Ashley & Kyle's WEDDING!!!

Now, I think that we can all agree that I am not known for short blog posts, but I REALLY went all out on this one, so just do yourself a favor, take a pee break now, find a comfy place to sit, and grab a beverage, because we're going to be here awhile! :)

This is Ashley, who is just the cutest thing in the world, and SUCH a beautiful bride. As I think I mentioned in their sneak peek, I knew Kyle since we were kids (I'm like 99% sure he was at the birthday party where some of my brother's friends tried to microwave my cat--Gremlins gave them ideas--but he wasn't one of the offenders. Still, memories.), but I just met Ashley for the first time on the day of the wedding. By the end of the night (and especially by the end of the next morning when we did their After Party session), I felt like we'd been friends for years too!

I love this picture for a couple of reasons, the first being that Ashley's eyelashes look soooooo cool. I want fake eyelashes so bad I can hardly stand it, but I can barely apply my own mascara and I'm sure that the fake eyelashes would be WAY beyond my skill level. The second is that she looks so thoughtful, and I feel like that's a classic wedding day shot, although she definitely didn't seem nervous at all (to me, at least!) and was probably just concentrating really hard on her hair (which looked great!).

It kind of cracks me up when I "get caught", and someone gives me a very "gotcha!" look into the camera, just like Ashley's mom is doing here. But I LOVED this picture, and I think her mom is so cute too, so you can see she comes by it honest.

Just loved this. So pretty.

This little lounger was in a great spot next to a window (we were at the Ritz Charles in Carmel, Indiana, for anyone interested), and it was BEGGING for some pictures to be taken on it. This one was my favorite because it was just so full of life, but I know sometimes people don't like pictures of them talking, so I compromised ...

... and showed this one too! Also beautiful. :)

The girls were really excited about getting a picture of everyone getting ready together in the mirror, and with good reason because I loved how it came out. (And, confession, I was totally impressed with myself for getting a picture straight into the mirror without being in the picture myself! Ninja skills!)

One of the (many) cool things about Ashley and Kyle's wedding was that almost all of their vendors had a personal connection to them. One of Ashley's relatives (I want to say her grandma, but it could've been an aunt) did the flowers, and I was MADLY in love with these arrangements for the flower girls. I don't even know what you call them--I always just refer to them as flower balls. But I thought this one was so unusual because of the texture and dimension, and how it had flowers poking out of it. SO cool.

Oh, speaking of flower girls ... I LOVED this shot of Kirsten and her mom.

Bridesmaid Tracy getting the candles ready and checking the levels. And by the way, everyone, I'm probably totally butchering the spelling of your names but I'm sorry! My name is Sarah Brown and it's the easiest name in the world, and it has left me ill-prepared for name-spelling. :)

Ashley and Kyle decided to go for seeing each other before the wedding, which I love, both for time reasons and because I get to be so up close and personal when they see each other for the first time. :) The Ritz had a cute little courtyard right near the ballrooms, so me and Billy had like a secret ops mission to get them both there but without seeing each other until we were totally ready with our cameras.

Awww, they were both so excited!

The Look! You know how I love that! :)

Billy took this one! And I love it! Billy took some of my favorite shots at this wedding and this is one of them--love the composition and their faces. This one is for sure going in the album. :)

Ashley told me specifically in the weeks leading up to the wedding that she wanted some fun shots of the bridal party, and this was by far my favorite. I love how it looks like a party in a speakeasy going on all around them, and Ashley and Kyle are like the queen and the king ruling over the place. This is one of those shots where your bridal party can really make it or break it for you, and I think we can all 100% agree ... these guys MADE IT!

The "seeing her walk down the aisle" shot, which I never, ever, ever get tired of.

The Look AGAIN!

Awww, now this guy is Sid, the greatest ring bearer probably ever. Sid was a CHAMP. He was perfect during pictures, did whatever pose I asked him to do, kept smiling ... I loved him. And I loved this picture--he had just dropped the ring pillow and this is him turning around to give his family a sheepish grin. HEARTBREAKER! I'm calling it now. Give this kid another 8 to 10 years and he'll be a legend. Also, I didn't think I caught a picture of the actual drop, but if you look REALLY closely in the gallery at one of the wide shots, you can see it falling to the floor. It'll be like a little game if anyone wants to try to pick it out. :)

Aaaaahhhhhh! One of my favorite recessional pics of all time just because they both look SO HAPPY! Yay!

Billy took this one and I have no idea what's going on here, but I love it.

This is the other shot that Billy took that I am in LOVE with. I don't know if he got bubbles on his lens or if it was just how the light got through them, but I think it's so pretty and great. Mark that one for the album too! I'm going to have to call that album "Billy's Greatest Hits". (Get it?!?! See what I did there? Album like ... a record ... Yeeeaaaaah.) :)

This is Audrey, co-flower girl extraordinaire, and her little sister. Their mom really wanted a picture of the two of them together but they were not having it. I have no idea what magic wand I waved that got them to sit down for a few seconds, but it must have been some pretty powerful stuff, because check out the cuteness!

Okay, now this is the top of the cake. It was a gorgeous cake, with tiers and the little dots that you can see on their, and orchids kind of spiralling down the front (good LORD, I'm terrible at describing things ... which is why it's good that I stick to taking pictures). Anyway, right up until I edited this picture, I just assumed those were real flowers. When I got really up into this and got a closer look, I realized that I THINK THOSE ARE SUGAR FLOWERS. What?!?! Can anyone confirm or deny this? Because if they are, we need to sign you up for some Food Network Challenge because those are amazing!

