Rachel & John, the First Course

Like the title? It's kind of a pun, like it's an appetizer to get you wanting more, but also it's on a GOLF course ... huh? Right? Like it? Okay then.

Remember how I told you guys I couldn't WAIT to blog Rachel and John's wedding? Yeah, still true. They got married on her family's golf course, and so we were able to run around and do a lot of fun stuff, and I GOT MY OWN GOLF CART. It was magical, and I'll give you all the details in the full post, but for now, sneak peak--prepare to be amazed.

I think that whoever cares for the greens was okay with the heels poking holes, because then he wouldn't have to aerate it or something? I don't know--I know nothing about lawn care and even less about golf courses, but it seemed reasonable. :)

Oh, STOP. Stop stop stop. Too hot!

For the toasts, the whole bridal party stood up behind their table, and I loved that, and it made for great pictures. And doesn't everything look madly classy? I thought the yellow was so pretty--perfect for a late summer golf course wedding. :)

I'm going to try to really push hard on my last couple of weddings to make sure that everyone gets their pictures before Christmas, but I want to spend the same copious amounts of time on all of them. I'm just telling you all this so that if you are my friend, you will understand why I have no life and/or might not be able to talk about anything but photography (or, at any rate, slightly moreso than usual), and if you are my client, you know that I am SO all over it. This is a big goal for me and I don't honestly know yet if I can do it, but I will make absolutely sure that everyone has SOMETHING by Christmas. I will not Grinch you on this, I promise.

Mike, Carrie, and The Veil (our special guest star)

So, I have been excited to blog about Carrie and Mike's wedding since I very first met Carrie in the Mass Ave Starbucks last winter, because I instantly knew she was my kind of girl when she gave me my favorite compliment on my photography, possibly ever. And it was this:

"I just like that you don't do all the typical bullshit."

THAT'S WHAT I WAS GOING FOR! I was so excited. :) And so I was already pumped for this wedding, which was going to happen on the canal and inside the Indiana State Museum, and I show up, and Carrie is even more gorgeous than I remember, and Mike is fun and funny and awesome to be around, and they're getting married in perfect sunlight ... it was such a dream, I loved it. So, shall we?



See? She is perfection in a wedding dress.



This veil was killer. It was really, really long, but it also had a short little part that went over the face, and that velcroed onto the big veil. I mean, it really was a good and practical set up, but it became super special to me and Billy when we later heard Mike refer to it as a Transformer.



But I will love the veil (and the light wind) forever for giving us this shot.



And this one! Do you see why it had to be included in the title? It definitely earned it, and we're not even done yet.



Here's the handsome groom, and my favorite part of this is how there's like perfect rays of light from heaven shining down on his head from behind. Do you see it?



Apparently, the veil wasn't getting enough attention at that moment and got a little diva on us and flew off. (In actuality, I think it got loosened a little bit on the walk down the steps and aisle.) The look on Carrie's sister's face KILLED me, and this is one of my favorites as a result. It was no big deal, though--Carrie's sister and dad fixed it, everyone got a little laugh, and the show went on.

And can I just say ... her DAD helped fix it! My dad would not have the first clue what to do. I remember once when I was like seven or eight, my mom had to work late so my dad took me to softball practice, and I needed to have my hair put in a ponytail, which he obviously did not have any idea how to do, because he tied a SATIN RIBBON around my hair and expected that to work! People, my hair is so slick it sometimes has a hard time staying in an actual ponytail holder, so this sad solution didn't last more than like ... 30 seconds once I took my spot in right field (which, as you may know, is where they put the kids who are absolutely nightmarish at softball, so they can look at dandelions and daydream about cloud pictures or whatever). So anyway, her dad even considering helping was probably about as foreign a concept to me as if Iron Man showed up to fight crime and dazzle us with a few witty one-liners at right that very second. I'm just saying.



I LOVE this.



Look at how happy they are! And does anyone else think that preacher looks TOTALLY like David Cross?



Feel the love!



Now this one, I'm sorry Mr. Preacher Man because I know you're talking and it's not your fault that you're making a crazy face, but I couldn't resist posting this because Carrie looks goddess-like beautiful here. I mean, she looks like when Arwen first shows up in Lord of the Rings. Also, apparently today is going to be the day where I out myself on all my nerd movie loves. Basically, if Dwight Schrute loves something, you can be pretty sure that I do too.



