You Don't Have to Trash Your Dress!

 

Even though I still want to do a super fun Trash the Dress session (where we just completely destroy your wedding dress for the sake of amazing pictures) with someone, you don't have to trash your dress to wear it again.  You can be an Anniversary Bride!!  I have recently done two sessions where the wedding dress was donned and photos were taken as an anniversary gift for the hubby (and parents, too!).  I think this is just such a fun idea.  First, you get to feel good about yourself that you can still fit into your dress (and if you can't I can make it look like you do!), and secondly, if there were any shots you missed at your wedding, we can stage anything you want!  There's also a bit of a supermodel aspect to the whole thing.  How often do you get to walk around in probably the most formal dress you will ever wear with paparazzi (me) following you?  Total diva moment.

 

I have just never really "gotten" any of the great ideas for things to do with your wedding dress after the wedding, except pictures (because those are awesome, clearly).  About ten years ago, everyone had their preserved in the acid free cardboard-ish box where the bodice showed throw a clear cellophane window in the front, remember?  Do people still do this?  This never made sense to me because what are you really going to do with your dress in a cardboard box.  Why do you want the bodice to show through a cellophane window?  It's confusing to me.  I, on the other hand, made the wise preservation choice of doing nothing with my dress.  It's still hanging in a closet in my mother's house, about three feet from where I took it off after the wedding.  While, perhaps, not the best preservation idea, I doubt that I will ever have a progeny that will beg to wear it.  Let's be honest, it won't be in style in 20+ years and if a child did want to wear it I would hope she would be amazing enough to take the original fabric and transform the dress into something amazing of her own.  What did you do with your dress?  Where did you decide to make her final resting place?
 

 

One last note about trashing the dress: I understand about the sentimental value of your wedding dress and the need to not destroy it (OK, I don't really understand that but I respect your right to not destroy your dress:), but I have seen several brides who have done a fun trash the dress session (in a pool, lake, river, rolling around in paint, etc.), not in their original dress, but in one they picked up for cheap at a consignment shop, but still loved.  Let's face it...didn't we all love a million dresses when trying to choose "the one"?  What do we think about this idea?  I LOVE it!!

It's National Friendship Week Y'all!

I'm trying something new with the blog this week kids!  I'm doing the "I Heart Faces - Friendship Photo Challenge."  Here's the sitch, choose a photo that fits with the weeks theme (friendship...ahhh), and link my blog to the challenge, easy peasy (we'll see if I can do it right!).  It looks really fun so, "let's get go-oooing."  That was Brian Fellows if ya didn't know;)

When I heard that it was National Friendship Week over at Living Locurto I have to admit, I got a little excited because, let's face it, friends are fun!  Some friends I've had since before I was born, literally, ask my mother, and some friendships are only a few months old, but it's so amazing how each person that comes in to your life, whether a "forever" friend or a "for now" friend, leaves a lasting impact, just in differing doses (good, bad, and usually a combination of both so it all evens out:).  Some of those impacts have been subtle and some of them have felt like nuclear explosions...come on, you know what I mean.  I'm not going to say all of those nuclear explosions were great life-changing learning experiences (not there yet:) but maybe one day I'll be one of those calm, serene people who can truthfully say that I have learned something from friendships that ended Hiroshima-style...we'll see.  More yoga perhaps?

What better illustration of friendship than Nikki showing off her new wedding ring to her maids just minutes after saying "I do?"  I adore the looks on their faces!

 

To all  my friends, you know I love you.  I am thankful for you, I hope you know that and never doubt it.  To future friends, can't wait to meet you...we have lots of adventures in store!!

Brianna - Senior Portraits

Brianna's "gonna' be a super model!"  Anyone else remember that song?  No, ok then.  Anyway, I've known Brianna since she was just a little sprout of age 4, and now ***cough, cough*** I'm shooting her senior portraits.  Honored, proud, a bit STUNNED, but just plain overjoyed to have this opportunity.  B's mom Cate has been a special friend to me for many years and I loved getting to spend another beautiful summer day with her and her other bea-u-ti-ful daughter Camden.  PLUS, we did the shoot at Bridge Street Town Centre in Huntsville, Alabama, and, let me just say, there were chocolate covered Oreos and apples involved...yumm-o!  I especially love that said savories from the Chocolate Crocodile are featured in the shoot.  Pictures of chocolate...not exactly as good as eating the chocolate but I still think tasty is an appropriate adjective.  Brianna, I hope you have an amazing senior year!!

