Change in plans

Well, as I think most of you know, this is my first good and truly RIDICULOUSLY busy year. Which, of course, is awesome. But, like I've said before, that does mean that there are some growing pains, and I am still sometimes figuring out how to make things flow a little better.

The way that I've been doing things is to wait until every last thing is finished and then do a blog post about it and include a link to the gallery. But I know people are excited to see their pictures, so what I'm going to start doing is a tiny little preview of the sessions--maybe like one picture of portrait sessions, three or so of weddings, and then when I get everything good and finished, do a full blog post with a gallery link.

In case you're wondering when I'm going to start all this, the answer is ... when I get done with what I'm currently working on, which is Kelly and Andrew's wedding. I'm really anxious to work through their pictures and get them to them, so that's going to be first priority. After that, I'm going to take a few days to make little previews and post them up of all the things that are in queue to be edited. In order, those will be:

Kristin & Justin's engagement session

Sharon's senior pictures

Mindy & Chris' wedding

Lacey & Branson's wedding

Rachel & fiance (can't wait to meet him!)'s engagement session

Harris family portraits

Sarah & Corey's wedding

Carrie & Mike's engagement session

Thank you guys so much for all your patience!

Now, because blog posts without pictures are totally boring, which everyone knows, I am going to post a little something up from Kelly and Andrew's wedding:

I LOVE this picture. The light is so dramatic, and Kelly was an incredibly gorgeous bride. But for whatever reason, this picture was just not working for me in color, and black and white was a little blah on this one, so I colorized it. Purple was her wedding color and I liked the effect, so that was what I went with. :) And look at those eyelashes!

Anyway, that should bring you all up to date with how I'm going to do the blog, and I think it'll be a change for the better! More pictures is always a good thing, right? :)

Katie & Mark: Engagement

So, once again, I get THE CUTEST COUPLES! And you don't, YEAH! But it's okay, I'll share.

This is Katie and Mark, and I love them. They are so laid back, and they were referred to me by my friend Matt. I figure that anyone who is willing to hire a friend of Matt's is also pretty brave and adventurous (also a tiny bit insane?), so they have that going for them!

I love this picture, but also, look at how blue Katie's eyes are, even blurred out in the background. That's insane! And I swear, I didn't do anything to them to make them bluer. They just look like that. Bitchin! (Can I say bitchin on this blog? I think I can, but if anyone is like super offended, I suppose I can refrain in the future.)

I'm not usually that into red brick for backgrounds, but I was LOVIN' it in this shot. It just turned out so ... RED! Also, look at Katie--that is the definition of "smiling with your eyes", which is important for good pictures!

A little cooler picture, kind of different than the others from this session, but I liked it and thought it fit the sticker door. These guys were such great models--see how they resist my ridiculous jokes and maintain SeriousFace?

This was all their idea. I hope they bring the sunglasses to their wedding, because they look so awesome here. And because I almost stole them multiple times, and maybe next time I'll get away with it.

I really think that this session is some of my favorite of my more outdoorsy/naturey shots. And yes, naturey is totally a word. Don't worry about it.

Aaaaaaahhhh! SO CUTE!

And finally, my favorite. I LOVE this. Love love love. And since no blog post would be complete without story hour, let me just share this one. So we were at ... let's just say, a place that displays art and yet is not a museum and is located in Broad Ripple. I spot this AMAZING light on this patch of tall flowers, and I insist that we all get in (and trust me, I PAID for it in bug bites, and I'm betting they did too, although at least they had on long pants).

So Mark is telling Katie to be careful not to trample anything in the garden. I'm all like, "It's not a garden, somebody just didn't feel like mowing it!" And Mark's all like, "Ummm ... I'm pretty sure it's a garden." City mouse that I am, anything other than lazy mowing is like a foreign concept to me, so I was like, "Nooooo ...." and then sure enough I turned around, and there's the plaque, proclaiming garden! Thankfully, though, no flowers were harmed in the making of this photograph, and I think Mark managed to forgive me for being an idiot because he later bought me a Diet Coke, which was greatly appreciated and enjoyed. :)

Kristin & JD: Wedding

Prepare yourselves for your socks being knocked off. Kristin and JD are such a great couple, with wonderful families and friends and just clearly a lot of people who loved them. Billy and I are still discussing how much we loved their Conner Prairie wedding and how great their guests were. I have no idea how I've gotten SO incredibly lucky with my clients this year!

Here's the beautiful bride!

OMG, the pros have such fun makeup. I took a ton of makeup shots because I was just so enthralled with it all. As you guys know, I love makeup (especially in the containers) but am just totally clueless about it. This seems roughly akin to when my mom explained to me as a child why boys would pull my hair.

