Amber & Jeremy’s Engagement Session… It was HOT!

Well, we finally returned to the equipment-stealing Garden of the Gods with the lovely Amber and her charming fiance, Jeremy.  Even though I believe we were technically under a heat advisory, we boldly defied the weather gods and went anyway.  We had rescheduled twice already due to weather so the heat was nothing (well kinda)!

I must say this, and I’ve said it to more than one person regarding this shoot: you know a couple loves each other DEARLY when they can snuggle up in 95 degree humid heat!

The theme of the day was chasing the sun.  We decided to start the shoot at 6:30 since any earlier, it was still in the 90′s.  I think it was in the 90′s until the sun actually went down, anyway.  We started out at the head of the trail where the sun was peeking through the trees and creating a beautiful golden glow on the couple.  Like they needed it…

The sun must have been gotten to Mary.  She started shooting all things pretty, not just Amber.  Here is a photo of a butterfly she found basking in the warmth of magic hour.  This is not the happy couple.  It is a beautiful butterfly, though.

From the trail head, we moved out onto the rocks.  We had fun playing with the light.  The heat was doing some neat things with the sky (or perhaps it was doing neat things with our sanity) so we took advantage of it and put the couple up the highest spot we had found thus far.  Man, I had my light great and guess what happened… no we didn’t lose another camera, thank God, but my batteries died in my flash.  And guess who didn’t remember to bring my spares in the bag… so I darted off like a spritely mountain goat through the boulders to get back to the car quickly and grab spares.  Mary, in the meantime, snagged this beautiful shot.

So I get back and go to replace the batteries and Garden of the Gods stole yet another piece of equipment: a rechargeable battery.  Such a mean park.  This is me attempting to get it.  The rock was too heavy to move.  There’s a free battery to anyone with 5 ft. long arms under a rock in Shawneetown.

However, this is the result of my impromptu adventure back through the treacherous landscape and the sacrifice of a precious battery.  Check out Amber in her sassy boots – she was a natural on the rocks.

 

The day wound down quickly and we had fun playing with the couple and the sun on top of the world.  It was cool to see the sun and moon at the same time.

So with the only casualty of the day being a battery, and the 3 million bugs that checked out my windshield on the way home, I present to you the rest of their photos.  They turned out beautifully!

 

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Wedding 101: Planning the Big Day!

Just Married! Sarah and Jake June 26, 2010

Alright so let’s be honest here: most of us only get married once, and after your sweet fiance has gone to all the trouble of picking out the perfect ring, gotten over the infamous “pre ‘will you’” jitters, dropped to a knee and asked you that question that changes your life forever, all of a sudden you’re a wedding planner. And let me tell you… planning a wedding is hard!

It doesn’t have to be scary, though; there are unlimited resources out there at your disposal. Everyone has an opinion, everyone has tips, tricks, do’s, don’ts… so here are ours! Over the course of the next couple weeks I am going to take you through Joma’s Top Ten tricks for planning the perfect wedding day here in the Tri-State, and introduce you to some of our favorite vendors. Here’s hoping I can keep it organized! Also, I apologize in advance for any tangents, I tend to rant, so, you have been warned!

#1: The Wedding Planner

It seems only fitting that our place to start, then, would be whether or not to hire a wedding planner. For many brides-to-be, hiring one is not necessary: you’ve been keeping trapper keepers filled with clippings and planning details since middle school, you’re the most organized person you know, and you truly, genuinely enjoy making appointments, managing details; your family and friends have already offered to help you every step of the way and to top it all off, you have all the time in the world! If this is not the case, however, we would highly recommend you look into hiring a wedding planner.

Working with a wedding planner can be a huge relief. Many are anxious about incurring the extra cost associated with wedding planners, but know this: these people are experts in their field and are skilled at working with a budget. Whereas most of us will only get married once and this is the only wedding we will ever plan, wedding planners do this every day. Chances are good, also, that as they have pre-established relationships with many of the wedding vendors in your area, they’ll be able to negotiate deals that you would be hard-pressed to settle on your own.

