Winter Wedding: Stephanie & Gary – 12/29/12 Madison, IN

Posted in Weddings

On what is I hope the last snowy day  (although I’ve said that the last 5 times it’s snowed) I thought I would share this winter wonderland wedding! I’ve shot in December a few times, but I’ve never gotten the snowy background I wanted for a winter wedding. As soon as I booked this wedding I started hoping for a snow covered winter wedding wonderland and I think I wished a little too hard because just 3 days before this wedding Indiana was hit with a blizzard! The days leading up to the wedding and even throughout the wedding day were filled with more snow and flurries,which wasn’t great for travel, but man it made for some gorgeous images! A HUGE thanks to Stephanie and Gary and their entire wedding party for battling the snow and being willing to get out into it for what are some of my all time favorite photos. If I could re-shoot this wedding every weekend I would!

You always know it’s going to be a good day when you get to work with great people! Diane with Just Breathe Events tranformed the reception into a gorgeous winter theme.  I got to spend the day with my friend Jesse from Love’s Reel who create an amazing video of the day that you can see HERE. The day was literally picture perfect with snow covering all the trees at Clifty Park. When I arrived I felt like I already knew the entire wedding party and families! So many people reached out to me after their engagement session (that you can see HERE) and I can truly say that Stephanie and Gary are surrounded by so many amazing people who love them. I was honored to be a part of the day!

 

Here are my favorites from the day!

This was Steph’s “something blue” – made by Gary’s cousin out of their Grandmother’s quilt scraps.

 

 

I LOVED this first look!!! My wonderful assistant Leslie braved the cold to get some great shots from outside while I stayed in to get the close ups.

** a note to all winter brides – keep in mind it gets dark sooo much earlier in the winter so I highly recommend a first look if you’re doing a winter wedding. By the time we left the ceremony at this wedding it was already dark so if they hadn’t seen each other beforehand we never would have gotten all these amazing snowy photos that you’re about to see:)

 

And then the real adventure began as we headed outside in the snow 🙂

One of my favorites ever of the girls! They were rocking the jackets!

We headed from Clifty over the church in Versailles

Seriously – how cute are these flower girls?!

The photos below were actually taken before the ceremony as well so I’m going a little out of order here but I wanted to mix it up!

And time for the reception!

Gary made this awesome card holder himself!

Yep those are “white trash wine glasses” haha… you really can find anything on the internet these days

On the left is Gary’s groom cake filled with all kinds of his favorites. It’s a chocoholics dream!

I love that Grandma hit up the photo booth!

Ceremony Venue : Versailles Baptist Church

Reception Venue : Clifty Inn at Clifty Falls State Park – Madison, IN

Event Planner : Diane Lock – Just Breathe Events

Photographer : Becky Brown Photography

Videographer : Jesse Wallace – Love’s Reel

Photo Booth: Behind the Curtain Photobooth

DJ: K-Rox DJ Service

Transportation: Xtreme Transportation Limo Bus

Hair & Makeup : Leah Handlon with Posh Salon and Spa – Greenfield, IN

Flowers : Ivy Vine Florist – Madison, IN

Cake: Nancy’s Tasteful Cakes

Invitations: McPersons via Just Breathe Events

Catering : Clifty Inn

Bridal Gown and Bridesmaids dresses: That Special Touch

Tuxes: Jim’s Formal Wear

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Martha Stewart Wedding Party 2013

Posted in Weddings

What an amazing weekend I had! On Sunday I participated in the first ever Chicago Martha Stewart Wedding Party. It was held in the GORGEOUS ballroom at the Radisson Blu Aqua hotel. There were so many great vendors and amazing wedding inspiration for all the newly engaged couples. I wondered around for a little bit before the show to take some photos. A big thanks to Claudia Hanlin’s Wedding Library and Meghan with Lovebird Events for organizing this event!

Jill and I were  also doing a giveaway for a free engagement session me with and a glam session with her  and the winners are…… drumroll….. Lisa & Mike!!

Enjoy some photos from the show! And a big thanks to Jill Hammelman Hair Design for partnering with me and to my wonderful friend Mia for helping me man my table!

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Love Story Engagement Contest Voting!

Posted in Engagements, Weddings

VOTING HAS ENDED – THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO PARTICPATED!

REBECCA & NATHAN WON!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!

 

Welcome! I am so excited about this contest and I’ve had some great entries from some amazing couples so it’s going to be hard to predict a winner!

Below are their stories (in no particular order). I’ve decided not to include photos because I really want people to read the stories and choose based the words rather than just scrolling through the images and not reading anything. Let’s face it, we all have a short attention span these days! 

To vote you much scroll all the way to the bottom and choose your favorite and then hit “vote”. If you don’t hit vote it will not be counted. Commenting on your favorites is great, but it also does not count as a vote.

