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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I mentioned the other day how crazy my travel schedule is shaping up to be through this month and next. I’ve noticed that I’m doing a lot of Facebook posting and not necessarily blogging, mostly because I can do it quickly (or at least quicker than blogging). Because of that I just realized that I never posted up my Colorado trips on here, but did only did on Facebook. Let this act as a little motivator to like Anna Lynch McClary Photography’s Facebook Page so you’re in the know when I go through these phases. The trips have booked up pretty quickly, my June 9-15 trip only has two morning (we’re talking crack of dawn, during the beautiful morning light right after sunrise) sessions on the 11th and 14th open. My July trip of July 24-Aug 1 only has morning or evening sessions available on the 28th and 30th. If you want in, I recommend not waiting and contacting me through the “Contact ALM” button up above.

Now, this sneak peek was posted up already, on the Facebook Page, where else?! But, I figured that I should share the love over here on the old bloggity blog. Matt and Leslie were my first wedding of the year back in the beginning of May. They had a beautiful outdoor wedding up in Lafayette, Colorado at the Lionsgate Event Center’s Gatehouse. You’ll get more of a story on Matt and Leslie when I do their full post, but for now this will just have to do!

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Jessica, one of my favorite soon-to- be 2010 brides put it best; it takes two weeks to catch up for every week that you’re gone. Well luckily I’ve caught up everything else around here, however the old bloggy blog ranked last on that list. So, now that I’m not just maintaining and I can get to moving forward again I decided to introduce something new. You see, I’ve been meaning to add a few new topics to the blog for quite awhile now. I think that I’ve done a pretty good job of telling my clients’ stories, but sometimes I forget that while you’re all coming here to see my photography, you’re also coming here for me. I mean there are at least a million other photo blogs you could hit up… but they don’t have ME!

I’m also going to try to edit myself a little bit less. The drawback to writing for me is that it gives me too much time to think and analyze. You’d be surprised how long it takes me to write a blog post.  There is the first draft that probably sounds most like me. However, after I finish that I read back through and worry that someone might be offended by something or be completely shocked that I’m not prim and proper. After that comes the third draft, where I continue to remove my personality and become completely vanilla and blah. I like to think that I’m a pretty non-blah person. In fact, I’m quite goofy, I sometimes cuss, I love a little sarcasm, smiley is a nickname that I’ve been given by countless people because laughing and smiling are a huge  part of who I am. You should probably know that I’ve read back through this paragraph at least five times already to make sure that I don’t sound like a complete idiot. Point proven! The progress however is that I haven’t hit the delete key once, and let’s be honest I sometimes sound like an idiot. You should get to know the real me on here.

So, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s move onto the fun and new. A lot of my hometown Sterling, Colorado readers know this already, but growing up my mom owned a children’s clothing store, The Rocking Horse. I spent almost every single day from the time I was five up until I was 16 at that store, so I quite literally grew up around shopping. For this reason I blame my love of shopping on my mother! Let the record show that she hates shopping for the same reason (QVC excluded).

Now for the longest time this love stuck mostly in the realm of clothing. However, when I moved out on my own I realized that there were so many more shopping opportunities. Suddenly my bathroom needed to be shopped for and then (my favorite) my kitchen. Next on my timeline of shopping discoveries was wedding shopping! Oh boy, was that fun! Surprisingly enough though, I had a kind of hard time deciding on something and not questioning it and changing my mind a couple dozen times. Luckily enough though, while I only get to get married once, I get to play a big part in others’ weddings. Sometimes they even ask me for help or suggestions. Those days that I get to peruse Etsy and practice my Google skills to shop, rank very highly in my book. When the, “I shouldn’t be on the internet, I should be working,” guilt kicks in, I can swiftly knock it to the ground because it is work! In order to justify more of those days you’ll be seeing lots of shopping inspired posts.

Don’t worry though, I don’t plan to keep them only wedding related. One of the questions I get asked most often (and sometimes wish would get asked more often) is, “What should I/we wear?” Look for some of my favorite outfits for seniors, children, and families here. You have no idea how excited I am to share with you my finds!

Now, for the first in this series I get to go back to Brandon and Amanda’s Sterling, Colorado wedding. All it takes is looking at Amanda and you can see that she’s current and fashionable. As long as I’ve known her, she’s always dressed incredibly cute, had enviable hair, and just got IT. So of course, I knew that her and Brandon’s wedding would be fashionable and full of details. I usually try to set my shooting schedule for the day of the wedding to start off with 20-30 minutes where I can shoot details. In that time I usually start shooting the bride’s dress, shoes, and everything else. So, I started the day off on a great note after seeing her gorgeous J.Crew dress and the bridesmaids’ stunning White House Black Market dresses. Next, she showed me one of my favorite details in their day. She had this stunning little ceramic bowl for their rings.

