Very Merrily Maxi

I don't normally like to pair red and green because I feel like it SCREAMS Christmas. But there's a reason these two colors are used together, they look good! They aren't complementary colors for no reason, you know. During the winter I wear mostly the same outfits as in the summer, but with a cardigan.  The last time I wore this skirt, it was for the 4th of July and I burned up all day. I don't really understand why the maxi length is so popular for summer because it can be hot! It feels much nicer today, when the temps are in the low 50s than it did when we were busting into the 100s.

details:

skirt- Max Studio (in oatmeal)

top- estate sale

cardigan- Merona at Target

necklace- What's In Store via StitchFix 

The more I look at it, the more I like this pairing. The green is so dark and the red is almost pink, so it doesn't seem quite as festive. I'll be honest though, I stinking LOVE Christmas...I wish the halls could be decked in red and green all year round. Maybe as we get closer to the holiday, I will wear more of this color combo. Do you guys ever pair red and green? Does it make you feel jolly and bright?

Wedding Talk: Ceremony

You guys have already read a lot about my wedding, so for this post, I'll try to keep it to mostly pictures. These are my favorites from the ceremony. It was very short and sweet!

Josh wins at being the most stylish guest. Oh and that cutie on the left, Lisa, made my delicious jar pies.

My dad walked me down the aisle, and my step-dad performed the ceremony. It was so important to me to have them both be part of the day!

Like I said, my step-dad did the ceremony since he's a pastor, but I never even thought about him possibly getting choked up! He got a little emotional during the opening prayer, which was really sweet. Then again right before the rings (in the picture above) he got choked up AND he couldn't see his notes because of the rain on his glasses. It was starting to get a little funny, then he just backed up and was like "Well...crap." At that point everyone started laughing and we just sort of scurried through the rest of the ceremony. The rain was picking up, and everyone was shivering!

Love, love love our kiss photo. We didn't practice at all, but I think we did pretty well :) 

The wind made the lavender toss a bit difficult. I was so excited about that part, but it was kind of a flop.

The rest of the evening took place in the barn, and I wore my mustard sweater. I'll post a few reception pictures, and some more details from the day soon. I put a lot of work (but not money!) into the details, but I tried not to go overboard.

I hope you guys are having a wonderful week! The half marathon is looming over me right now, and I am just ready to get it done. Even if I have to walk half of it, I'll still be getting a nice tour of Memphis! (this is what I keep having to tell myself, so I don't get depressed about my injury...)

Shooting Attire

I feel like it would be a fair statement to say that nobody ever notices what I'm wearing when I'm shooting a wedding. Well, that's actually perfect! When I first started shooting weddings, all I cared about was wearing flats, because one time I didn't...and it was awful. Eventually the topic came up in a conversation, and the general consensus was that the photographer should always be toned down and blend into the background as well as possible. Since I tend to dress on the eccentric  side, I figured I better start being more selective about what I wear to weddings!

I think most photographers lean toward the all-black approach, which I can totally dig. It's easier to distinguish yourself as a hired worker rather than just a guest with an SLR. Black is kind of a worker's uniform for formal events. I hate being boring though, so I always try to throw in at least a little hint of color or sparkle (or both).  The outfit I'm wearing in the picture is pretty typical for me nowadays.

Of course my bag doesn't match AT ALL, but I don't have the money for the bag I want, so this is a vintage satchel with some custom inserts in it. I always try to carry something to drink with me, and I just happened to have a moment to swing by Sonic between portraits and ceremony time. Of course this wedding was two friends, so I wasn't worried as much about appearances :) I've got two lenses in the bag, but one of them is hiding. I know it's not much, but I'm kind of a minimalist when it comes to shooting weddings. I don't do lights or anything fancy because 1. I don't have an assistant and 2. I want to be able to keep my prices low enough that my friends can afford me! I don't really know what my point is with this post...I guess it's just a little insight into how my mind works when it comes to shooting weddings. Hopefully it's helpful if any of you are photographers and need ideas for how to dress or carry your lenses around!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving. Mine was mostly good! I had some family time Wednesday and Thursday, a lot of being lazy Friday and Saturday, and some quality shopping time with my mom yesterday. The only bad side of my break was realizing that my knee is still in bad shape, and I'm running a half marathon in 5 days. Fun! If I can make it through the race, I'm giving my knee a good month off. I don't like running in the cold anyway :)

Wedding Talk: Me and My Party

So I have big news: I finally have an iPhone! It took me way too long to join the rest of my generation. There have been so many times that I've wished I could look something up when I was out and about (like directions...because I get lost), so it's nice that I'll be able to do that now. My goal is to not let it become an appendage...because I think that's what happens with most people. I also don't want to be one of those people who plays with their phone during conversations. If any of you see me doing that STOP ME! And tell me I'm being a jerk.