Good luck to everyone!!!  Voting continues until 7pm central time on Thursday Feb. 28th!

#1 Rebecca & Nathan – engaged on Rebecca’s birthday 10/9/12 and getting married 12/28/13!

” The story of how we met and how he proposed are wonderfully intertwined. We had been on Ball State University’s campus together for 3 years and have created so many wonderful memories there. Nathan knew the best way to tie all those wonderful memories of our past into the promise of our future.  He sent me on a scavenger hunt on my birthday while just making me think I was getting some cheering up on an uneventful Tuesday afternoon.

I set out to the spots that were important to us and I was met at each location by people who have been important to us.  I was sent to where he first saw me, at the Scramble Light on campus when I was visiting Ball State with my parents.  He has always given me a hard time for not remembering bumping into him there.  Then I was sent to where we saw each other again and spent a large portion of our relationship, in the music rehearsal building on campus.  That has also been something he’s teased me about because I was so nervous auditioning for the University Singers that I didn’t remember seeing him again!

After that I traveled to the spot on the White River where we spent the whole night talking and finding out how much alike we were.  I know that night is when I fell in love with him. I traveled to more spots until I came to Beneficence, the statue we both love, and is a symbol of the school we love so much.  I was met there with not just a note, but also a CD which was to entertain me while I traveled to Indianapolis.  When I got there my first stop was Lucas Oil Stadium. Both of us are life-long Colts fans, making it the perfect place to begin in the city. I was met there by a friend who drove me to the canal by the Indianapolis Zoo.

There Nathan stood at the end of a walkway.  When we reached each other we walked along the canal as he told me wonderful things about how he loved me and how he wanted to make me remember all the good times they had that sometimes get buried in the day to day grind. He told me how he wanted to spend the rest of our lives together and he didn’t want to forget any of the parts of our history.  As we neared the end of the walk, he turned me around to view the Indianapolis skyline.  The view was stunning and as we stood there in the lights of the city we love, he got down on one knee and made me the happiest girl in the world. “

#2 Maria & Brad – engaged on  10/28/12  & getting married on 05-04-2013

“I love a saying who’s author I do not know that goes a little something like this, “It’s so amazing when someone comes to your life and you expect nothing out of it, but suddenly…..there….right in front of you is everything you ever needed.” When we saw each other for the first time I was looking at paint colors for my new car and he was grabbing a cup of coffee. I remember seeing him, but that was all. I didn’t end up seeing him again for about a month.

 
Each week when I got my car washed and detailed I got to see glimpses of him. He always had a smile, a wave and a cup of coffee in his hand. What little conversation I had ever had with him had been about the car or polite conversation as he worked. Though as the weeks went by our conversations got a little longer (I always thought it was because the tree sap on my hood took forever to clean off). Each week he seemed to linger more and smile more, but I always thought that was because I was funny.
 
He even seemed to find me when I took my car in for it’s first oil change. He fixed a scratch on my car, but didn’t ever say much. So it surprised me one afternoon when he pulled out a card with his number (which I still have) and said I should give him a call if I ever needed anything. It took me about 12 hours to finally text him to thank him for being so nice and for fixing a random problem he fixed weeks before. (This is where expecting nothing comes in for me. I thought he was just being nice because I had gotten a few new scratches on my car.) He called the next morning and we talked for four hours. Three days later we went on our first date. It wasn’t over complicated, just a root beer under the stars. We’ve seen each other just about every day since.
 
His proposal came just as unexpectedly as him entering my life. It was a normal Sunday night. He asked my mom and me out to dinner at Applebee’s. It was a normal dinner. We ate, had fun and at the end of the meal I packed up everyone’s leftovers and chattered on about what we were going to do when we got home.
 
I wasn’t paying attention. He asked me if he could ask me a question. I turned and said “Sure sweetie” and there in front of me was an open black box with the prettiest solitaire I’d ever seen. In that moment time stopped. All I heard was Hubert say, “Be my wife……marry me.” I was in shock, and instead of the big “YES” I always thought I’d say with I was asked I responded with one liners like, “Are you doing this here?” and “Are you serious?” He laughed and asked again. I think he asked about 4 times before it sank in he was asking me to marry him. I fought back so many tears and said YES! (FINALLY! My brain was finally working!). I looked over at my mom, tears in my eyes and there she was with her camera. (She already knew!!)
 
Aside from my blundered “yes,” everything else was perfect. He asked my mom for permission to marry me, the ring fit and he surprised me….in front of all of Applebee’s. I now know why my friends always quoted this line to me when I was frustrated with dating, “Someday, someone will walk into your life and make you realize why it never worked out with anyone else…..,” because I wouldn’t want to spend forever with anyone else.”

