entertainment - DJ Dean Armstrong

Hair & Makeup - Tracy Kanous of Chaos Spas

Photobooth - Shutterbooth

Photographers - Us :)

 

We are so excited to share some fun and important news with you!  Due to our increasingly busy schedule, we decided to hire a new assistant to help in shooting weddings, blogging and other fun and exciting things!  This awesome person is Terra!  You may remember her from her gorgeous wedding at the Double JJ Ranch that we photographed earlier this spring.....yeah, the one in the pouring rain.....that was her!  She is fun, energetic, a little crazy and full of life!  She also a few ideas good ideas once in a while.....which is another reason that she works with us now :) 

Terra and I go way back!  I don't remember the exact grade of when we met, but it was sometime in elementary school - both wearing big, plastic glasses and all!  Taking photo classes, playing softball and becoming friends throughout the years makes me so excited to re-open a friendship and now co-workership together!!

Starting October 1st, she will be taking Joe's place and shooting her heart out at all of our fabulous weddings!  Have no fear though.....Joe won't be too far away!  He is still a huge part of this company - my support, my business partner, my idea boucer off-er and he will be shooting occasionally with me still!  Although Terra has some big shoes to fill (....seriously...Joe wears like a 13 or something....), we are excited for the change and excited to keep this business moving forward!

And here she is........Terra!!

Here is a little info about Terra - coming from the one who can tell you best.....

Hi there!  I'm Terra and I love to learn.  I picked up my first SLR in 8th grade photography class.  I am pretty sure Kellie and I had class together, but she doesn't seem to remember (it wasn't THAT long ago).  Shortly after that, my step-dad, Steve, helped my sister and I get set up with darkroom equipment in our basement and bought us our first SLRs.  The darkroom was my chance to learn as much as I could about lighting basics and to see how much it effects photographs.  I spent hours and used dozens of film to experiment and understand the settings just to get a few photos with correct exposure and perfect sunlight. 

I didn't know a lot about digital photography back then, but I knew I was really looking forward to the day when I didn't have to spend a small fortune on film and processing chemicals.  A few years ago when my husband, Adam, and I were dating, I mentioned to him that I would like to have a nice DSLR when we have kids so I could catch all of their inherited goofiness.  He had already bought me a pretty good point and shoot for my birthday, but he suggested that we go check out some cameras at the store.  We walked out of Best Buy with an exciting new camera and two lenses.  He is quite the salesman.

Over the years, my post-processing has gone from stop bath and black and white film, to Lightroom and manual white balance.  Through all that time, my goal has always been the same:  get the end result directly from the camera.  Anyone can snap a picture and add a photoshop action.  I want to take photos with true colors and real sun flares.  I want the photos I take to evoke the same emotion next week as they will fifty years from now.  That is why I will never stop learning. 

 

Here are few recent images that Terra has taken during her "shadowing" phase of entering our company.  As you can see, she already has made me a believer of her talent :)

 

Thank you for continuing to support our ever-evolving business!  We hope to meet with all of you in the near future and photograph all of your beautiful faces!  Photographing you and yours in a modern, timeless way is our goal and forever will be!!

 

 

 

Lauren have a fun, vibrant personality.  She is super sweet and all her own!  She loves to ride her horse, Tattoo, so we decided to have him jump in on a few shots!  I love using pets and other props that mean something in a person's life for their photographs....it just adds so much!  Lauren will be graduating from Newaygo High School this spring....and has a bright future ahead of her :)  Thank you for allowing me to photograph you on your senior year, Lauren!

 

This year has been full of brides and grooms that I attended high school with.....and I feel so honored that they chose us to photograph their weddings!  Trina was a year older than me in school, but we grew up playing softball together and her and her twin sister, Mari, were as sweet as could be!  Being both gorgeous, smart and super talented, I knew that Tom was one lucky man!  After spending a little time with them during their engagement session, I knew they had something special and I became so excited to document it with photographs for them!  Their wedding day was spectacular....everything about it was beautiful.  Beautiful church, beautiful bride, beautiful dress, beautiful bridesmaids....ths list goes on and on!!  I loved everything they chose for their wedding day.  Here are some images for you!!