I always like the shots of the groom holding the bouquet. I think it's because it reminds me of when you're trying on dresses or something and your boyfriend has to hold your purse, except on your wedding day, they're actually happy to do it instead of rolling their eyes and trying to hide it under their folded arms (and thereby squishing your granola bars and Kleenex and whatever else you have in there, depending on the size of your purse--mine is gaining weight by the day and I think it needs to go to whatever the purse equivalent of Jenny Craig is, like, asap).



I know they don't have any, but I already want to show this picture to their grandkids.



The Indianapolis skyline from the canal. I love, LOVE, how the sunset is reflecting in the windows, making the bottom parts of the building look like they're on fire in the good way. This picture makes me miss Indy--I love how it came out.



Mike's dad and best man, giving a toast and looking so happy and awesome. These two had awesome families.



Mike's mom--I really loved the moment.



The first dance!



I think he likes to headbutt her, because I have a few pictures from the day of that. I hope so, anyway, so they'll look at this picture and be like, "Awwww, headbutting!" (Y'all, this is why I don't write the romance novels.)



Oh, STOP! This one kills me. I just feel like there are no words but it says it all.



Oh, and Carrie and her dad are equally smashing. And seriously, the State Museum was perfect. I loved it. (I know, I know, I'm being redundant with all the love but I really can't help it! It's all true!)



I could seriously frame this and put it on my wall. (And I might.)



Carrie's mom. Easy to see where she gets her pretty face and smiley eyes.



Carrie and her sister, and I love this because you know they are about to cause some sort of trouble, and you also know that they are not rookies.

And also, I'm so sorry, I can't remember Carrie's sister's name, and I'm so mad at myself about that, but there is actually a reason, and it's that she looks almost exactly like one of my mom's friend's daughters, whose name is Shelly. So now I'm stuck and I know her name ISN'T Shelly, but I can't get past it. So Sister-Not-Shelly, I'm so sorry and it doesn't mean I don't love you, it just means that I'm forgetful. :)



I made this lady let me take a picture of her because I LOVE her head accessory and I want one really bad, but I think I may have to wait till I'm older and fabulous with shorter hair, but this is PERFECTION for me. She looks amazing.

I think short hair must be in my future, because I picked out someone else that I want to be when I'm like, late 50's, early 60's. I worked with her one summer in Virginia, and she had white hair and her name was Shirley. She and her friend Barbara would get dressed up and go to town, and come back with tons of ingredients for margaritas, which they would proceed to make and drink at the picnic tables. I'd see her flying around the curves back up the mountain in her convertible, and she had the wind in her short white hair and she'd be smoking cigarettes and generally looking awesome.

So, okay, I think I can really pick up smoking, but I'm pretty sure I can one day make a convertible happen. Maybe I can use candy cigarettes as stand-ins.



And finally, we never made it outside to see the fireworks, but Billy did head out and take a few shots. Firework pictures are really hard to get and not have camera shake, so I was extra super impressed with this one, and it's beautiful. Plus, like the sunset and the skyline, it was all part of their night, you know? Like the city was celebrating with us.

Awww, MAN, am I done with this post already? It flew by. I'll have a post-wedding couples session (with dogs!) to post later, so we're not totally done with Mike and Carrie yet! And in the meantime, if you want to check out their gallery, it's at http://sarahbrownphotography.instaproofs.com. I hope you love it all as much as I do!

Pictures of Not People

As things slow down for me in my photography life, as they tend to do in the winter, I find myself looking forward to shooting pictures of whatever I want, whether it's blurry lights on a road, shoes flung over a telephone line, or the cattails that I pass on my way to work (yes please, and soon). These were both from Alex's session--I usually end up with a few random shots of things I like while I'm out shooting, and people have so far all been extremely kind about indulging me.

I had expected to have Carrie and Mike's photos posted tomorrow, but a few unexpected things happened this week and the new ETA is Sunday. I'm getting excited, are you?

Alex ... The Jacket Says It All

Yup, that's right, we've got a senior on our hands! I've been making Alex (and her poor mom, Sherri) wait forEVER for these, so I owe them a huge long blog post. Let's get down to business, shall we?