OH STOP. This might have been my favorite thing to happen all day. Okay, so JD has two daughters, and they are the sweetest things I have ever seen in my life (and again, I have gotten SO lucky with kids this year). Anyway, it's obvious that they get plenty of outdoors time, which I am SO in support of, since I spent a good chunk of my childhood outside. Granted, it was like totally against my will because I wanted to stay inside and read all the time, but it was definitely a good thing for me to get out and explore the backyard and whatnot. Anyway, Kristin's mom was entertaining the girls before they had to get "suited up" for the wedding, and they kept asking when they were going on their nature walk, which I thought was amazingly adorable.

So anyway, they come in intermittently with all sorts of gifts for Kristin--we had Queen Anne's Lace and a miniature frog, and my favorite of all--this four-leaf clover. They presented it to Kristin and of course we all oohed and aaahed, and I just loved that these two found a four-leaf clover, which, let's face it, is GLORIOUS when you're an adult, but when you're a kid, it's like the closest thing you're going to get to finding a unicorn. Not that I exaggerate or anything. But anyway, they so thoughtfully decided to give it to Kristin on her big day! I loved it--thought it was the best wedding gift I had ever seen and such a good omen, and it was also such a show of how much these girls love and adore her. They're already a perfect family. :)

One of the bridesmaids (OMG, I am terrible at remembering names--there are just so many people at weddings! I'm sorry!) sewing Kristin's dress into a tiny rose (instead of bow). I love her pretty smile!

World's cutest flower girls! (And givers of the four-leaf clover.)

The absolutely stunning bride and her very dashing father.

Okay, STOP THE PRESSES. The look that he is giving her just like, melted my computer screen. Seriously. Can I just tell you guys the countless hours I spent in high school discussing The Look with my friend Beth? We could only really ever define it as far as knowing it when we saw it, and let me tell you ... this is IT. I am so excited that their grandchildren are going to get to look at this picture and see all the love on his face when they are old and wrinkly. And you know, I bet he'll still be giving her that look then.

(Okay, so maybe I just got a little sentimental! I'm a GIRL, what would you have me DO?)

Ooohh, I liked this picture. (Obviously, I suppose.)

This bridal party was SO fun and so willing to let me play around a little bit, so I was able to have a little fun with the formals. I love this--definitely one of my favorites so far. :) Also, what with everyone being so gorgeous, I totally feel like this could be a poster for a hot new TV show on the CW or something. Man, I love the CW. Don't tell anyone.

Something else Kristin and JD did that I TOTALLY appreciated was leaving time for just the two of them to go have their pictures taken. This was especially fun since we were at Conner Prairie, which for my distant blog readers is a living history museum that has people acting out pioneer stuff. It's really cool, and everyone in the central Indiana area had to take field trips there as a kid. In fact, Conner Prairie is where I remember my first celebrity sighting--Dionne Willis, a local news person. I don't even know if she's still around anymore, but it was awesome.

Wow, could I get anymore derailed?

I swear, these two just light each other up. I had fun with both of them before the wedding started, but once they got together, it was like they were just so happy and relaxed and glad to be around each other.

Awwwww!

The covered bridge, which was gorgeous on its own and totally great for things like ...

Silhouettes! Which you all know I love. I tried a fun kind of coloring on this one (split-toning, if anyone cares) and I liked how it turned out. Anyone else have feelings on it?

First dance. I love this girl's gorgeous eyes peeking out.

THE CAKE! Oh, it was so pretty, and the window behind it gave me so many great pictures.

This is a close-up of the cake topper, which of course is one of those Willow figurines. What you're looking at, though, is how JD (that's right, JD, the groom, the BOY) painted the girl's hair black to look like Kristin. OMG! Sweetest thing ever.

You know, when I met with these two the thing that really stood out to me was that he suggested during the meeting that the two of them take their pictures and make a scrapbook, because it would be a fun thing for them to do together. I about DIED. It was the sweetest thing ever. Kristin admitted at that point that she had snagged a pretty good one. :)

Loved these fun centerpieces!

Yay! I love putting things on the blog that I find totally entertaining! So I walk past this kid, and he is pouring his coke into a wine glass. I find this absolutely hilarious, and demand to take a picture. The groomsmen at his table insisted that he drink pinky out, and so he did. Cracked me up. Well, I come back a few minutes later, and ...

He is double-fisting the coke in wine glasses! Everyone knows how hilarious I think double-fisting drinks is, so I once again demanded a picture. I LOVE it. Sorry, Billy--I think this kid might be my soulmate!

