A Budding Photographer

Okay, so you'll have to forgive the pun of a title - I couldn't resist. :)

As you may remember, my sister has a photography business called Artistic Avenues. I currently do the marketing for the company, but we have been talking about trying to train me to be a "second shooter" for the weddings she covers.

I have no photography experience, other than enjoying beautiful photos taken by others! My husband has a pretty sweet SLR camera, so I'm trying to learn some of the basics with that. I took these photos of some beautiful flowers my sister bought me...





It's not much, but it's a start! I'm excited about learning how to take beautiful photos. I'll be sure to share the process with you. In the meantime, do you have any photography "how to" sites I should know about?

Family Portrait Time!

My husband and I are blessed with wonderful families. These families also happen to be rather BIG! And we love it that way. Here are a few of our family photos from the wedding:

My mom's family:


My dad's family:



My mother-in-law's family! (And this isn't even CLOSE to being everyone!)

My father-in-law's family:

My husband's family...

Our parents and us...

And my family. But this photo always makes me a bit sad. As you know, my little sister is missing from the photo. It's just not right without her. We are still praying that God will do a miracle.

Here we are with our precious godson, Gavin (who we also happen to be babysitting tonight!)

Our wedding party!

Awwwww.

HOORAY!!! :)

The classic:

And another one of my favorites from the wedding. This photo is currently my desktop background at work. Love it!

Whew! Thank you for letting me introduce my family (and my new family!) to you!

Anyone else out there have big families like me??

Mama Said There Would Be Days Like This...

Today is one of those days I wish I could just crawl back into bed and start over. Ever have one of those?

So to cheer myself up, I thought I'd share a few more wonderful photos with you. Nothing brightens my mood like looking at wedding photos - especially my own! :)

Enjoy!

(All photo credits are to the talented Audrey Snow!)

Patience Has Never Been My Strong Point...

And it seems that I haven't outgrown my impatient trait.

I want more pictures.

My extraordinary, amazing, wonderful photographer told me it would probably be 4-6 weeks until I got my photos. Completely understandable, and far better than many of my friends - some of who didn't get their photos until almost a year after their wedding! (I can't even imagine.)

This Saturday marks 5 weeks. I'm trying to be patient. But I'm so excited to see those photos!!!

Anyone else struggle with impatience when waiting for their pro photos?

Our Five Year Old and My Newest Hobby

My husband and I now have a five year old child.

Suprised?

Well, here is the story - my husband is his nanny. (Or "manny"?)

Let's just say that little five year old has been keeping us pretty busy! We have been watching him since Monday morning, so the past few days have been a bit...unusual for us. In a good way. :) But it does mean that I have slacked on my blogging. My apologies.

The other thing keeping me busy? I have been named as the official "Marketing Director" of Artistic Avenues - Super Crafty Sister's photography business! We have been trying to increase our web presence so you can now find us on Project Wedding, Twitter and Facebook! (We love "friends", "fans" and "followers", so please add us!)

I can use all the help I can get, so please let me know...where and how did you find your wedding photographer?

Super Crafty Sister's Latest Photography

Check out some of the photos from Super Crafty Sister's latest wedding shoot. Beautiful!

Show her some love on her blog at: www.artistic-avenues.com/blog

(And if there are any Tampa Bay brides out there - get on her schedule now! You won't be disappointed!)

Which photo is your favorite? (My favorites are the first two - I absolutely LOVE that one of the bride dancing!)

Bridal Portraits?

Thanks for all your sweet words about my whiny post yesterday. :) We will be fine. I know it.

I have been hearing a lot about bridal portraits around the wedding blogs. I never really thought about having them done, but everytime I walk around the campus where I work, I get the idea in my head.

Why? The campus is BEAUTIFUL. It would be the perfect place for bridal portraits! Just look at how beautiful this architecture is.

And that's only a small taste. I feel like I may have missed my window of opportunity for bridal portraits...unless Super Crafty Sister feels like taking them after my make up trial on Saturday. :)

And no, it's not an option to have wedding portraits here - we will be getting married an hour away. Sigh.

Will you (or did you) do bridal portraits? Why or why not?

Unplanned Beauty

I recently stumbled across these pictures. Stunning, no?

The best part? They didn't plan for it to look this way. The power went out in the church shortly before the wedding They gathered up all of the candles they could find to light the church.

Stunning. Absolutely stunning. See more at Gresham Photography.

More Eye Candy...

...from my fabulous photographer! I'm telling you, I just feel so lucky she will be our photographer! See more here. Enjoy!

Capturing Emotion

I absolutely love when photographers capture emotion on the wedding day. Those glances, those smiles, those tears...

A friend of mine recently sent me the link to a photographer she is considering hiring for her wedding. I began looking through her blog, and ws blown away by the emotion she captured! She is in Charlotte, NC and she has a fabulous blog. Check her out!

In the meantime, here are some of my favorite "emotion" shots from her blog. Enjoy!

(I love the maid of honor's face in the picture above.)