You pay them to handle details you wouldn’t think of on yourself. Their services include things like budget creation, floor plan, design/decor, creating the wedding day itinerary and directing the rehearsal…just to name a few. When you’re working with the right wedding planner, your wedding day will appear seamless to your guests, and only you and your planner will know that that result is from hours of hard work and detailed planning.

MARRIED! Nicki and Ryan April 2, 2011

The best part of it? As soon as you commit to the investment of hiring a wedding coordinator, the wedding day becomes less daunting and you can spend more time focusing on what is really important: marrying your best friend. On the day of the wedding, you don’t have to worry whether or not that cake has been delivered to the reception site or if the caterers can get into the hall. You won’t need to bother with ceremony decorations or telling the DJ where he needs to set up. All those details that would detract from you enjoying your big day are covered, and you can just kick back, say I do, and enjoy this day with your new husband and all the family and friends that have come out to celebrate with you.

Joma’s favorite wedding planner? Planning Forever Events 
Joleigh worked with Saundra Hadley for her wedding back in 2007 and will gladly tell anyone that hiring Saundra was one of the best investments she made for her wedding day. Saundra and her team at planning forever are fun, creative, professional and awesome.

Give them a look, and decide for yourself whether or not a wedding planner is for you!

Did you find this information useful? Share it with your friends on facebook! And keep tuned in,  in our next entry we’ll talk about the DJ, and how to really make that party one to be remembered!

Kiersten & Scott NOT 17 DEGREES OUTSIDE Engagement Shoot! (Memorial Day)

Joleigh’s back and writing blogs again!

I decided to venture out for an entire day without my little guy and it turned out to produce some of our most beautiful engagement photos to date (Pantene Pro-V photographers watch out!) as well as more hazards than any other engagement shoot I’ve been on.

The afternoon started out relatively tame.  We picked up Kiersten and Scott on Evansville’s west side and enjoyed a sunny ride out to Illinois’ Garden of the Gods.  It was armpit hot in Evansville but once we were in the forest and near all the huge rocks and caves, it felt much cooler.  Either that or since it took us an hour to get there, the temperature dropped.  Which would make more sense.

We arrived at Garden of the Gods late afternoon and just started walking down the trails opting to be very careful with our equipment with a ‘hand off and climb’ policy. It was also very hot, which would explain why the one time we neglected the aforementioned policy, the camera strap decided to unbutton its blouse and cool off a bit. Unfortunately…an unclasped strap + gravity equates to a polarizer crushed into the front of a lens, and a dead camera.  We’re smart girls, though.  We had a backup.  So once we stopped crying and buried the dead camera (ok maybe we turned it in to insurance, but it SHOULD have gotten a proper burial – it was a true friend), we were back to business.

We moved from Garden of the Gods to Iron Furnace.  On the way, Mary mentioned, at every field, I’m pretty sure, how great the late afternoon light was and how perfect it would be to shoot there.  We did finally decide on a field and stepped out to get some of the prettiest golden hour shots we’ve done to date.  Mary shot with the zoom while I attempted to run backward bouncing light on the happy couple.  After cautiously avoiding eye contact with any passers by who might happen to own the field, we made haste to the Iron Furnace.

We didn’t actually take any shots at the Iron Furnace but did manage to crash a back-country family reunion of sorts as we shot the couple frolicking downstream from kids clad in nothing but their underwear being chaperoned by their parents who were mostly intoxicated and freely relieving themselves on their cars without worry nor care as to who might see (who indeed – not like there were any cameras around or anything!).  Come to think of it, perhaps letting Kiersten and Scott play DOWNstream was not the best plan… but I’m sure it was fine.

On the way back, we found a stream that was not already occupied and caught another couple sweet moments.  What you don’t see in the pictures is the questionable log I was walking on to get the pictures, or Kiersten insisting on removing any spider’s webs with a stick before she would pose properly.  In her defense, she did take the webs down herself.