Nikki and Andrew - Classically Fun Wedding Day

July 5 was not only another 100 degree day in Alabama, it was Nikki and Andrew's wedding day!  The wedding was such a beautiful combination of elements: classic, elegant, whimsical, and fun!  Having gotten to know these two over the last few months, it was truly an honor to be there as they exchanged their vows.  I love that Nikki chose crimson and houndstooth (can you guess why?) for her colors, whimsical, no?  Just little touches though, enough to see it but not be overwhelming, just perfect.  And as for the bride, well, she was just breathtaking, as you can see for yourself below.  That hair, that dress!  Also, check out the rest of the wedding party...not too shabby!  OK, they all looked great and had a wonderful time celebrating the marriage of these two special people.  Thanks for letting me be a part of your special day guys, it was amazing!

Linking Up

Today I've decided to LINK UP to another blog.  That's what the kids call it, isn't it?  The particular blog post I'm, um, linking up with just happens to feature moi, hence the linking.  My beautiful friend and client Mary Kathryn wrote a post about her experience when we shot the engagement pictures for her husband (mentioned in my last post) so I thought it would be fun to hear the story from both the artist and the subject.  Also, here are a few more of the photos from the session...I just can't get enough of them!!

Secrets Revealed!!

Oh, I've kept the most exhilarating secret for so long and now I can tell the world!!  My sweet friend Mary Kathryn, whose blog you can check out HERE, had an amazing idea to slap her gorgeous wedding dress back on and do a photo session as a surprise for her hubby for their anniversary.  How sweet is that?!  If you're so inclined you can read the saga of the wedding dress HERE, it's amazing, hilarious, and not a bit heart-warming.  One of the many fab parts of this surprise is that MK worked so hard to get back into her wedding dress after babies and looked SO amazing, v. proud of her, and jealous of her tiny waist!

We snuck off in the middle of the night (OK, it wasn't the middle of the night but it would make a more intriguing story!) but it was a late Sunday afternoon.  We be-bopped all around downtown Northport and had a ridiculously good time, despite the bugs.  Side note: there are lots of bugs outside when it's 90 degrees...especially when you're wearing a wedding dress, who knew?! (note to self: bring bug-spray next time!).

Thanks to MK for standing on her head when I asked her to and generally being a super good sport, even though I broke one of her "M"s that came from Hobby Lobby.  I know I haven't mentioned the big "T" on here but, if you're familiar, we no longer have a Hobby Lobby, MK is totally obsessed with Hobby Lobby, and I was kind of devastated to destroy such a treasured memento.  Ok, I'm being dramatic, like she said, it was $9.99 and she bought it with a half-off coupon, but still, it's the principle of the matter, no more Hobby Lobby.  The moral of this part of the story is this: everyone write to Hobby Lobby and make sure they reopen in Tuscaloosa!  Anyway, to end on a happy note, here are some stunning images of a stunning woman, inside and out...enjoy!

UPDATE: Check out the Facebook album HERE to see the rest of Mk's pictures!

Lake Nicol, You Make Me Smile

I love Lake Nicol.  I love the Lake Nicol Spillway.  I love the water.  I love the rocks.  I love the trees.  I love the retro sign (ten points and a kiss to whoever can tell me what that building is).  I love hiking and climbing and getting dirty which, if you know me, is ridiculous, because I generally prefer being clean, very clean.  Let's face it, I am an indoorsy girl, so I will be the first one to admit my surprise when I discovered I like hiking.  I don't even mind wearing ugly shoes while I do it.  GASP, I know!

Lake Nicol is in Northport, Alabama.  In my mind it's close to the middle of no where but someone more familiar with the area could possibly correct me on this one.  I know how to get there (thanks Richard Hebert!) and that is all.  It's a bit of a climb down to the spillway but this is where I want to be, kind of all the time.  A road is perched high above the spillway, just by the damn, and the cement walls of the supports are covered in the most colorful and interesting graffiti.  The angles of the road and supports create the most amazing shadows when the sun is shining.  I think this is one of the things I love the most about Lake Nicol, it's never the same view twice.  Everything there is constantly changing, moving, and evolving.  Nothing is static. 


Every time I visit I find myself noticing the tiniest things.  I even made a few nature friends last time.  A nice lady bug posed on a branch for me and a spider had spun the most beautiful web for me to photograph!  Not to sound like a corn dog but I felt really blessed to have the opportunity to photograph that spiderweb.  It was so delicate and fragile and beautiful and there it was, just hanging out between two branches, waiting for me.  I wonder who else got to see it?

Even though the lighting makes it tough to shoot there, I love doing sessions at Lake Nicol.  My latest engagement session with Nikki and Andrew was there and we had such a great time!  Some of us (there were three of us and I was not one of them...you do the math:) even got to splash around in the water.  There's just something about Lake Nicol that just brings out the happy!