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.

-alm

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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!

-alm

(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.

-alm

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