Now on to more wedding pictures for your enjoyment (because I'm sure you're not sick of these yet, right?)...

Unfortunately it started raining pretty soon after we started taking wedding party pictures, so we only got these few. Luckily the ones we took were good! I was just praying there were some with no one blinking. They were all such good sports about the day though. I never heard the girls complain once about being cold and I KNOW they were...it was freezing. I got their dresses from an Etsy shop called Coralie Beatrix. I picked out several for them to choose from on Etsy, and they chose these wrap dresses because they can wear them so many ways. I hope they actually do wear them again! I know that's one thing that usually sucks about bridesmaid dresses, they sit in a closet for years.

Even though we didn't have a ton of traditions in out wedding, I did want to do the old/new/borrowed/blue thing, even though I have absolutely no idea what the basis of that tradition is. So my new was obviously my dress. For old I wore my pearl earrings, which Rhett gave to me early on in our relationship. I borrowed that gorgeous antique necklace from my grandmother, T, and I had blue tips on my shoes. I looked everywhere for shoes! I thought the search would never end because I didn't know exactly what I wanted. I finally miraculously stumbled upon those on ModCloth, and I knew that was what I'd been looking for the whole time. Also worth mentioning is the set of charm lockets hanging from my bouquet. I had Lauren of JerseyMaids make that for me. Each locket has a picture on the front of a grandparent who has passed. It was a special way for me to include them in the wedding, and I loved working with Lauren on it!

That's all for now. Maybe I'll do something non-wedding related for my next post. I am hoping to get the rest of the disposable cameras developed soon! I have had to do them a few at a time because it's so expensive. It's like $15 for one set of prints and a disc! yikes..

Wedding Talk: Just Us

This is just mostly a photo post. I wanted to share some pictures of us because we're ADORABLE! Yeah, I said it...we are. You can't argue with me, because it's so true. After our first look we just took a few photos across from the farm. It was fun! I was wearing flats though so I kept tripping over my dress. When your dress is cut for you to be wearing heels, you should keep your heels on. Just FYI! I'm just glad I discovered this before walking down the aisle...because that would have been embarrassing.

You can tell when I look off to the side, my eyes are so wonky! Cover up my right eye and it looks like I'm looking off to the side...it's so weird. It has a mind of it's own.

Sorry for so many photos! I just love them, so I want to share them. If you're wondering where you can get my dress, I'm sad to tell you YOU CAN'T! Sorry that sounds mean...but really, it's true. My photographer's mom made it for me. I showed her a dress I liked, and she just whipped it right up! She's seriously amazing. She came up with the detail on the bodice since I couldn't make my mind up, and I just adore it.

I hope you all have a great weekend! I'm going to get my wisdom teeth out tomorrow, so I'll be laying in bed whining like a little baby all weekend...if I survive. I know it's irrational, but I'm just scared something terrible is going to happen to me. I'll be one of those people in those tv shows where they show freak accidents that happen during routine surgeries. AH...I'm worrying myself sick just thinking about it. I'll let you all know if I survive. If this is the last post on my blog and it's 2014, you'll know what happened.

Wedding Talk: First Look

It's kind of hard to say for sure, but I think mine and Rhett's first look might be my favorite part of our wedding day. I knew from the start that I wanted to do things this way. Weddings where the bride and groom don't see each other before, have always been really stressful for me as a photographer, so I didn't want to do that to Heather. Plus, we got a private moment before the wedding, which was AWESOME. And I had him to run to if I started getting antsy leading up to the ceremony (which happened a few times since we were studying the weather radar for a few hours).

Once he got to the site, they took him out onto the balcony, and I met him out there. When I saw him, it was like everything around me just melted away. I know it sounds cheesy, but it's true. I had decided I wouldn't cry, but when I saw him kind of tear up, I ugly cried for a few seconds.

We gave each other letters that we had written, and then took Polaroids of each other. Unfortunately, I can't find the Polaroids. It breaks my heart, but I'm hoping they will turn up someday. I'm so glad we wrote the letters though. He's so good at writing! Every card he's ever given me is just the sweetest! He even wrote it in blue ink so that if I couldn't wear my blue toed shoes in the mud, I could still have a "something blue." He's so thoughtful sometimes.

Like I said, I'm SO GLAD we did our first look before instead of when I walked down the aisle. Our wedding was so hectic with the rain and cold that our pictures would have been super stressful if we'd waited until after the ceremony. Have any of you guys done a first look before your wedding? Would you?