Vintage wedding...

Every little detail for Nick & Erin's wedding was picture perfect!  And while, I did capture those details what stood out to me the most on their wedding day was that the focus was right where it should have been- on the happy couple and the life that they are embarking on.  They were surrounded by loving, supportive family and friends who wanted nothing more than for their day to be as perfectly special as the couple themselves.  The day was about their love for one another, and how that love is going to carry them through the rest of their days.  That is the detail that I love most about weddings and theirs just glowed with it from start to finish.

Most of the formal portraits were done before the ceremony at Nick's parent's farm house.  Everyone looked amazing!

The setting was positively gorgeous with the deep, rich tones of the rolling hills around the farm.

Congratulations!  Thank you for letting me share in the day with you.  I can't wait to show you the rest of your images and the FUN photo booth from the reception.

L + B Engaged...

I had the great pleasure of meeting this adorable couple last weekend at his family dairy farm.  They had made a lot of preparations for their engagement session including the dairy barn, the corn field, soy bean field and hay loft.  It was a lot to fit into one evening before the sun set and we had to watch the skyline for rain showers that were supposed to be passing through.  We were fortunate enough that the weather held off for us and gave us a spectacularly colorful sky line instead.

Congratulations to you and best wishes for your spring wedding in Indiana! 

K & A {engaged}...

I was glued to the weather radar all day on Saturday hoping that the rain would clear before I met this lovely couple for their engagement session downtown.  No such luck!  However, when I touched base with them just before we were scheduled to meet they said that they wanted to embrace it and go ahead with our plans then maybe head to the studio to finish up.  I am so glad that they took that approach because their session was just perfect for them!  The rain did stop so we wandered around a bit to find other interesting spots.  The time we spent really paid off with great images and we were given a wonderful gift when a break in the clouds happened RIGHT at the magic time of day when the light is positively gorgeous.

Their perseverance really stretched me out of my 'safe' zone so that I had to rely on my training to look for the great light when deep down I would preferred to have the good light find me.  This makes me even more excited about their New Years Eve wedding!  I can't wait to see what adventures we'll have that day.

EXCITING NEWS!!!

It is my 5 year anniversary this week!  I can't believe it has gone so quickly.  It really has been the best 'job' I could ever dream of having!  It really hasn't seemed much like work to me because you all make it so much fun!  It is great timing that I just got some wonderful news to share with you.  I was just waiting until I got the official paperwork.

Some of you know that I've been working on achieving my certification in professional photography- Well, I am so pleased to share that I made it!  I am officially a Certified Professional Photographer!!  Didn't know there was such a thing?  Why is it important to you that your photographer is certified?

Certified Professional Photographers is an affiliate of Professional Photographers of America (of which I am also a member).  Their mission is "To acknowledge and validate a consistent standard by which professional photographers can achieve and maintain a recognizable mark of excellence."  I started this journey about 2 years ago with some intense studying followed by even more intense studying with a good friend via Skype.  We would quiz each other weekly on lighting patterns and ratios and equivalent values (yep, there is math in photography- aren't glad that I understand that so you don't have to?)  We took the test on the same day following the Professional Photographers of Iowa convention in 2012 and were shocked that even with all our preparation, the questions still seemed very difficult.  But we both passed!  And that is really saying something because many of our photographer friends (some of whom have gone on to receive their Masters of Photography among other achievements) had to take the written exam more than once and for some, the third time was the charm.  Thank you, my friend, for your encouragement.  I know that without you, I would have waited much longer to take the plunge.

As daunting as the test was, I still had to submit images for critique {YIKES!}.  The images had to consist of 6 compulsory skills- to be sure that I can put into practice what I know in my head- and 9 other images that 9 different clients hired me to create- to be sure that I can create quality, sellable images on a consistent basis.  I have spent the last year collecting images for my submission and a few of them are below.  The images are sent to several Certification Liaisons (other certified photographers) for critique and they all have to approve the collection in order for the photographer to become certified.  There are now 7 Certified Professional Photographers in the Cedar Rapids area, 65 in the state of Iowa, 3% nationwide and I am so happy to be among them.

So why is all that important to you?  When you hire professionals such as contractors, hair stylists, accountants, nurses, doctors, real estate agents, do you hire just anyone or someone who has the credentials that say they know what they are doing?  Life is too beautiful NOT to capture it, to preserve those moments that mean so much.  Those moments that are so short-lived and fleeting.  Those moments that define our lives, shape our families, that are milestones for our children.  Why trust those to just anyone?  They belong in the hands of a trusted, trained professional.

I want to thank you all for that trust over the last 5 years, for helping me to grow and encouraging me to continue on.  It has been an amazing journey!  I've made wonderful friends and shared some incredible moments with really special people and it has been my great pleasure to capture them behind my lens.  I'm looking forward to many more years of 'working' with all of you and meeting lots of new people and capturing so many more of your moments!