Bling!

Sid and his buddy in the photo booth! I definitely wanted to show the photo booth for two reasons, the first one being that this is something that seems to really be gaining in popularity lately (probably because it's so fun and awesome), and the second one being that friends of mine from high school own this one! I'm totally embarassed, I don't have their card with me, but if anyone wants to leave a comment with the contact info, that would be awesome, or if anyone wants to rent it, let me know and I WILL put you in touch with them! It was really fun and everyone enjoyed it so much.

These two were TOO much, in the total good way. Kirsten is totally a little budding photographer, running around taking pictures all day and night of everything from people to the cake to herself, and Audrey is an assistant/art director waiting to happen. She was making sure I got shots of various people and events and telling me how people should be posed, and it was really funny. They're going to have to call me when they're grown up and looking for jobs ... I would totally hire them. :)

Ashley and her brother. :)

And Kyle and his brother! Isn't that funny? I didn't even plan it! But yes, this is Kyle's brother Craig, who I have known since he was a tiny little kid. I kept telling everyone that in my mind, Craig had never aged beyond about five or so, and even seeing him as an adult, I was like ... Craig shouldn't be doing a toast! Five-year-olds can't drink! But as it turns out, Craig is all grown up and he gave the sweetest toast ever. Awww, Craig--I like him!

Now this is a sweet little picture after the cake was all cut and eaten and whatnot, but don't let it fool you, because ...

... Ashley was a cake smasher! Which, really, I think is the way to go. I had to show this pic though because it reminded me that before Kyle headed back to his seat, he snagged another quick bite of cake. And that just made me laugh so hard, because it was such a Kyle thing to do. I was telling Ashley my favorite Kyle story at the wedding, which is that when we were kids, my brother's friends were in and out of the house a lot. My mom, like her mother and her mother before that, is pretty good at baking and always cooks enough food for a small army, so I think that's what made our house sort of a draw for the boys. Anyway, one day she made the most god-awful batch of chocolate chip cookies you've ever tasted in your LIFE, and if you think that's not possible, I can just assure you that it is when you leave out the SUGAR. The sugar! Yeah, I can't believe it either. So we're all like, "MOM, throw those cookies AWAY, they are an abomination of the Lord!" (or something like that, I may be paraphrasing ... but not by much), and she's all like, "No! That's wasteful! I'll just give them to Kyle! He'll eat anything!" And I swear to you, hand of God, even Kyle spit them out, and it was both hilarious and satisfying that they really WERE that bad. Kyle has always been just as lean as he is now, and MAN can he put away some food. It's really impressive and has to be seen to be believed. :)

This was Billy's first shot of the bouquet in the air and he was totally proud (and so was I!). :)

Now this is funny because Kyle unexpectedly had to do a little dance for the garter removal, and he really rocked it out--seriously, it was the topic of conversation for the night. My mom was sick and didn't make it to the wedding, but when we all got home that night, it was definitely what we devoted the most time to telling her about because it was just so funny. My other favorite thing about this pic is that you can see my dad and brother in the background (to the left), and they just look so much like THEM when they're entertained, and it made me laugh.

The first dance ...

... and the dance with Dad (and NO, that is not my thumb--I think it's someone's head, but the picture is just so good otherwise that I didn't think it was worth trashing it over) ...

... and the dance with Mom! Don't you always wonder what people are whispering to each other in photographs? I love it--it's like a little mystery. :)

And of course, the dollar dance! I'm not sure what made Craig dump all the money on the floor, maybe he got confused for a second and thought that we were in a rap video, but whatever the reason, I'm glad he did because it made for some sweet pics!

And here's Craig and Cindy goofing around with the photo booth props! Seriously you guys, FUN TIMES. If you're getting married, you've gotta get one.

Alright, so it's totally out of order, but this was like The Shot of the reception. Kyle dipped her right at the end of the first dance, and I had no idea it was coming, so I was just glad I was in such a sweet spot to get it! Man, I love these two--I'm so excited with how the pictures turned out!


And if you want to see ALL of the pictures, head on over to my Instaproofs site to check out the gallery! Online ordering is available, and there are about a zillion to choose from (thanks to the magic of Adobe Lightroom! Seriously--SO much quicker and more efficient, so I can give more pictures to the clients! Yay! Winwinwinwinwin!). And be sure to leave lots of comment love for Kyle and Ashley! That's one of the best parts of the blog is the sharing of the love. :)

Oh ... speaking of sharing the love! Yeah, I totally had to sneak in a picture of my dad and my brother. I told them if I didn't take one, Mom would kill me in my sleep. Like I said before, this is my first wedding I've done where my family was around and I wasn't sure how it would go, but it was actually really fun! I got to chat with them for a few seconds here and there, and then they got to see me work my butt off (and then work it back on later with some Hot Box breadsticks .... MMMMMMM), so all around good times!


Alright ... whew! This was a pretty intense blog post, so if you made it this far, you're AWESOME! We're not even close to finished with all the pictures yet to come so you're going to want to venture on back soon. :)


And remember, comments are the blogger's gold! Bring it!