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!