Oh, wow. I am IN LOVE with this picture. This is JD's dad, who I adored. He just happened to be sitting in great light and I was able to snap one without being noticed. And I would like to say for the record, that when I was just starting out and taking black and white photography in school, this is totally the kind of picture I dreamed about taking. I just could not be happier that I finally got to. :)

Isn't this picture INCREDIBLE? Yeah, that's right, Billy took it. Seriously, you guys, he is so awesome. He just picked up my backup camera this year and started playing around with it, and he always gets good extra shots that I can use, but usually at least once per wedding, he really WOWs me, and this was it. I am so proud of him!

Something that I notice, the more I do weddings, is that boys get SO happy and excited around cake time. It's like guaranteed big smiles, even if they don't do the face-smoosh (which, if you were curious, these two didn't--it was totally civilized).

And finally, a big toast at the end! Look how happy they are! How much fun they're having! Awww, this is why I like weddings!

You can check out Kristin & JD's complete gallery here, and there is so much good stuff in there! Online ordering is available. And totally expect to see more of these two on my website (when I get around to updating it, which ... yeah).

Thank you again, Kristin & JD, for letting me be part of your big day!

Delirious

So, just to keep it real, as I often do, I get a little insane sometimes during the editing process, particularly when editing time creeps up on meal time, which it has a tendency of doing like ... twice a day. Today, though, I was working on Kristin & J.D.'s wedding (which was beautiful, by the way, you're going to love it) and the food pictures were making me SO HUNGRY. You guys almost got a picture of salad, because that's what I'll be having for lunch. But instead, I went with this picture of the silverware because ... and I am not making this up, I chose it because I thought it was cute how they were all in there together like kids at bedtime in an old-timey log cabin or something. The part that is truly absurd about all of this is that, before I really thought about it, that just seemed like a perfectly logical thought to have. I don't know. I mean, I guess I've had weirder thoughts, but I'm not sure I should be thinking that much about silverware, period, ever.

Anyway, just since this is already so random, if anyone is interested in canvas gallery wraps, the company I go through is having a 30% off Christmas in July sale and I am passing the savings along to you! These things are awesome and I could seriously go broke on them, which is why I've been putting off buying them. I hear once you get a tiny taste of canvas, you never go back, and I completely believe it. Check them out at http://www.simplycanvas.com/, and e-mail me if you're interested and we can talk about pricing and sizes and whatnot.

Sara & Marshall: Wedding

OMG, this was one of my favorite weddings ever, and that is both as a photographer and as a guest. It was just a REALLY good time. And weddings are supposed to be joyful occasions, for sure, but this one was totally off the charts. I loved it. :)

Okay, so I tried really hard to limit myself to twelve pictures, but ... yeah right. But, life is short and why hold back, right? Right. So, here it comes, the wedding of the century in chronological order!

Okay, so yes, this is a pretty bridesmaid's dress and bow, but the thing about this picture that I wanted to point out is that as I started looking through the pictures, I noticed that Sara's mom's hands were in a lot of them ... she's helping here, pinning flowers there, tying dresses, putting out fires ... and I just loved it. I remember a girl I know talking about her best friend, and how she's always in the background of all the pictures, taking care of everything and making sure her day went as magically as possible, and I just loved that so much. So now, I have a really great appreciation for the background players in my pictures, because they're the ones who make it happen. :)

I loved this one of Katie the Bridesmaid getting her makeup done! Look at those gorgeous eyes!

So, needless to say, I am terrible at makeup and putting it on ... I manage with mascara and a little something for the eye circles and that's about it. But I LOOOOVE taking pictures of makeup because it's so colorful and so coordinated. (Because, hello, you want your makeup to match ... um, right?)

There she is! The gorgeous bride! Look at that adoring look. Couldn't you just DIE of romance?

Oh my gosh. These two were SUCH dolls, and so was the flower girl. We have gotten SO lucky with the kids in the weddings this year--everyone has been an amazing little mini-rockstar. I totally wanted to take these kiddos with me and put them in all the weddings. Thankfully, they got my crazy June off to an awesome start and everyone must have heard about the great jobs they did and wanted to follow in their shoes. :) So yeah, even though the boys got a LITTLE bored, they totally held it together and this was one of my favorite pictures of the ceremony. :)

My assistant for the day, Jessie Knuth, took this picture. Two things. First of all, Jessie was an INCREDIBLE fill-in for Billy. He had to go out of town, and she was a dream--helpful, attentive, creative ... everything you could want. I wish she had a site I could link to, but she doesn't yet, so just keep her name in mind because I am POSITIVE you'll hear more about her in the future. She rules.

