RIBBON SAVE THE DATES

FILE CARD GUEST BOOK

CUSTOM FIT WEDDING MENUS

SIGNATURE PLATES

PLAYING CARD PLACECARDS

*GUESTBOOK OR WISHING WELL CARDS*

BUTTON SEATING CARDS

ROSE COVERED AISLE

POM POM CAR DECORATION

SUNSCREEN FOR OUTDOOR WEDDINGS

WEDDING EVENT FLAGS

JUST MARRIED WEDDING BANNER

WEDDING FAVOR CENTERPIECES

FABRIC FLOWER PLACECARDS

PROGRAM POUCHES

*PHOTO TABLE NUMBERS*

WEDDING FAVOR GARLAND

*ENVELOPE GUEST BOOK*

WINE BOTTLE TABLE NUMBERS

Click on the photos to go directly to the Martha Stewart page with all of the info & directions on how to make these projects yourself.  *Starred* ideas mean they are something we offer, so contact us if you are interested : )  Some of these ideas are just so inspiring!  I want to do a full blown wedding next year for our “second wedding/vow renewal/15 year anniversary” just to incorporate them!  I still haven’t gotten very far with actually thinking about May 21, 2011… but I will start soon.  2011 is going to be a year of big changes for us, so May 21st has been the furthest thing from my mind lately.  BUT, I do have an idea on how I’m going to do some things!  We really want to work with indie artists/designers/vendors only — obviously, because that is what we are, and we prefer to have the day be very funky, personal & unique.  We want to really showcase the people we work with–more than just the day of the event, but here on the blog, as well.  If you are a vendor, designer, artist, creator, etc. (for something wedding related in any way) and would like to be a part of our 2nd big day, get in touch!  I would love to hear the types of things you offer… remember we are looking for totally outside the box, vintage, unique, fresh + simple (martha-like) …you get the idea!  Plus, we have three kiddos who will be 9, 6 and 3 & our bulldog, Olive–all of which will be a huge part of the  day : )   It will obviously be a spring event, and we are thinking outdoors or a mix of both indoor and outdoor.  We look forward to hearing from all of you!!  Even if you aren’t a vendor/artist–send is your unique ideas via comment or blog form.  We would be thrilled to get them!  Anyone know of any great wedding photographers and videographers?

Back to editing for me.  Caio!

First off, this Sunday we will be part of the Bridal Expo in DeKalb at NIU.  The show is from 12-4pm, so come see us.  We are tired from sleepless nights and hard work, so we will probably look sickly and ratty–but, hey… let’s meet!  We planned on throwing up our large prints from the Borders display and calling it a day, but no, I had to decide (at the last minute) that I wanted to go through all of our recent weddings and pick favorites, spend 250937 hours editing them, not sleep, spend $2500 on prints + materials, and pretty much lose my mind.  That’s the way I roll.  I am so tired right now, I can’t even put it into words.  There will probably be about 30 misspelled words and a few sentences here and there that make no sense what-so-ever.  Bear with me, folks.

On a happier note, all of that crazy last minute editing has allowed me to create this post for you.  This is what we’ve been up to–pretty much the end of our 2009, minus the mini sessions.  I decided to post *tiny (and I emphasize the word tiny) peeks of all of our client’s wedding galleries that we have not yet started posting to.  I hope this will brighten your day and make you feel like the wait is worth it  : )  I started out just selecting to two from each wedding only, but then by 5am, I kind of forgot and just edited random amounts.  That being said, sorry if you only get to see two photos while some others have three or four (I know I will get emails about this ; ) )  All of our fall/winter weddings were wonderful, and we loved being a part of them.  I will go in order starting with the earliest:

John & Abby’s wedding was pretty much breathtaking.   They had so many neat, personal, handmade details, and yet still made it look so high class + upscale.  Their reception and Private Time were held at Mauh-Nah-Tee-See Country Club.  It was our first wedding there, but definitely not our Last!  Danielle + Layton’s wedding was just 2 weeks after.  We really have some amazing shots to share with you from this wedding.  John and Abby were so incredibly easy to work with, and once again, humored us by doing all of our “crazy” ideas without saying a word.  You will see later…let’s just say “American Gothic on a Golf Course” (can you tell we like to use that?!)