Alex and I found each other through my friend KimO, who set me up with Alex and Akilah (remember, my first gorgeous dancing senior?), who she knows from doing dance team choreography at their high school. As I am one of the most uncoordinated, terrible dancers I know, this makes me terribly impressed with all three of them.

We were lucky to get a super gorgeous day on the canal. This actually was in front of the NCAA Hall of Champions, if I recall, which holds fond memories for me, especially of one particular summer day where me and all my girlfriends were single and kicking it, and decided to go sunbathing and then accidentally wandered over to the TGI Friday's at the Marriott for daquiris on the patio at like two in the afternoon. Good times. And if there are any minors reading this, I was at least 24 years old and I didn't drive anywhere. Stay in school.

Perfect light.

Not necessarily related to Alex so much, but an aside inspired by her picture, is that I think I need to make an appointment with my hairstylist in Indy (once you find a good one, it doesn't matter if you move four hours away, YOU KEEP HER) so she can give me bangs. I am all about it right now. Plus, if I don't like them (unlikely ... you guys should see the things this girl can do with a haircut), my hair grows ridiculously fast and they'd be easy to grow out.

See? Look at this--she has such pretty eyes and the bangs like beckon you to look at them. I'm hoping it isn't just the magic of Alex and that it'll work on me too.

Oh, switchin' it up, gettin' a little artistic. This picture totally does not look like where we were at all. We were in the sun, across the street from a very busy baseball diamond (go Indians). But I find that I usually throw in one or two pretty dark pictures for my seniors, because no matter how happy and sunny you usually are, part of being a teenager is that you feel a little moody sometimes. And yeah, it sucks, but think about how many awesome movies and TV shows are based solely around this fact? I mean, look at me, I'm 27 years old and you could still get me to stop dead in my tracks for an episode of My So-Called Life.

Also ... I totally bought tickets to the midnight showing of Twilight tomorrow. Just saying.

Aaaahhhh, so pretty! Eyes and bangs, I'm TELLING you!

Like we could pass up this little section of the mural and not give dancing a little shout out! Don't you just love the brightness?

And don't you just love the opposite of brightness? You know, as a photographer, you kind of have to accept that your favorites and the client's favorites are often not going to be the same thing. I would expect that Alex and her family might prefer lighter pictures where you can see more of her pretty face (which is totally understandable, I would too), but as a photographer, I love this picture for the mood and tone and it was definitely one of my favorites of the session.

We put a twist on the iPod pics and went to the place on the mural where there was music and dancing. And by the way, Alex and Sherri, thank you for walking so far with me. I still cringe when I think about the nighttime hike I took you on. And the roadkill. Yikes.

But then I admire this picture with the ponytail flying up, and I feel less sorry. :)

Remember how I said I'm the world's worst dancer? Yeah, it's still true. Nothing's changed since the beginning of this post. But Alex is so fluid and graceful when she dances, and pictures do it no justice at all. It's like how no pictures or video do justice to how many people were in Grant Park on election night ... it's something you just have to experience. Nonetheless, I gave it my best shot (pun!), and I love how "in the moment" she looks.

Alex, Sherri, thank you so much for your patience and for indulging all my whims on our shoot! I had so much fun with you, and I hope senior year is going awesome!

If you want to see the rest of the pictures, they're up in a gallery named "Alex" on my Instaproofs site. The password is Alex's last name, and as always, online ordering is available! Happy looking!

Sneak peek of Carrie and Mike, plus a little info you might be interested in

I love these two so much, even though I really have only met Carrie three times and Mike twice, but once is really all you need. I kept saying over and over at their wedding how outdoor weddings practically do themselves, and it's so true--I was looking through their pictures just last night and commenting to Billy about how they looked to good to be mine. :) But they are, and I can't wait to show them off! In the meantime, to get you excited ...

I loooooved how they all had different flowers. And the bridesmaid who got the daisies could not have been more thrilled. :)

Obviously Carrie and Mike majorly loved me back because they picked the most perfect sunshine time of day for me to take pictures.