#3 Betty & Russ  – engaged on 1/22/13 and getting married 2/1/14

“Let me set the scene……I lived in Dallas and he lived here.  I had been single for 7 years and him for 3.  Neither of us were looking for anyone when we met.On June 15, 2011, I sat down in the lobby of an office that turned out to belong to the man I would spend the rest of my life with.  I was there to audit his Information Security/Business Continuity programs for my company.  As soon as I saw him (not knowing who he was), I told myself “That man is going to be my husband”.  We introduced ourselves and that was it.  Due to the work conflict, we flirted but kept everything strictly professional.  
On September 19 (his birthday), a week after all of the work was complete, he called and said “If I fly to Dallas this weekend, will you go to dinner with me?” Of course I said yes.  During that week, we sat up till dawn almost every night talking on the phone and all night a few times. He flew down on September 27, we went to dinner and and he told me that he had loved me from the moment he saw me and that he hoped that didn’t scare me off.  We have been together ever since.  One of us flew back and forth each weekend.  
By January, we both knew that we had found the other soul that God had specifically made for the other.  I moved to Chicago in May of 2012.On January 22, we were getting ready to go to the Blackhawks home opener (the Hawks won by the way) and I met home at his office.  While we were sitting there talking, he pulled open his top desk drawer and pulled out a small box and said, “I was going to do this on Valentines Day but sitting here looking at you, I just can’t wait”.  He came over and kneeled in front of me and said “This was Grams engagement ring.  It’s a placeholder ring till I get the one I want.  I would love it if you would wear it and agree to spend the rest of your life with me.”  His Grams had passed away 23 days earlier (she was 101). I told home “the ring is perfect and it means more to me that any other ring you could have given me and of course I will.  There is no one else for me.”
On February 23, I gave him a framed print of a QR scan code.  When he scanned it, it started playing “Marry Me” by Train.  When it got to that phrase, I handed him a little blue box.  I told him “I would be so honored if you wear my ring and spend the rest of your life loving me”.  He was completely shocked.We would both like for the wedding to be today but want to have the most perfect wedding possible.  We want it to reflect that there is truly one person out there that God has made for the other.  It may take a while to find him/her but they are there and the love is so amazingly strong and there is no better feeling than knowing you’ve found that person.”

#4 Andrea & Steven – engaged on 12/31/12 at 11:11 and getting married in September of 2015

” I first met Steve my last year of Undergrad at Purdue University and the second I saw him I knew I had to meet him, and we have been together ever since.  He is the love of my life and has supported me through my last semester of school and going after my career goals which required me to move to Virginia on his birthday actually.  After being in a long distance relationship for 8 months our love grew stronger and he flew out here on Christmas day so I could have someone I love to spend the holiday with.Every night for the past 2.5 years at 11:11 Steve and I always tell each other to make a wish, and on Dec 31st my wish came true when he asked me to marry him.  It was just him, our dog and I in my apartment with candles lit and “I don’t want to miss a thing” playing he got down on one knee.  It was perfect for us, but unfortunately he had to fly back to Michigan the next afternoon and we only get to see each other every 2-3 months.”
#5 Tracey and Brandon – engaged 6/28/10 and getting married spring of 2013
“Brandon and I met in November 2009 through mutual friends, one of my best friends and his as well…it’s a wonder we never met before really. Anyhow, I was planning to go shopping with my friend Kristy and Chris her boyfriend in Indianapolis and they asked if it would be okay if they invited their friend Brandon, I agreed. When he came over to meet us I remember standing at the door looking at this handsome guy with the bluest eyes and sweetest smile! As we were driving to Indianapolis (me and Kristy in the back and the guys up front) we were talking about foods we liked and he said he loved blue cheesing salad dressing and that so happened to be my favorite (apparently not many people like it haha) I said I love blue cheese dressing and I heard him tell Chris “I’m going to marry that girl” haha! It’s funny I tell people we met through friends, but were hooked because of salad dressing! The rest of the day he was such a gentleman, bought me lunch (and it wasn’t even a date) plus cheesecake, now that’s a winner! 
 I have two amazing little girls who he immediately fell in love with and ever since we have been inseparable! He proposed on June 28, 2010 at the house, we were cuddling on the couch watching a movie and he was telling me how much I meant to him and asked me if I was really going to marry him, I said absolutely and he whipped out his hand which held a beautiful ring and said that I should wear it rather than him! I cried obviously, called my mom, took photos and cried some more.
Brandon is the most amazing person that I have ever met! Not only did he fall in love with me, he fell in live with my two beautiful daughters as well! We became the family that I wanted to much for my little girls, he’s my rock, my best friend, my soul mate. I couldn’t imagine spending the rest of my life with anyone other than him!”
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