Sunset pictures were the last item on the list but the sun was setting.

And FAST.

So we tried to hurry and catch it.  However, back country guard dogs must’ve reckoned we needed stopping so they tried.  And tried.  And after about 5 minutes, 4 dogs, Kiersten with the camera in hand and several attempts at getting ahead of the black lab who insisted on staying in front of my left tire, we managed to peel out on the gravel road and barely outrun the lab.  Joma has a strict no-dog-squishing policy and we’ll be damned if we were going to break that rule.

We also have a no-turtle-crushing policy that Mary was happy to help us stick to (Disclaimer: Mary & I are NOT usually in the photos so, yes, sometimes we look like this).  Crazy turtles.

Okay, so that sunset.  I was driving 75-80 up the highway trying to get out of the hills so we could actually see the sun!  We did note the white car that I was quickly catching up to somewhat resembled a police car.  I decided, once we found the sun, that it was likely a good time to pull off.   The sunset pictures were beautiful – nothing like a southern Indiana… or southern Illinois sunset to top off an engagement shoot.

So we were finally on our way home and guess what we caught in addition to the sunset…

Luckily, I just got a warning.  Worth it!  Enjoy the rest of their photos!

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Oh GEEZ when did 2011 happen??

Okay, so apparently we need some updates. Holy crap it’s only been about a month and a half since we last posted but SO much has happened in that span, I couldn’t even attempt to squeeze it all into one… so here goes nothing. I’m going to try and post like… 15 updates in the next hour! Wish me luck

-Mary

Stepping back in time to shoot Lauren & Drew’s EG session

So Mary has been updating the blog for us lately… and I figured I should probably do it once in a great while so that you know I’m still here (35 weeks pregnant, but still here!).

We spent the first half of our brother’s birthday (before the surprise party… watch for another blog post on this one… yayy for sisters) at Seven Hills Stables up near Daylight, IN.  We arrived in style – drove around the wrong part of the farm, rustled up a couple chickens and finally found our happy couple.  Lauren and Drew are a gorgeous couple and we really weren’t sure what to expect since we hadn’t yet met Drew.  I don’t assume anything, anymore.  Well here’s what we drove up to: Drew wielding a bottle of soap and Lauren with a wet towel hovering over Lola, their adorable beagle.  Why you might ask?  Because Lola did what hounds instinctively do.  She found some horse leftovers and rolled around in them!  Emma and Grayson, their weimaraners, were happily running around the property while Lauren and Drew demonstrated their ability to work through problems with grace as a couple.  We’re so not worried about these guys.

 

After they got Lola cleaned up enough for pictures (believe me, we were all thankful!) we got the little family together down by the lake for a few shots.  The dogs were really well behaved which was a relief because again, you never know what you’re going to get when you throw animals and children into the mix!  They were super sweet and we managed to snap a couple shots where EVERYONE was looking!

Once the dogs were back in the car, we explored the property and took a few pictures in and around the small church, school house and other buildings that they have out there.  The property by the lake resembles a little colonial village almost, so it was really neat to get to see the insides of all the buildings.  I especially liked the bar (which looks like it is probably still functional). 

Between the dogs, the horses, wind and wet grass, we really got to see what troopers these two are.  We got some great shots and can’t wait until we shoot their wedding in October!  Here’s a few more sneak peeks – enjoy!

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Yeah, we rocked out the 4H Ultimate Wedding Expo!

This past Sunday, January 23rd. The Vanderburgh 4H Center held their 5th annual Ultimate Wedding Expo – and we were there, and we had a blast! What was so cool about this show was the fact that we had the opportunity to get some actual stage time – Joleigh, Danny and myself hopped up on stage for about half an hour and hosted ‘Trash the Dress Bingo”, which drew a huge crowd, and we gave away over $2,000 worth of prizes! We’re so looking forward to this upcoming year – between this and the Courier & Press Wedding & Prom Showcase, we’ve given away FOUR Trash the Dress sessions* this year. We’re really, really looking forward to seeing what kind of awesome ideas our winners come up with.