Awwww. :)



Some people may have already seen this one because I sent it to Carrie's mom to put in her hometown paper, but I still liked it and I want you to get excited for all the fun Indy stuff to come. :)

Okay, and since I promised you guys more info you would be interested in, I just want to give an updated rundown of the order I'm doing the weddings. Portraits will be stuck in intermittently, so don't worry about those so much, but weddings will go:

Carrie and Mike
Rachel and John (OMG, I can't even WAIT for that blog, as those of you who were there will understand)
Katie and Mark
Kasey and Pete
Kristin and Justin

Wow ... not many more to go! I guess I didn't really realize until I just typed that little list. Exciting!

Sarah and Corey: Part B

Do you guys like my title? It is, as my old roommate Amity would say, an inside joke with myself. I named the posts Part Uno and Part B, because I love that part in Home Alone so much when Buzz is giving a list of why Kevin is fine by himself in the house, and he numbers it "A", "2", and "D", which I have always found hilarious.

Y'all, I am a pop culture junkie. I can't help it. I don't want to help it. I just want to acknowledge it. :)

Anyway, I only forgot two pictures, but they are really important and you need to see them and lavish your love upon them. Ready? Go.



Sarah pre-wedding. Looking gorgeous and amazing and beautiful and marvelous.



And this one? Perfect. He's waiting for her to come down the aisle. And as a photographer, this is kind of the moment you live for.

Sarah and Corey: Part Uno

Okay, so I'm completely mad at my photobucket right now because I thought I had uploaded more pictures than this, and at least two that I KNOW I want to show you are missing. So I am doing the rarely seen TWO PARTER! It's gonna be awesome.

Meanwhile, I can't wait to get on with the first part. Sarah and Corey have been awesome from day one, and she is even my facebook friend now! (And you can be too--just let me know if you want to be and I'll find you, since I have the most common name in the history of ever.)

Sarah's dad officiated the ceremony, and it was so great. Billy used to assist a wedding videographer*, and he said that he thinks that this would have been one of the best weddings to get on video because her dad performing it was especially significant, and it was funny and sweet and Sarah was such an animated bride. Billy loved these guys.

*As a sidenote, I like to tease Billy about always being an assistant. So whenever he says he wants to do something, for example, be a cake decorator (only when we're watching Ace of Cakes, as it happens), I say, "No, I'LL be the cake decorator and you'll be the assistant cake decorator." Or since he's going to school to be an orientation and mobility specialist for the visually impaired, I'll be like, "I'll just be the O&M specialist and you can be the assistant." It's really fun and never gets old (although he may disagree).

These boys were CRAZY cute. I've said before and I'll say again that we have gotten amazingly lucky with all the kiddos this year--they've all been great and well-behaved and so adorable. And the little enforcer here is KILLING me.

I LOVE taking pictures of the grandparents. They're always so cute, and they always have the most interesting faces and look amazing in black and white. And I love cameras, in case you didn't know.

Oh, ha! I took a picture of this just to be able to tell the story on my blog! For whatever reason, and I have no idea why, me and Billy were peeking over the baptismal pool (is that what it's called?) and we saw those boots sticking out and it really startled both of us, like, is there a body in the baptism thing??? No, it was just waders, but we watch a LOT of horror movies* (I'm a junkie), so you can imagine how our minds didn't have to work hard to make the leap. And then we got a good laugh out of it.

*For the first time in possibly ever, I am really looking forward to February. In Chicago, no less! On Friday the 13th in February, the new remake of Friday the 13th comes out, and on the next day, the 14th, My Bloody Valentine 3-D comes out! As a bonus, each one stars a boy from Supernatural! I am beyond excited ... it's going to be one awesome marathon weekend of gloriousness! And I also kind of love holiday horror movies ... Halloween was obviously awesome, and I LOVED the campy slasher that was the Black Christmas remake a few years ago. I need to watch the original, but nonetheless, I will be busting out my DVD of the new one again this year. Does anyone know of a good Thanksgiving horror movie? Oh, and I am completely addicted to Scream Queens on VH1 right now. It combines two of my favorite things--horror movies and trashy reality TV.

I pulled this out of a formal shot--he was just a small part of it which is why it may appear a little grainy, but when I noticed him being cross-eyed (ON PURPOSE!) for the picture, I decided a little revenge was in order. If his parents are reading this, I totally nominate this picture to be displayed large and proud at his high school graduation. :)

Sarah and her dad ... ummm, AWWWWWWWWWWW! They were so cute, and I also loved the pictures of him dancing with Sarah's sister. Their family is so sweet and loves each other so much.

