This past Saturday Stacey and Ryan were married out at Riverview Golf Course in Sterling, Colorado. While we were walking around doing their portraits we started talking and one of the things that came up was why I do serious shots and not just smiling. Don’t get me wrong, there are always tons of smiling shots! The way that I look at it though are that photos capture who you are. As most people walk around, they don’t always have a smile on their face. When you snuggle in and hug your husband/boyfriend/fiance/wife/girlfriend it isn’t always with a big grin. In fact, the really good moments are usually those ones that really knock the wind out of you, make you close your eyes, just feel, and remember how lucky you are. For that reason, it’s really important to me to get not just the smiles.

There is always an exception though! I’d like to introduce you to Stacey. She doesn’t just smile, I’d say 90% of the time if she cracks a grin, she isn’t just going to show you some teeth, she’ll throw her head back and let out a laugh. And that, well that’s more infectious than you can imagine. My favorite image from their wedding so far isn’t perfect. The wind had kicked up and taken Stacey’s beautiful hair across her face. It didn’t matter though, because she had the most sincere smile full of laughter. Ryan had his arms wrapped around her and the laughter had completely taken him over as well. All that you can see in it is their happiness.

In my book, there is just nothing better than the first dance.

I’ve known Stacey and her family for many, many years. That made the usual lump in my throat during the father daughter dance even bigger.

Last, but not least, I love, love, loved Stacey’s bouquet (and the bridesmaids’). Secret Garden Designs were responsible for the beautiful florals.

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Oh boy, I think that my maid needs to be fired after seeing all of the dust collecting around here! As you can probably guess, the wedding season and traveling combined have kind of kicked my butt. I’ve still been pretty good about getting images up on the Anna Lynch McClary Photography Facebook Page though. The ironic part is that I’m poking my head in here just to let everyone know that I’m jumping on another airplane tomorrow and will be out of reach for a few days. The next couple of weeks I get to travel to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Colorado, and even make a stop in Nebraska for weddings and senior sessions. I’m going to miss my bed and my kitties, but it should be a good time filled with lots of great photo opps.

Oh, and when I return, I vow to be a better blogger. To show my seriousness, here is one image from each of the sessions that I shared on Facebook today.

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Over the past month wedding season has kicked in and a crazy schedule has kicked off. Somehow this year, my wedding schedule is split exactly in  half. With May, June and July mostly back west and August, September, and October mostly in Indiana. So, if you’re ever looking for me, your best bet is probably either Fort Wayne Internationl, Denver International, or on a plane. During last week’s trip back I squeezed in a Friday night engagement session with Bri and Braden.

You might say that I jinxed the day when I tweeted how beautiful it was the morning. It was absolutely gorgeous that afternoon, too. Then, about 15 minutes before our session was supposed to start a nice 30 mph wind kicked in. We took cover as much as we could, but I could not deny one of the locations that I scouted out. So they both totally bucked up and probably braced themselves for each gust. Not only did we have the wind to deal with, but because I had so much fun downtown, we were running out of light quicker than I could shoot. Here’s just a few sneak peek shots, but you’ll be seeing the full post soon and come the end of July their wedding images.

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Maybe you’ve noticed, but a lot of my posts from Northeast Colorado include some kind of wind talk. There’s a reason for that, a day that the wind doesn’t blow out there is a rarity. If it were that beautiful nicely wind blown look, I could totally roll with it. But no, this is usually more like a hurricane force, dust in your eyes, and grab onto something sturdy kind of wind. I thought that I had Mother Nature pencil in my session with Alexa in plenty of time. Unfortunately she must be more of a 60 days notice kind of gal because Alexa didn’t get a break. She rolled with the punches though and we were luckily able to find a little shelter or at least a wind break or two to minimize the effects.

This post was pretty appropriately timed as we finally just got the last of her prints and grad cards safely to her yesterday. If only you knew the effort it took to get them from point A to point B (curse you FedEx). I still can’t get over the fact that this school year is almost over and that its time to start shooting the Class of 2011. By the way, I have a few schools that I’m still looking for senior reps from (you get TWO sessions and all kinds of incentives), so shoot me an email if you’re outgoing and interested at anna@annalynchmcclary.com.

I really want to post up all of the custom grad cards that I’ve been working on, but don’t want to ruin the fun and surprise for them. So, you just get a little peek at Alexa’s. Once they get these mailed out I’ll post up all of them. I custom design a card for every senior based on their personality and style.

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Three posts in one week is nothing to some bloggers. However, to this one, who is trying to get back on the blogging horse, three posts in one week is a rather fantastic moment for me. So, to keep this streak alive I’m going to have to post up one without a lot of back story. The images are always better than my words anyhow. Let’s suffice it to say that Sarah is one of my awesome seniors from Sterling. I asked her more than once during the session where she got whatever cute accessory or shirt she had on. Her family came along on the session and they had scouted out some great locations!

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I’ve finally figured out why I let myself get so behind on blogging images. It has major perks… well sort of. So, maybe it has more like one perk. You see Heather and Freddy have long since been married, but hey I couldn’t just ignore their engagement session. That perk I was talking about, well getting to show off one of the cool products they picked out to show off these photographs.