Now, I have nothing against tradition, but why not personalize it for yourself. We’ve all seen the traditional ring bearer’s pillow done, this is just so much more personal. I think that sometimes people feel like the traditional wedding is a set of rules to be followed to a “T”. Your wedding day is an incredibly special day for you and your husband. Shouldn’t such an important and personal day be more about you as a couple, your style, who you are, and your relationship than a set of “rules”?

Amanda and Brandon had their bowl engraved with their names, wedding date, and phrase that is quite simply their relationship- FRIENDSHIP ON FIRE. This awesome little touch came from an Etsy seller called Paloma’s Nest who has a store on Etsy and also has her own site.

Here is Amanda and Brandon’s bowl.

Something I should warn you about first, if you aren’t an Etsy regular, you might not realize how addicting and overwhelming it can be all at the same time. Paloma’s Nest also has some other awesome and unique items.

Image courtesy of Paloma's Nest

These are along the same lines of the bowl, but they’re just in the shape of a dove. Birds are an element that are all over the wedding industry right now.

These little bouquet charms are so neat and would be such a perfect keepsake. If you’re looking for the traditional something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, you can fill the new and blue requirement with this.

Image Courtesy Paloma's Nest

You don’t have to have a wedding coming up to love her store. These personalized tiny bowls are such an awesome keepsake for new parents.

Now you see, you just fell down the rabbit hole with me and are enabling my shopping addiction!

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(I realize the alignment is screwy in this post, but for the life of me I can’t get it fixed and didn’t want it to hold up me posting ANOTHER day.)

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I think that continuing to learn is incredibly important in a field like photography that is continually changing. Because of that, I am heading out to the Wedding & Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) convention in Las Vegas this week through Friday. I have big plans to be in classes and scouting out the tradeshow (and having some fun, of course), so I won’t be responding to emails as quickly this week. I’m hoping that after spending a week with 11,000 or so of some of the best photographers in the world, I’ll be back next week refreshed and inspired.

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Just a reminder for everyone that the HUGE canvas sale ends tonight at midnight! If you’re on the fence about a canvas, it is time to jump in. These prices are marked down tons. Not only that, but when you get a canvas you don’t have to worry about another thing. There isn’t a need to take the print to someone and have it framed, it comes ready to hang. Pound that nail into the wall and put it up there!

I have to have your email or order in by midnight tonight if you want in!

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You know those couples that just make sense? They make so much sense that its hard to have a conversation about one one of them without referring to them as a couple. Mike and Rebecca are that couple to an absolute T for for me. I could have talked to Becca that day and told Mitch that, and he’d ask me who Becca was. It was always followed by, “You know, Mike and Becca.” He of course knew who she was, but together they just made sense. Individually they are their own fantastic people, but together they are two seamless puzzle pieces that compliment and finish each other.

Mike and Rebecca had to roll with the punches on this whole wedding planning thing. When they originally booked me, the plan was a fall wedding in the canyons of South Dakota. However, what is meant to be always works itself out, and the South Dakota wedding just wasn’t meant to be. So, a couple months before the wedding they relocated everything to Colorado, more specifically Lionsgate at The Dove House. They totally rolled with the punches and the end result was a beautiful and incredibly personal wedding that was packed with emotion (my favorite).

You may have noticed that Becca is kind of drop dead gorgeous!

Oh yeah, Mike’s pretty easy on the eyes too. Ridiculously good looking and meant to be couple, sounds like one of the Disney movies I grew up on.

Congratulations again Mike and Rebecca, couldn’t be happier for you two!

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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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Going into my first ever destination wedding, as a guest and a photographer, I had some pretty high expectations. I mean when a place is called Dreams, who wouldn’t? Personally, I can say that it was pretty fantastic and held up to all of those expectations. Professionally, I couldn’t say anything less.

In my opinion Bobbie and Ryder had one of the most beautiful weddings I’ve seen. They knew what they wanted and went with that. Their wedding day was enjoyed 100% and never once filled with worries about their officiant, the flowers, or any of the other details that I’ve seen so many get tied down with. When I started shooting that day Bobbie was so relaxed as she sat in the stylist’s chair. She was fresh out of the spa from a massage and didn’t have a thing to worry about, which I think is what most brides hope for at the point in their wedding planning. Meanwhile, upstairs in the the groom’s suite, the guys were joking around, laughing, and throwing back a couple Coors Lights (what else would you expect from Colorado boys?).

The relaxed theme had begun much earlier in the trip and carried through all the way through the ceremony, right to the end of the trip. I have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever gone back home from shooting a wedding 100% more relaxed than when I left. I guess the massages and beach might have helped.

The entire week we spent down there was a testament to the support that Ryder and Bobbie have surrounding them.

When in Rome, right?!

The resort photographers had dibs on Bobbie and Ryder following the ceremony, so we met up a couple mornings later to do a Day After Session.

Congratulations again Ryder and Bobbie!

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