Stacey and Brandon celebrated their first wedding anniversary over the weekend…at home with their brand new baby girl! I was so thrilled to see the newest addition arrived just a few weeks earlier (one of the reasons I still love facebook…sometimes). What a difference a year can make! Now is where I show my age and warn how quickly these years pass by….but the older I get, the more I feel like everything is moving at warp speed!
I photographed Stacey’s sister’s wedding in the fall of 2012 and I was honored to be asked to come back and be part of another family milestone. Their April wedding was perfection, as was the glorious sunshine and (thankfully) warm temperatures. We started the day with their first look in the window filled lobby of their church (YAY for windows!!!!)
SO thankful for the trees in one little corner of their church grounds! The sun felt SO good and with the ground a little damp, we didn’t want to take much of a chance of getting Stacey’s dress dirty or wet before the ceremony. More on getting dirty in JUST a minute…
Just down the road from the church was this little barn that set on the back of a couples property that I had scoped out a few days earlier. I literally just knocked on the door to see if we could use their barn and I ended up going inside and having a nice little chat with the owners about their family and the history of their property. We were all pretty excited to have a second location to go to.
We carefully maneuvered around the wet areas in the yard and ended up very close to the barn where the ground was leaf covered. That’s when it happened. Stacey had stepped in something. NOT something you want to step in. I think the comment heard was, “That doesn’t smell like mud!” I swear, what are the ODDS?!!!! Here’s a great pic of the clean up crew with Stacey’s sister (Ashley) and brother in law (Eric)…after all that all anyone could do was laugh (thanks, Eric for the pic I stole off your FB page)!
Stacey and Brandon, thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of your day! And congrats on your new blessing-I’m sure everyone (especially Grandma) is already spoiling her like crazy!
This is Allison’s first of many appearances on the blog as she is part of my Baby’s First Year program. I will never forget when she was born. She is baby number 3 for the Baker clan. Mom and Dad had no idea if she was to be a boy or girl…so neither did the rest of us. She has two older brothers. She also is part of a family of cousins that at the time she was born already included 6 boys, a boy that was expected to arrive right after her…and this baby was the soon-to-be surprise.
I had gone into the eye doctor where one of my past brides, Nicole, works. She looks at me and says, “Did you hear?! Mandy and Chad had a GIRL!” My jaw hit the ground and I’m sure I screamed something like SHUT UP!!!!!!! Now, Nicole and I were on the same page to instantly realize this family of boys just got a little pink present….but the two ladies in the waiting room of the eye doctor watching us have our freak out were like ?????? Once I calmed down (only slightly), I realized they likely were under the impression that Nicole and I were nuts. So, I HAD to explain the excitement of it all. In the end, I have NO DOUBT they still thought Nicole and I were nuts ;)
And with that, here are just a few from her newborn session at home to see how much she has changed!
This little princess was seriously so happy for her 3 month session…until she decided she was exhausted, took a 20 minute power nap while her mom and I chatted away..and woke up smiling again and never missed a beat! We got a few more smiles out of her…and then she conked out on us for a second time. But sleeping baby pictures are pretty darn cute, too :)
Such a little sweetie. Can’t wait to see how she likes being outside for our next session!!! And hopefully a few with her big brothers!
About a month ago, I got a suspicious looking email. Turns out, it was from Chad. He set up a new email account to try and keep a secret from Cassie…sooooo bad ;) Don’t hate him yet, because the secret has earned him “Best Husband of the Year Award.” His plan was to surprise Cassie with a photo session for their first anniversary…and could I fit them in quickly????
Well, as luck would have it, I was in Indianapolis two weekends in a row for my daughter’s dance competitions. We picked the first weekend and the temperatures were a glorious 65 and sunny…complete opposite from their cold wedding day! I was beyond excited to catch up with them and re-visit some of the places we photographed on their wedding day.
I met them at their house and I was thrilled to see them dressed in their signature color! Chad even had his wedding socks on. Cassie mentioned her green wedding shoes were upstairs packed away and at the last minute I said GO GET THEM! We started our shoot at Monument Circle and there were people EVERYWHERE. Even a wedding party that had set up camp. On the one side that the blazing sun actually worked. And on the ONLY side that the monument wasn’t complete closed off with scaffolding. Challenging…yes. Impossible…never! It was so fun to give them fresh, new images but also give a nod to some of their wedding day favorites.
And THIS is when we all jumped up and down that Cassie had her green shoes with her!!!!!!!!! My favorite!
We stopped back at The Rathskeller for a little refresher, change of clothing and some more pictures at their reception venue. Then it was a short walk over to the cobblestone street…
And you may remember a certain shot from their wedding post yesterday….we tried to recreate it. It took a few times. One shot even looked like Chad was kicking Cassie in the head! So, here you go…a little groomsman photo bomb recreation!
Ok, I warned you yesterday I was going to gush about these two. I can’t tell you how good it feels to know that by being a part of their wedding, I not only gave them a beautiful and tangible reminder from all the festivities, but that in some small way my presence on that day was another great memory in their eyes. Cass and Chad have been some of my biggest cheerleaders and it has often brought me to tears. I mean…they SENT ME FLOWERS the Monday after their wedding. They stay in touch and send me random texts on their nights out that I just adore. When they learned my new website was launching, Cass sent me a message that said , “Happy website day!”
I tell you all this because I don’t know if I could really put into words how special they are to me. How they’ve taken me as their wedding photographer and made me feel a part of their family. I’ve been blessed with many couples who have made me feel that way and I really don’t deserve it. But I’ll take it and hope that I can make that kind of impact with each and every couple.