Okay, secondly, I LOVED this blue ceremony. Basically, the church was pretty blue, but then they turned off most of the lights and sunlight was coming in through the blue stained glass windows, and I thought it was totally beautiful. I am now hoping to someday have another blue (or maybe another color!) ceremony.

AAAAAHHHH! This was one of my total favorites! And, just keeping it real, I did not move those shoes at all. The bridesmaids had just kicked them off that way while they were waiting for their next bridesmaid duties.

And also, I'm sure we'll discuss this again in the future, but being a bridesmaid is hard work. I think anyone who has ever done it will back me up on that. You are squeezing into dresses, taking pictures, calming nerves, looking for this, MacGuyvering that ... all while wearing uncomfortable shoes and looking gorgeous! I'm just saying ... it takes a REALLY good friend to want to do that for you, and these girls were awesome. :)

Wow, I don't think I've ever posted a "formal" picture on my blog, but this one was just too funny not to. They wanted silly pictures but I think the kids didn't know what to do, so I told them to make a face, demonstrated that one, and before I knew it, it was a great idea for EVERYONE to make that face! I really hope they enjoy this, because I know if that was me, that's totally the one I'd have sitting on the mantle.

First dance, and they were totally this happy all night ... and actually, they pretty much ALWAYS seem this happy. I think they're going to have a great life together.

Oh, and this one of her dad dance ... that is EMOTIONAL. Do not even try to tell me otherwise. You can see it all in one look how much he loves her and how proud of her he is.

HA! Alright, now I can't remember this girl's name (I'm sorry!) but she's another one in the background of a lot of pictures because she was SO key in the getting ready process, especially with the makeup.

BUT, what I want to say about this picture, is that you know how sometimes you just really appreciate what's happening to you AS it's happening? I had a few of those moments at Sara & Marshall's wedding, where I just thought, WOW, I am having a really great wedding here! The first one, of course, was when I heard a truly filthy joke. That is always the start of a great relationship for me. Just saying. The second one that comes to mind is this picture--Sara LOVES making faces. And I mean LOVES. There are plenty of her making totally insane faces, and they're all great. But on this one, she and her makeup friend decided on the monkey face, and I took a shot and said, "Whoa! Sara! Your eyes look CRAZY here!" So they wanted to see and I showed them, and that's when makeup friend decided that her eyes didn't look crazy ENOUGH, so we had to redo it and got this one! Awesome! Not everyone wants to have crazy eyes in pictures, but I really love the ones that do. :)

WHAT? So cute. Also, if these two ever have children, they're going to have some smokin' blue eyes. But no pressure, you two just got married! (In case you didn't know or forgot or something.)

More hotness (and speaking of, they totally beat the heat--it was sweltering out there and they look like cucumbers ... you know ... cool).

This is Marshall's brother, who, like him, was a DANCING MACHINE. Also, like Sara, he made some crazy faces, which was awesome.

With the girls! Don't you want to know what they're talking about? Or maybe I'm just nosy. :)

MARSHALL'S GRANDMA!!!!!!! She is the sweetest thing ever--very possibly one of the sweetest people I've ever met, and I adore her. He got so lucky with that one! And look at this picture ... there was so much love at this wedding, which, obviously, everyone says about every wedding, but I'm not even just talking about with Sara & Marshall (although obviously between them too), but just with everyone. There are so many people that really love these two and you can just feel how much by standing in the same room with them all.

I don't think there's anything I can say about them busting a move that is going to make it sound like I didn't just travel in a time machine from the year 1997, so I just won't, but I will say that the dancing at this wedding was so fun and enthusiastic that I briefly considered joining in ... but then I remembered that NO ONE needs to see that. :)

And finally, a great note to end on ... Marshall doing the chicken dance. I mean, you can't really tell by his face here, but I have truly never seen anyone more excited about the chicken dance IN MY LIFE. He kept talking about it and wanted to make absolutely sure he didn't miss it, and he was like ... GLEEFUL during the entire thing. I was so glad that we caught that before we headed out, because wow, someone enjoying the chicken dance that much is something that I hope you all get to see before you die. It's really something. :)

Thank you guys SO MUCH for letting me be a part of such a great wedding. I loved every minute of it! Congratulations on what I know is going to be such a bright future for you. :)

To see all of the wedding pictures, you can check out my Instaproofs site, http://sarahbrownphotography.instaproofs.com/. Online ordering is available!

Edit: By request, a link to Sara & Marshall's engagement pics!