Isn’t Abby stunning?  Love the flower in her hair!

And that brings us to Jeremy & Ally’s wedding.  I’ve know Ally since she was a little girl. She was friends with my younger sisters growing up. Because of that, it was extra special for me to be a part of her wedding. Once again, these two totally understood our style and gave us plenty of time for Private Time, perhaps the most anyone has ever given us! We had a lot of fun and got some great shots. They are so cute together–it was easy to capture the love : )

Be prepared to see a lot of wonderful Private Time shots when I post this full wedding blog in the future!

Here are some of our favorites from Layton & Danielle’s wedding.  You may remember these two from their Engagement Session posted awhile back.  As I said in that post, I went to high school with Danielle, so I felt honored when she came to us and immediately said she wanted us for her wedding.  As I got to thinking about it, I’m pretty sure these two gave us a huge amount of time for Private Time, too.  We had so much fun walking around the inside of the Country Club looking for unique spots.  Here is one of my favorites shot through the stairs:

Definitely a unique view and lighting setup.  I pretty much overlooked it at first, but the more I saw it, the more I loved it.  It’s quickly becoming a top pick.

Before we got to the reception, we rode around in a giant “tour bus”–and I do believe that was the first time we’ve ever had a couple use a bus like that for a wedding.  We’ve had limos, and suv limos and bus type limos, but that was an actual bus.  It was pretty neat.  Here is a shot I took of them in the back of the bus. There were quite a few sweet ones from this spot.  It was hard to pick a favorite.

It was getting dark quickly, and Eric and I were pretty much in a panic.  We knew we didn’t want night time flash shots for their wedding party portraits + private time, but it was looking like we weren’t going to have much of a choice.  We had planned to stop at Emerson St. for a quick photo, because that is their last name, and it’s something we’ve never tried.  Good idea, but it took a long time to get there!!  So here is the end result:

Worth the drive and extra time?  I think so : )  I would like to have something like that from my wedding day.  And finally, here is a shot we took inside the country club.  We liked the snowflake ornaments hanging from the ceiling and knew we wanted to use them in some way.

Now we are at Brock & Brittany’s winter wonderland wedding!  We shot Brock’s brother’s wedding earlier this year, so we had already kind of gotten to know Brock and Brittany through that. I’ve gotta say, Brittany wins the medal for being the most willing bride we’ve ever had.  It was her idea to walk in the snow (in her gown and heels) and go climb up and stand on a snow covered picnic table for some quick shots… and it was absolutely freezing out!  When she mentioned the idea, all we had to say was…..  YES!  That about made our day.  Those photos will come with their full wedding post, but here are some other wonderful ones of the happy couple:

So, yeah, the balloon hault didn’t last too long.  We used them at Layton & Danielle’s wedding, as well as Brock & Brittany’s!  Sometimes you just have to deal the pain in the butt issues to get the fun photos you really want.  Once again, these balloons were not blowing in the right direction, and poor Brock was really trying hard to make it work.  He did!  So many of them turned out great!  So this next shot says it all.  This couple was ready + willing, and because of that, they got some extra unique images that they will have forever!

This next photo is part of a new add-on we are now offering.  It’s called the Thank You Set (original, I know… we are too busy being unique with our photos.  I don’t have time to come up with cool add-on names like I always planned to!)  We will bring this awesome Thank You parasol and use it for a few shots during private time.  You will then get a set of 100 photo postcards with your favorite Thank You image.  It’s new for 2010 : )  Contact us if you are a current client and are interested in adding this option on.  We also have one that says “I Do.”

Finally, we will wrap up this post with our last wedding of 2009; Kyle & Lindsey.  We never got a chance to meet with Kyle and Lindsey before they wedding, but were happily surprised at all the unique touches they couple had put on the wedding day and how their wedding was very much our style.  I especially loved the simplicity of Lindsey’s dress and the AMAZING, and I do mean amazing, bridesmaids dresses she had they girls wear.  Those images will come in their full wedding post, but here are a few favorites for now!