Last year was the first year that I offered guest books to my clients. While it is a no brainer product for wedding guest books, it doesn’t stop there. Seniors, these are perfect for your graduation receptions, moms to be could use the images from your maternity sessions for your guest book at your baby shower and even in those first weeks as your new baby’s first visitors stop by.

Now, I think I’ve already held these pictures up long enough, so without further ado…

You may notice a theme…

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I should probably start this post off by saying that the search party can finally be called off. Let this post be proof that I am still alive and kicking. The holiday season this year just had to be prioritized over my blog for a little bit. Luckily, just in time for Christmas break I am back!

I couldn’t really think of a better way to kick off my return tour than to get to brag up one of my couples and show proof of their awesomeness. About a month ago I received an email from Amanda asking if it would be okay to post a wedding image on J.Crew’s website. Her dress was from J.Crew (absolutely stunning by the way) and throughout her planning process she kept in touch with one of the ladies who had helped her through the ordering process. So, of course I said to run with it, and I have to say it is pretty cool to see one of my images up on a national site, and even more up on a site that I might have a bit of an addiction to.

To check out The J.Crew Wedding Album click here. Their image is in the bottom right portion of the page and you’ll be able to see the ALM logo to pick it out.

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I can safely say that I never thought that I’d be reaching back to memories from my senior homecoming for this blog. However, that’s pretty much where I remember this one starting. We were on one of our many long bus rides headed to a softball game. Us softball girls knew how to make those never ending rides fun though. As hard as it is to believe, talk of boys didn’t really dominate our conversation. This one day however, the hot topic was who everyone was going to the homecoming dance with.

The conversation had almost worked its way around the bus when someone volunteered that Amanda was being awfully quiet (if I remember right this was probably Katie), which was pretty rare. She eventually volunteered that there was this one guy she thought was cute, but she wasn’t sure if she was going to ask him to homecoming. At that point I think she really thought she was going to get away with not telling us a name. I can promise you that it never crossed any of our minds to let that happen though.

After a little prodding she volunteered a little more information and admitted that he was a freshman and finally threw Brandon’s name out there. In her head I think she expected all of our jaws to drop and talk her out of doing any such thing. Instead we did just the opposite and wholeheartedly endorsed him as the best candidate for her homecoming date.

At the wedding, Brandon’s best man, Tommy gave a speech essentially giving the he said version of this. It was hilarious to hear the shock that any senior girl, much less Amanda would want anything to do with a freshman guy. I think they probably had the jaw dropping reactions that Amanda expected out of us.

Eight years later it was astounding to see how beautifully their relationship had grown and completely changed and stayed the same, all at the same time.

They chose to see each other before the ceremony. These first sight images are always my favorites because they are just so honest.

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I think we’re all guilty of saying, “When this ___________ happens, I’ll be happy.” I can go way back with the phrases that I have forced into that blank; when this guy likes me, when I graduate high school, when this semester is over, when we get married, when I move out of here, when we move back to Colorado, or any of the other million phrases. There came a point this year though, that it stopped. I don’t have any idea what happened or why, but I clearly remember one road trip by myself that I just couldn’t believe how happy and lucky I am. It has stuck since that moment. Sure, there are things I’d love to change and things I wish could happen. However, the big things that truly matter, I already have. There is no point in wishing time away, because no matter what this is my life and even when it is hard, it is still good.

I have a job that pulls me into some of the best moments in people’s lives. I can’t tell you how many weddings I find myself with a lump crawling up in my throat or how many days I sit at my computer editing and get choked up. One of the best parts of this however, is that I get to shoot back around my hometown of Sterling, Colorado quite a bit. That means that so many of these couples were my friends back when we were all still trying to fill in that blank. As I sat editing through Amanda and Brandon’s pictures I couldn’t help but just smile. It was very clear that they were simply happy.

We started out their wedding weekend at the rehearsal with their families. Check back tomorrow for wedding images.

Brandon, Amanda, and their beautiful little girl Addison.

Addison led the dinner blessing and definitely rocked it!

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A few months ago as Amanda worked away on planning her and Brandon’s wedding, she wrote me an email that they were thinking about doing the reception in her parent’s backyard, but wasn’t sure about it yet. As soon as she suggested it, it didn’t seem like there could have been a more fitting location for them.

You see, I’ve known Amanda for a long time. As I thought back on our friendship, I couldn’t help but remember all of the memories that took place at her parent’s house. One year, most of our class gathered out there to put together our homecoming float. Numerous times from high school, and even into college we had team dinners at their home. I even (somehow) remember one crazy college birthday party. One of the more recent, and very special memories was having her baby shower there.

Considering all of these memories that I have there, I can only imagine the millions of things that come to Amanda and Brandon’s mind when they think of this special place. They now can add their wedding reception to that list. It couldn’t have been a more perfect night for these two to celebrate with their closest friends and family.

If you want to be notified when Brandon and Amanda’s images are available for viewing email iwanttosee@annalynchmcclary.com.

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