Double fisting! I think technically, she was holding someone else's glass, but the camera neither knows nor cares.

The best man delivered his speech from a Detroit Lions notebook, because apparently he and Corey are big fans (Corey being a Michigander and whatnot ... I bet he even describes locations using the palm of his hand).

Okay, so I love this picture and the finger pointing at Corey, but don't you also think he kind of looks like the kid in home ec class in Superbad that Evan puts flour on his face and he looks like a cat? But seriously, this was a major cake smashing, and Sarah did NOT hold back, and her laptop also got caught in the cake crossfire and was covered in crumbs, which, like everything, didn't phase her one bit.

I have had almost entirely stress-free, no drama brides and there have been absolutely ZERO bridezillas so far. I have no idea how I've gotten so lucky with that, and I hear other photographers comment on out of control brides and I am overjoyed to not be able to relate, but I am telling you ... Sarah took the easy-going, free-spirited, good naturedness to a whole new level. She enjoyed her entire day to the max.

The cake topper! This wedding had amazing little details, which I love but usually opt not to show in my blog posts only because I have more to say about people having fun and looking happy, but it doesn't mean I don't love them all. I most definitely do. But as a total nerd, I loved the blackness of the background but especially the detail in the white, which I have personally always found challenging. I mean, just go take pictures of snow and see how much detail you get. It's tough. Thankfully, I think Chicago will dump plenty of snow on me this year and I'll get lots of practice time.

Sarah had two big crazy dances with each of her parents. Isn't that awesome! And, since she immediately removed the big poufy slip thing from underneath immediately (and I mean IMMEDIATELY) after the wedding (like before the family pics), we got lots of fun pictures of her dress flying around. Very fun!

This was my first bona fide groom's cake, and I was so excited to see one. Remember what I said about Michigan? I wasn't messing around. (And don't worry, those weren't peas, they were delicious, delicious icing. Although SOMEONE recently, and I think it was my grandma maybe, was telling me about how when she worked in a school cafeteria, they had something called "Wacky Cake", and apparently it was just chocolate cake with an enormous, industrial-sized can of peas crushed up in the cake. The kids never knew about the secret ingredient, the "wackiness" if you will, and went crazy for this cake. And all I'm saying is, from now on, if you are about to eat something with "wacky" in the title, you might just want to give it a second thought before ultimately deciding that ignorance is bliss.)

Favorite ring shot of the whole entire year! I knew Sarah was a big fan of ring shots and they had a little coloring station set up for the kids, so I was got this one and was so excited I made her look at it in my camera. And I love Sarah because she gets just as excited as I do about things like that!

Awwww, I think this was my favorite picture of Sarah and Corey together of the day!

Awww, the dancing was so fun, and Sarah is an awesome dancer, as you may have guessed if you remember from their engagement post that she sings in a band! I'm so jealous of good dancers, because I am so not. My mom actually made me take dance classes as a kid because I was so uncoordinated that she was hoping to at least give me a prayer of being able to walk and chew gum. I am still not what anyone would call graceful and I'm a terrible dancer, but I am at least okay enough with myself to happily bounce around and try not to trip. :)

The best man also was an AMAZING dancer who totally came out of nowhere. Look at Corey admiring his skills ... make that "skillz". Of the mad variety. There's some party dance making the rounds right now and I probably saw it about ten times this year, minimum, and I have no idea what it's called, but I know it involves doing the Charlie Brown so feel free to fill me in on that. I really should know. But anyway, best man came out and showed everyone how it was done. Work it!

A little love for the champagne bottle! I know that when you really think about it, I was essentially taking pictures of garbage here, but it was such PRETTY garbage, no? :) And besides, nothing says celebration like an empty bottle of the bubbly!

This is what I'm talking about on the great little details. It's not just a wedding dress placecard holder ... she tied a red ribbon around the waist to make it look like HER dress! Isn't that awesome and creative?

Okay, I'll post up the last few pictures this evening, but in the meantime, you can go look at the gallery at http://sarahbrownphotography.instaproofs.com.