And Baby Makes 3

One of the best things about my job are the relationships that I get to build with my clients.  I first met Amber and Matt when they were planning their wedding.  They chose me to photograph their engagement and wedding day a couple of years ago {and we had a ton of fun doing both!}  Recently, they came back in to capture their pre-baby joy.  They still remembered all the posing rules, followed my crazy hand signals and again we fell right into our easy conversation (I think we talked after the session for longer than we actually made photos).  I am so blessed to have shared all these special moments with them and I cannot wait to share even more as their family grows!

Love is in the air...

I am so happy that Winter is finally at rest and Spring has taken over!  That means that I get to be working outside so much more and that Engagement, Wedding and Senior season has begun!  

{Hooray!} 

What better way to kick it all off than with this adorably sweet couple?!  Erin & Nick will be getting married in the fall.  They love the outdoors and camping so it was very fitting that I met them at a campsite on one of their camping weekends for their engagement session.  They even renovated this fun retro camper for their little weekend excursions:

We really could not have wished for better weather than we were blessed with either... although it would have been nice if sunset had lasted just wee bit longer so we had more of this yummy light.  

I am SO very excited for your wedding in the fall and I cannot wait to meet with you next week to show more of your images- you two are just WAY too cute!

A beautiful day for a beautiful wedding...

We have not had a very springy spring so far this year.  And I'm not gonna lie, I've been feeling a bit disgruntled about it.  However, Mother Nature did redeem herself a bit on Saturday by granting sunshine and somewhat warmer temperatures for Megan & Bruce's wedding.  I couldn't have been happier that we were able to stick to the plan by heading down town in Vinton for some of the wedding party portraits.

The flower girl was just the sweetest!

The ceremony tugged at the heart strings and the celebration afterward was shared with loving family and wonderful friends.

{M+B} Engaged

I love Pinterest!  It is just packed full of inspiration for pretty much anything.  This bride-to-be is also a big fan and came to their engagement session with lots of Pinspired ideas that she had customized for her and her groom.  Megan wanted their engagement session to tell some of the story of their courtship while Bruce served our country in Afghanistan.  She brought love letters that they had written to each other during that time and I loved watching her open some up and spread them out for some detail shots.  She got nostalgic, remembering the words on the pages as well as the emotion behind them.  For me, it was a great reminder of not only the sacrifice made by our military personnel, but of the ones who wait for them to come home.  To all of our service people and their families, thank you from the bottom of my heart!  God bless you all.

Ok, so here is what you're all waiting for!  Megan & Bruce, engaged:

They are such a fun, adorable couple who are so very much in love.  I cannot wait until April to share your big day with you!

Shot Gun Wedding...

Literally, Elise & Kyle brought shot guns for their wedding portraits!  I get to meet a lot of incredible people when I work weddings- these love birds were certainly not an exception!  They were so fun, so happy, and the couple so ready to take this step.  There was no stress or jitters that I could see, just so much joy and adoration.

See?  Fun!

Not only do I get to see the love between two people, but also in all the people they surround themselves with.  Elise and Kyle are very blessed with family and friends who whole heartedly came to celebrate their union with them.

Well, except maybe the kissing parts...

Congratulations!  I really enjoyed spending the day with you and your wonderful families!

Wedding in the country...

It is always a pleasure and an honor to share in a wedding day.  To say that spending the afternoon with Breann, Chris and their families was a pleasure just doesn't even begin to describe the experience for me!  They were all just so amazing, so happy and so fun!  There were lots of laughs and sincere tender moments.  So here they are:

Chris & Breann

Together with their families:

United in love:

Congratulations!

Love, Sweet Love...

Each wedding is as unique as the couples who plan them.  Having two weddings this past weekend, I realized that my approach to each wedding is a little different as well.  I always go in with a plan, I would be lost without my clip board of notes, names and shot lists!  But this particular wedding felt a little more spontaneous or organic when it came to making the portraits.  Don't get me wrong, the list was still there, somewhere on the sidelines if we needed it but there was just a natural flow that felt amazing.  The hardest part of the day was making sure the bride and groom didn't see each other before the big moment.

I know the groom's family pretty well, having taken his senior pictures, and family and engagement portraits last fall (and his dad has spent the better part of May working on my kitchen remodel as our couldn't-do-without contractor!)  They are full of personality and lots and lots of laughter and love!  I think that knowing them the way that I do, really made this day all the more enjoyable for me and I am so honored that they allowed me to be the one to document their day!

The groom and his brothers and sister...

Congratulations Kheyton & Michael!

Dubuque Wedding

It seems like I've been talking with this bride about her wedding forever, I can't believe it is over and I'm sitting here retouching images!  We went over every detail to be sure that all of it would be captured in their album- and each and every one was absolutely PERFECT!

The ceremony and reception were held at the Grand River Center in Dubuque IA.  The river front was captivating and the perfect setting for their portraits.  We did get some rain, which altered our plans slightly but it certainly didn't detract from the beauty of the day, which was almost as stunning as the bride...

One of my favorite parts of a wedding day is when the bride and groom see each other for the first time.  This couple wanted to focus on the portraits before the ceremony so they had their first glimpse outside the reception hall before their guests started to arrive.

I am just so completely in love with all the images that it took me all day to decide which ones to share!  I can't wait to reveal the rest of the images to the couple in a few weeks.