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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Now how many weddings have I shot like that? None! Was my own wedding like that? Nope! It doesn’t matter though, because it seems like many couples relate that moment and drama to what their wedding should be. That first sight moment is exactly what so many women have in their head, and from my experience just as many guys (maybe minus the tear for all of the too tough to cry guys). In recent years it’s become pretty commonplace for couples to have that first sight moment before the ceremony so that they can do all of their portraits before, and then after the ceremony all they have to do is hit their reception, mix, mingle, and party. At the same time, I’ve noticed recently a lot of my couples have gone back to the traditional route of not seeing each other until those big symbolic doors swing open.

So, which way is better? Which one do I prefer you to do? I wouldn’t say there is a better way. A lot of it is just going to be completely personal and what you and your soon-to-be husband/wife decide on. If you take the emotion out of it though, and look at it from a strictly photo perspective there is sometimes a better decision though. If you’re getting married in the middle of the summer, have a 5 p.m. ceremony, then consider this. The best light is always as close as you can get to sunrise and sunset. Maybe we would do all of the bridal party shots before the ceremony and save just you two for after to get that beautiful light (or at least not midday ugly light) while your guests enjoy a cocktail hour or travel to the reception location. Then again, if you’re getting married at sunset or in winter in the afternoon, I’d probably say to seriously consider a first sight before the ceremony, at least if I’m your photographer. You see, I’m a natural light photographer. That doesn’t mean I can’t use lighting or won’t, but it means that my style, the same style that you see on my website and in my albums, is done 90% with natural light. If you want that style, and I sure hope you do if you’re booking me, just consider that. So, which one do I prefer? I prefer pretty light, wherever that may fall in your day.

All that said though, I will NEVER, I repeat, NEVER tell you that you need to see each other before the ceremony or that you shouldn’t see each other before the ceremony. I will probably tell you when the light will be best, but you can use that information or ignore it. What’s most important is that it’s your decision!

My personal experience, the moment that is most burnt into my memory from our wedding day was my church doors swinging open moment. I will never forget riding out to our ceremony location, my stomach full of butterflies, sitting next to my dad, and then seeing Mitch at the end of the aisle. I was a mixture of tears and big goofy grin for the whole ceremony. The funny part, we had spent hours together that afternoon (we gave our photographers plenty of time before, because photos were what was important to us), and had just seen each other 10 minutes before the ceremony. It didn’t change the meaning or emotion behind that moment one bit though.

As usual, every post is better with pictures. So, here are couple from Kendra and Regan’s first sight.

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When I first met with Ricky and Natalie and they brought up that they’re both huge baseball fans and would love to do their session at a ballpark, I immediately saw 7’s line up and heard the victorious sounds of a slot machine ringing jackpot! It isn’t exactly a secret that Mitch works in baseball and that I love it. To say that it’s a way of life for us, might be a drastic understatement. Being the photo nerd that I am, whenever I’d be down at the field I’d see different spots and think that gosh someday I’d love to have a session of us done down here, and do this, and go here, and do that. So, having a couple that feels the same way and that I can give that to was pretty spectacular.

By the way, this ended up being a two day session. However, it wasn’t planned out that way. We had been trying to nail down a date for a couple of months, but between Ricky’s travel schedule for work, my crazy wedding schedule, and needing an open night at the field, we just couldn’t seem to get together. There was finally a Friday towards the end of June where we thought we had it! Ricky and Natalie drove up to Fort Wayne from Indianapolis, we had been shooting for maybe a half hour when the skies turned black, the wind kicked up, and the tornado sirens even went off. Being married to a groundskeeper, I know how to obsessively check the weather. I have probably five different weather sites bookmarked. All day Friday I was continually refreshing those pages and crossing my fingers. With those two driving a couple hours for our session, I most definitely didn’t want them to come up only to get rained out. Wouldn’t you know that all day the radar and hourly predictions were completely clear of anything but clouds. However, when the humidity is as ridiculously high as it was storms will literally just pop up out of nowhere.