As usual, the Joma Music services team joined us at the 4H event and provided their excellent dinner music per request. They were a HUGE hit! We always love the opportunity to work side by side with the folks, and want to remind anyone thinking about booking us for their wedding this year or next (You wouldn’t believe how many people are already booking into 2012!) to check them out as well, as we offer that 10% services discount from both of us.

You’ve just got to love when neat things just fall into place. Abbingtons Bridal from Owensboro, Kentucky happened to have a booth right across from ours and, in true Joma fashion, Joleigh and I just went nuts over the dresses. We ended up pulling aside all of the dress models and doing an impromptu photo shoot showing off the wonderful dresses and accessories they offer. If I wasn’t a photographer, I’d so work at a dress shop. I love playing with them! Here are a couple shots we took, you can see the rest on our facebook page!

We also had the pleasure of being set up right next to Annale’s Twice Chosen, and had to snag one of her girls over as well for a few shots.

This was just totally a fun day all together. We got to see our friends from Bauerhaus Catering, Nikki from Davis Digital Photography was out there, of course Matt from Vickers Photo swung by, we met the guys from Slides of Life (They’re a killer new business in the area specializing in Photo Slideshows of ALL kinds! I checked out some of their work and it’s totally top notch… give ‘em a looksee!) Schnitzelbank Catering took care of the pregnant lady, and too many more to mention them all.

Before I go, though, feast your eyes on this masterpiece from Bauerhaus Catering! I swear it, one of these days when I get married, I’m using this exact cake… it is gorgeous!

One day I shall have this cake... and eat it, too.

A huge thank you to Cindy Accord for hooking us up with this show, we can’t wait for next year’s!

*Mention you read our blog and get half off a trash the dress session when you book your wedding before February 14th! Why the date? Because I like Valentine’s day… that’s why.

Cheers!

Lindsay & Craig Engaged! Purdue! Snow! Turkeys!

Hey look! Two posts in one day! Am I going crazy or what!

This weekend was one full of firsts for Joleigh and me. We got to do our *first* legitimate snow day shoot, we got our first doses of the Greek Life (not to be confused with Joleigh’s trip to Greece in college), and we found a nifty fun way to get back to Evansville from Purdue.

Meet Lindsay and Craig. This couple just hands down cracks me up. They were such a blast! This weekend we road tripped it up to Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN to revisit the place where it all began: college. Craig and Lindsay met while she was on a blind date with his room mate, and apparently, it’s been history from there. It was SO cool to hike around the Purdue campus with them. Made Joleigh and I (who both attended USI) feel like such bumpkins! The entire campus was full of history, legends and superstitions. The tour itself as we rambled from location to location was very, very cool. We learned all about the pillow walk, why you shouldn’t (and Lindsay didn’t!) walk under the tower, about the lion fountain that roared at certain girls as they passed by…

What was really fun about this shoot, was the completely different feel it brought on to the pictures – we love getting to go somewhere that means something so important to a couple. Sure, we can suggest locations, but take us somewhere that is in YOUR element and it shines through in the pictures! Unfortunately, we now have to sit on our hands and wait until NEXT summer to shoot Lindsay and Craig’s wedding, but we are definitely looking forward to it, we know it’s going to be a fun one! Congratulations you two! Check out the rest of their photos here.

Oh! And just in case you wanted to know about the trippy route home. I’m positive we’re not the first ones to make this mistake, but we took 41 pretty much straight down from West Lafayette and ended up driving straight through the heart of Turkey Run State Park in Marshall, Indiana. This place is absolutely GORGEOUS and I will, mark my words, do a trash the dress session there before I die. Joleigh and her husband went up there several years back and did some great hiking, climbed up some iced over creeks, and got some camping in…. I’m going to have to gather up some friends and head up there, a planned road trip is most certainly in order.