Kenison-Smally : A Rustic, Country Wedding
It’s amazing how complicated life gets sometimes. It seems so wonderfully simple when people see you in the grocery store, they say hello, smile at your kids, you both agree the summer is going to quickly and the kids are growing so fast, and you move on… but when you own a business, things are never quite a simple as they seem. LOL!
Case in point: I had been talking back and forth with a bride, answering questions about wedding pricing and she had told me I would be the photographer for their wedding. She was excited and so was I. A few weeks later, I get a call from a wonderful family friend, Jordan…
Jordan is a girl I took senior portraits for back when I was just getting started doing photography full-time. She loved her photos, we ended up doing a “cousins” family photoshoot, then I photographed one of those cousins the next year for her senior portraits as well. After all that, I asked this same gal to babysit my oldest son for me when he was born (I was pregnant when she was graduating and she seemed so genuinely excited and interested I knew I could trust her with my new precious baby boy.) She was beyond amazing. She brought him back to her mom & dad’s house and was never impatient to get him back to me even though I worried he must be getting in the way of her social life. She didn’t feel that way at all, in fact, her and her mom took him all over the place to eat out for lunch with the rest of their extended family, go on little shopping trips and all sorts of other interesting adventures. He (and I) inadvertently became “adopted” members of their extended family and we often celebrated birthdays, holidays and just regular old Sunday afternoons with them. I also ended up photographing her older sister’s son’s newborn portraits a few years back. Needless to say, we are all very close.
… back to the phone call…
she’s asking me about wedding photography and the date has not been set, but she’s thinking about the same date as the other bride I’ve been talking to and who “unofficially” has booked me (AKA: no deposit has been given or contract signed). I beg her to pick one of the other dates but she warns me it’s pretty likely this will be the date because it also happens to be her parent’s anniversary! How can I argue with that?!
{It also just so happens to have another element of ginormous significance… it’s my BIRTHDAY!!! 😉 Hahaa!}
… When it all was said and done, that was the date, June 25th, so I had to debate whether or not I risk upsetting the other bride, possibly ruining my reputation and delicately retract my commitment to photograph her wedding, or risk missing one of the most exciting moments in one of my friend Jordan’s life… Oh, decisions!
Obviously, I knew I couldn’t miss out on Jordan’s wedding, even if I wasn’t photographing it. So, I picked up the phone and gave the unlucky bride a call. She was so amazingly gracious and I was so full of gratitude and relief that she still had plenty of time to find another photographer and not to worry. Happy dance time!
Fast forward to Engagement Pictures… which you can find HERE.
And now it’s time to share some from the BIG DAY!!! It was the most beautiful, rustic country wedding. Set at her parent’s home with all her closest family and friends in attendance. It was a nail-biter though! There was predictions of lots of rain but we only ended up with LOTS of wind, and no rain until later that night around 10pm when everyone was safely under the tent and a little too tipsy to care that their feet were getting all wet.
The wind did make portraits quite challenging. Think wispy hair and ties flying sideways… yeah… not cool. I just had to let go of some of the ideas I had to take pictures in other parts of the yard and stick to an area behind a couple of sheds to keep my subjects from looking like they were about to be swept away. But even with all that, we have a TON of amazing images to choose from for Jordan’s wedding album which I’m excited to start designing soon.
Don’t miss noticing the amazing bridal party flowers that were created by Flowers By Bree. She is a local, Kensett, IA florist that works out of her home and she has a God-given gift for coordinating colors and textures with flowers in the most amazing ways. She can take any bride’s vision/request and bring it into a spectacularly beautiful reality. (Was that enough adjectives for you??? Seriously, she is THAT good!)
Enjoy!
Becca
Jenni : Mason City High School Senior Portraits
I love welcoming old friends back to the studio. Jenni visited in 2011 when her brother, Taylor was getting his senior portraits taken. Here’s a cute picture of them together back in 2011… #tbt 
Well, since then, Jenni sure has grown up and is a gorgeous young lady who is very athletic like her older brother and very much interested in sports.
We actually did two full sessions in one day to capture all her cheerleading, track and softball images as well as all the more classic looks. She picked a wonderful variety of outfits so I felt like she opened a door for me and all my creativity just started flooding out.
I’m in love with these images. I had such a hard time narrowing it down but luckily since we did two sessions, I get to show twice as many for their proofs! LOL! Now they are faced with the hard part, choosing! (Yikes!)
But that reminds me to mention…. One of the best parts about choosing my studio is that I am there for my customers, every step of the way, with an amazing ordering experience where we work together, in my studio with their images and lots of samples and I’m able to show them different creative ideas for displaying their favorite images with my state of the art ordering software. It’s so great, why don’t you call and book your session today and see what it’s all about?! 507-383-2344
🙂
Enjoy!
Rebecca
Katie & Ryan : Austin, MN : 09.24.11
This sweet couple had a beautiful fall day for their wedding. The ceremony venue was Our Saviors Lutheran Church in Austin, MN. It is a place I’ve photographed several times before and felt very comfortable shooting in… although they had made quite a few changes to the church since I was there last, with which I was very impressed, I must say!
The wedding party was looking very unique: the guys in old-school tuxes with bowties and tails… and the gals were lovely in these flowy, blue gowns.
It was a very touching ceremony with the highlight being the music. Their vocalists were Michael Veldman and Erin Schumacher of Austin and they were AMAZING!
Also, Ryan’s college professor… “Wild Bill”… was there to play the organ as well as many of Ryan’s Luther grad friends to support him that day.
We had plenty of fun after the ceremony, stopping here and there taking photographs of the wedding party and then we headed down to Carpenter, IA for the reception at the Community Center.
Ryan is an owner of the Big Tones DJ service, so those guys were on their toes, making for a very fun night to be had by all!
The decorations were gorgeous, created by U R Invited of St. Ansgar, IA.
And the cake, was another blast from the past… a multi-tiered, bridge-connected, fountain-bearing source of sugary sweetness. I just love it when the couple shoves cake into each other’s faces!!!
LOL!
Enjoy!
Becca
Jasmin & Drew : Wedding Portraits : Central Gardens, Clear Lake, IA
Jasmin and Drew had a beautiful summer day for their June 18th wedding ceremony held at Central Gardens in Clear Lake, IA.
I am sure this radiant bride was more than just a bit nervous planning an outdoor wedding, but she sure got lucky! It was just a tad on the hot side, but that was definitely better than the rain we’d been experiencing.
I had the pleasure of photographing among these beautiful gardens full of colorful blossoms. It definitely made my job more fun. It was nice to have several different locations to take family and group portraits. I have dozens of beautiful shots of Drew and Jasmin, it will make it difficult to choose for the album.
The reception was just as intimate of an affair as the wedding ceremony, but still held in high style at the Clarion Inn of Mason City, IA.
Jasmin created the most amazing hand-made candles for favors tucked in cute little craft paper boxes and labeled with a monogrammed stamp. I just love home-made finishing touches.
I can’t wait to share all the images with this bride and groom. But for now, enjoy this sneak peek!
Enjoy!
Becca
Rebecca Lynne Photography : Northern Iowa and Southern Minnesota's Best Photographer! 