So, there we were in Mitch’s shop (the closest place we could get for protection) trying to make a new game plan. I completely figured, and understood that what we had gotten would probably be all we would get. I was bummed. Here was this awesome couple that I could finally share all of my baseball field photo plans with, and it was over before it began. At least that’s what I thought, and then Natalie and Ricky totally surprised me by saying that they’d drive up the next night to finish the session, no problem. If I were the type to do cartwheels, I would have been doing them all over the field in the rain.

Their Saturday evening drive was well worth it. We had a beautiful evening, beautiful light, and thanks to it being the weekend before the Midwest League All Star Game, Mitch had the field looking especially spectacular and we even got to use the LED boards thanks to video guru Allan working late to complete his to do list.

Oh yeah, they’re pretty awesome too! I can’t tell you how many of these shots I didn’t prompt at all!

See those skies? Yeah, about this time I was praying that it was all bark and no bite.

About 10 seconds after this shot we started a sprint to Mitch’s shop where we all ate lots of dirt thanks to the fab wind.

Oh, and one last exciting little tid-bit about the awesome Natalie and Ricky. Their engagement session was recently featured on Project Bride.

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By the way, if you didn’t see my message on Facebook this morning, I’m ridiculously behind on emails. Once we find a place in Omaha this weekend, I’ll get to replying!

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I’m always amazed at just how small of a world it is. When we moved out to Indiana it seemed like I was constantly running into Colorado connections. Most of those connections were more of a general Colorado thing though. When Allison’s mom emailed me and told me that they used to live in Greeley, and knew that the UNC I graduated from was Northern Colorado and not North Carolina I had to laugh. It got even crazier though as we were talking and it sounds like they lived pretty much down the street from where one of my aunts and uncles live. Oh, and their dogs name is Greeley… we were meant to find each other!

I’m so glad that we did too. Besides the uncomfortable weather, I had such a great time with Allison. She is a perfect example of why I love seniors. When I’d ask her to do something, not only did she do it, but she gave it 100% and never asked why or even thought that I was crazy! Oh, and one last thing, not only is Allison drop dead beautiful but she also has a style that I envied the whole session. I feel like I should refer any seniors who are wondering what to wear to her! Heck, I feel like I should give her a call next time I go shopping!

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I’ve already been in contact with my Indiana couples and they all know that I am still going to be there for their weddings. I’ll even have time to squeeze in one or two sessions during those trips back. I’m still working hard and slaving away to get editing done on the sessions and weddings that I’ve recently done. Having to get packed up, tie up loose ends, find a new place, and arrange a move in less than two weeks has slowed me down some though.

The happy and sad of it is that of course we’re excited to be back within driving distance of Colorado and so many of our friends and family. We’ve both also always loved the Omaha area. However, as you can imagine we’ve made a lot of great friends during our time in Indiana, though who will be really hard to leave.

I will still be open to travel back for new weddings or portraits, however understandably there will be a travel fee now. If I can ask one favor it’s that you all please come pack up my apartment please pass my name along to any friends or family that you may have in the Omaha area.

Also, we’re hoping to find somewhere to live down around the Papillion /Bellevue / Springfield area so if anyone has any suggestions for us as far as where to look we’d love to hear them. So far we’re having a little bit of a hard time finding something on such short notice. Figured it didn’t hurt throwing that one out into the interwebs and hoping someone hears it!

Because everything is better with a photo, here is the beautiful Parkview Field that we’re leaving. This image was from the Midwest League All Star Game back in June.

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In the meantime, check out two of my awesome couples who were recently featured on Colorado Wedding Style . Jesson and Nicole’s post can be found here and Mike and Rebecca’s is here. Let’s be honest though, you’re probably going to get caught up in all of the awesomeness that is the whole Colorado Wedding Style blog, so just check out the whole thing.

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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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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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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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