Katie Trashed Her Dress!

I know that lot's of you will be horrified about what you are about to see, but we had so much fun.  Kate has been wanting to trash her dress for a long time and we've discussed several of ideas of how we could do it.  Joy came up with idea of going to Peavine Falls at Oak Mountain State Park which is right in our neighborhood.

It's been pretty cold lately, but we were blessed with a beautiful day.  Even though it was a fairly warm day, the water was still really cold.  But Katie and John were troopers.  She had as much fun as I did!  It's not everyday that I get to go swimming with pretty girl in a wedding dress.

Katie, you were gorgeous and a lot of fun!  Let's do it again soon.

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Peek behind the scenes of dress trashing

hen we trashed Katie's dress, John and Angela of Main Street Productions came along to video the event.  They had never hiked to the falls before and I had not done it with lots and lots of gear. Usually it's just me and my dog, Sophie, and one small camera.  I didn't realize either how deep the water at the base of the falls was.  During the summer it's usually on about knee deep.  But, it's a different story with all the rain we've had lately as you can see by how high the water is on John as he videos our couple.

Also, take note of the two cute camera babes we took with us.  Did I mention we are married to them?

In the woods behind my house

Hallie, Charlie (two of my grandchildren) and I took a little walk in the woods behind my house last week and found the coolest thing.  There is this old machine back there that has been in disuse so long that the trees have grown up all around through it.  It took a while to figure out what it was, but it seems to be an old, homemade, merry-go-round.  Our neighborhood is located on what used to be an old farm, and the property adjoining mine is still owned by the original family.  This old machine is actually on their land.

It's obviously been a long time since any children had the joy of riding it, but I bet is was great fun way back then.  And it's easy to conjure of images of children screaming with joy as they whirled around in the field.

Now, it's just a bunch of rusting metal, standing silent and unable to move even if we wanted it to because the trees have grown up amongst its arms.

Something really neat to find, right?   

All these photos were made with my little Canon G11 - have I mentioned that I love that camera?

Before the wedding Kerri came to the studio

Before Kerri and Chris got married, Kerrie let me photograph her in her wedding gown.  Naturally, I had to keep the photos secret until the wedding.  We'll here a few of them.  Isn't she beautiful?  I'm just a sucker for redheads.

Kerri and Chris got married.

t's always hard picking just a few pictures of a wedding to show on the blog.  Kerri and Chris were so much in love and so photogenic they made it even more difficult.  Here are a few of the big day.  I believe their wedding video/slideshow is one of the best we've made so far.

Beautiful girls, a beautiful room and great light.

In the earlier post you see that we spent our afternoon at a Anderson Gail Farms. The light in the library was so beautiful and the owner's daughter and niece were willing models.  I just had to make a few portraits.  Aren't they beautiful? 

I just love these girls

We spent our afternoon at a wedding venue near Birmingham called Anderson Gail Farms.  It's a beautiful house that looks as if it were built in the middle 1800s even though it was built just a few years back.  My friend, Colleen from Bella Couture was also there with a couple of models dressed in her wedding gowns.  The two girls are friends of ours and I just love taking pictures of them.  Kaitlynd and Abby are beautiful young women, both way too young to be married, but are so cute they make great models.  I know both of their dads and I'm sure it's difficult for them to see their little girls in wedding gowns.
 

Kaitlynd

As I mentioned in my last entry, I love my job.  I get to make photos of really pretty young women on the best day of their lives.  And sometimes I get to hang out with the young women who model wedding dresses at bridal shows.

It just so happens that our studio in next door to Bella Couture, a high-end bridal shop.  Sometimes when they need models we call some of our friends who usually jump at the chance to wear some beautiful wedding gowns.  In the previous post, Abby and Rachel were a couple of our friends who modeled at the Wynfrey Bridal Market.

This Sunday we will be with Bella Couture at Anderson Gail Farm's open house and have asked another friend, Kaitlynd, to help model.  Kaitlynd's family and ours have been friends for some time.  Her dad was once my pastor.  She came by today to pick out her dress I and took advantage of the opportunity to make a few photos.  She looks great doesn't she?

I love my job!

We spent our day yesterday meeting some very nice brides-to-be at the Perfect Wedding Guide's bridal market, hosted at the Wynfrey Hotel.  I always have a great time getting to talk to young ladies about their wedding plans how I might be able to help make the day perfect.

Another fun part of the day was the fashion show.  Bella Couture, the bridal shop which is located right next door to our studio in Mt Laurel showed several of their dresses. Because we're neighbors, we've gotten to know Colleen, the owner quite well.  In fact a couple of the models in the photo below are friends of ours that we recruited to help Bella Couture out at the show.  Naturally, I get to make photos of these gorgeous ladies while they are all dressed up and looking great.  Life is really good sometimes.

A big thanks is in order to Jennifer Gowers at GoPro Event Solutions for putting the whole thing together.  Ya'll did a superb job!

Very direct marketing

I was in town today and saw this van and just fell in love with this guys marketing concept.  It's direct, it's simple and leaves no doubt about what he can do for me.  What a great lesson for me to learn.