This next shot is one of my favorite wedding captures ever.  While we do a lot of the legs and feet shots, most of them are not posed–even if they appear to be.  Occasionally we will pose the couple and ask them to “hike” their dress and pants up a tad.  It makes for a fun shot.  This photo was completely unposed and just look at Kyle’s pants!  We couldn’t have “posed” it better.

So there you have it–our final events of 2009.  I’m still working on the “best of” posts and the vendor/reception hall reviews.  I promise to get those up soon!  Plus, we have another awesome announcement or three about the Boudoir Event this month.  The plan is to post it Saturday if I get the chance, so come back and see!!

I think pretty much all of these images will be a part of our Bridal Show booth, so I guess they will all be old news if you come visit us!  I hope everyone enjoyed their sneak peeks.  We can’t wait to get all of these new weddings up in the galleries.  They are all so wonderful!  Thanks again for letting us be a part of your day, everyone.

-ae

Gosh, I love my job!  Thanks for having us, Hot Pink Brides!  It’s great to be showcased on such a lovely blog!

1) If you are a current client who has us booked for a remaining 2009 date or a date in 2010,  you can choose to take $200 off your package if you win the contest!

2) If you are a previous client who has already had us shoot your wedding and/or mini sessions, you can choose to receive a $150 “ae credit” — good for prints, albums and add-ons, if you win the contest!

So now EVERYONE can enter… so… ENTER EVERYONE!  : )

We’ve enjoyed the entries so far!  Please keep them coming!

Thanks,

eric + ashley

I am deathly ill today. I’v been under the weather for awhile, but it’s awful right now.  Hopefully I will recover soon.  *Please don’t let it be the swine* That said, I’m going to bed.  At 9:18 pm.  Anyone who knows me knows this hasn’t happened since I was in grade school.

Liz is extremely artistic, so we knew their wedding would be great–and they did not let us down : )

A few preparation shots–everything was so relaxed and comfortable.

And then the small, intimate ceremony took place.  Liz had a super 8 video made of the day.  They played it at the reception, and it was amazing.  I definitely have put that on my to-do list for the “2nd wedding” in 2011.  You can view it here.  Here is the guy responsible for such great work:

Some lovely details:

Aren’t these cloth napkins great?  What a neat favor idea.

They served brunch after the ceremony, which we had the pleasure of eating.  It tasted as wonderful as it looked!  YUM!

Their cake was quite adorable, and I love this ring shot Eric took:

This little lady kept right on eating that hot dog during the portrait session.  I loved the fact that they just let her eat it–totally our kind of couple!  Everyone is lined up for a “formal” shot, which we took, but I just had to walk up and get a picture of her.  I love it!  The other little girl, which I’m pretty sure is “hot dog girl’s” sister, held this sign up when Eric went over to take her picture.  How adorable? : )

So Pete and Liz set aside a large chunk of time for their Private Time photos.  It definitely pays off.  Not only do you get many more shots of the two of you, (which is really what it’s all about, correct?) but you just get a better variety and overall end result.  When there’s more time, there is less stress.  You are able to relax, have fun, be yourselves… and it shows in the pictures!  So many times couples decide to cut out Private Time to save time.  We can’t stress enough how important it is to not only keep it a part of your day, but really focus on it.  Really, in the end, do you think you will frame the formal portraits at the alter with this aunt and that uncle or the 10 cousins?  Will they be a part of the album?  Coming from us, people hardly ever purchase those… they almost always go for the special candid moments we captured.  We are not against family portraits in any way–we know they can be a special part of the day.  Just don’t forget that it is your day, and pictures of the two of you are the most important.

On with the show:

Thank you, Pete and Liz, for letting us be a part of both of your big days–as well as your engagement session!  We had a great time during all three occasions : )  We hope you love the photos.  Posting to your new gallery will start on 15th!

Apparently one image was featured a week or so ago for a post about a Jessica McClintock dress (Amber’s dress!)