Here is a little wedding day info!

Ceremony location:  St. Mark's Episcopal Church - downtown Grand Rapids, MI

Reception Venue:  Eve at the Bob - downtown Grand Rapids, MI

Caterer:  Gilmore Collection - Grand Rapids, MI

Cake:  Cakes by Michele - Howard City, MI

Florist (bouquets): Barb Sova - Grand Rapids, MI

Florist (centerpieces and favors): Ashley VanLuyn - Rockford, MI

Transportation:  Five Star Sedan & Limousine Service

Music (Ceremony): String Trio with Diane Whittle and Annette Henry

Music (Reception):  Extreme Creative Entertainment

Hair:  Cheveaux - downtown Grand Rapids, MI

Brides Dress:  Casablanca - Becker's Bridal

Bridesmaids Dresses: Bill Lerkoff - Bridal Gallery

Groom & Groomsmen Suits: Michael Kors - Men's Warehouse

Photographers:  Us  :)

 

Jill is such a sweet and fun girl!  She is our final senior rep for 2012 and we are soooo glad to have her :)  During our session we walked around downtown Grand Rapids finding awesome little locations to stop at for a photo.  I have shot downtown several times, so I always try to make each downtown session different than the last....and I am glad to say that I accomplished that here :)

I asked Jill a few questions...and here are her answers:

1 - What is your favorite color?  Purple

2 - If you won a million dollars, what would be the first thing you would do?  Travel the world

3 - What are your plans for after high school?  Go to college

4 - What do you like to do in your spare time?  Bike, run and hang out with my friends and family

5 - What was your favorite part about your photo session?  My favorite part was getting to walk around downtown Grand Rapids and having a good time while taking photos!

If you are interested in 24 free wallets, ask Jill how to get them! 

I loved everything about this session.  Elliott is such a cute lil guy....I have had the opportunity to photograph him since he was in his mommy's belly!  I can't believe that he is already 1 year old now! 

We had a perfect evening for photos....it ended up getting a little chilly, but I always like it that way over the heat!  The sun was amazing....and I couldn't stop using it in the photos!  I hope you enjoy them!!

 

Alex is a super sweet girl, with her long gorgeous curly hair!  We had a beautiful evening for her senior session....walking around finding some of the most interesting spots to shoot.  I had the opportunity to ask Alex a few questions about herself.  Here are her answers:

1 - What is you favorite color?  Blue

2 - Do you have any plans for after high school?  College and hopefully lots of traveling!

3 - What do you like to do in your free time?  Shop, listen to music, read and play video games.

4 - What would your dream job be?  A psychologist that travels the world :)

5 - What was your favorite part about your photo session?  All of the beautiful scenes.

 

Brandon and Sarah are also my brother-in-law and sister-in-law!  Like I said in the previous post, Gideon didn't like Aunt Kellie taking his photo too much either!  The light was so pretty, so I had to take a couple of mom and dad too!!

 

Monique and Joe are my brother-in-law and sister-in-law and their three boys are so cute!  Preston is the oldest.....just starting kindergarten!  Where did that time go?  Ashton and Aiden are the other two cuties who look nothing alike but just happen to be twins!  They are never big fans of Aunt Kellie taking their pics, but we got a few good ones :)     (why are my nieces and nephews always the most difficult for me??)  (little stinkers.....)

 

I just love everything about this session!  The light was divine, the subject was gorgeous and the location was perfect!  All of the ingredients necessary for a very successful shoot!!  Brittny and I had so much fun walking around finding awesome textures and colors to compliment her super cute outfits!  She was completely comfortable with the camera and everything came so naturally for her!  Maybe modeling will be in her future....  :)