Photo Blog

Courtney + Michael | St. Louis Engagement Photography

These two. Oh goodness, this couple! Where do I even begin?! First, I can’t help but think of Gulianna + Bill! Don’t they resemble them just a little…even their style?! (They even live in Chicago.) I think it would at least make for a great “couples” Halloween costume. 🙂 I’m really obsessed, by the way, with watching G&B. I play catch up with old DVR episodes before I begin a wedding day.

Pretty Courtney is quite the talent having her own boutique custom stationery business in Chicago! So of course, this means high pressure for her own wedding invitations. 😉

I’m always hoping I get the engagement story correct! I think I take pretty good notes during a meeting, then I look at the mess of my penmanship weeks or months later and think the contrary. 😉 Either way, it happened and we get to be a part of it. So here goes! Courtney + Michael first met on a chance encounter at the Peninsula Hotel. She walked right up to him and started a conversation! All along, he thought she was on a date with another guy. 🙂 So of course, they hit it off. After every date, Michael, Mr. Handsome Romantic, wrote her sweet love notes which Courtney saved. Two years later, Michael planned his big surprise proposal on their anniversary return to the Peninsula. He also handed over two boarding passes to San Fran and Napa! (our favorite places!) to celebrate their engagement!

The chemistry between these two was very obvious during their engagement session. I’m sure you will agree when you see their pretty photos!

Enjoy!

xox

HSR

Brooke + Ryan | St. Louis Wedding Photography

The locals call this place Clinton County. The last time we visited, snow covered the ground at least 5 feet high. Remember Brooke + Ryan’s perfect engagement session? Funny how our next visit – their wedding day – was a bazillion degrees. The hottest day of the season. Hot. (!) One of those days where we had to work quickly so that everyone wouldn’t melt.

Brooke’s family is in the grain business and their grain elevator made the perfect backdrop for the location we were in. Shooting at a location like this was a first for us! After we wiped the mascara clear from under our eyes and smoothed our humidity-taken hair, (okay, I’m talking about me…) 😉 we made our way to Hidden Valley Lake Winery where the reception took place. Everything so white and creamy with a touch of gray, glowing away. I was hoping once evening hit it would be a nice time to sneak away with the happy couple. So during dinner we made our way down by the lake, and sure enough, it starts raining. Raining! Like umbrella-raining. This is seriously (like) our 7th wedding this year where it has rained. So we ducked under a tree, got some beautiful shots (see below 🙂 )while waiting for it to clear. Moments later it finally passed, and the rest is history. 🙂

Congrats to Brooke + Ryan!

Enjoy the photos!

xox

HSR

Vendors:

Ceremony – St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Carlyle, IL

Reception – Hidden Lake Winery

Gown – Wedding Gallery Couture

Rings – Lordo’s Diamonds

Floral – Bouquets, Mioux Florist, Centerpieces, DIY by the bride

Cake – Hank’s Cheesecake

Make up – Perfectly Polished

Hair – Alicia Carroll, Salon Thairapy

Band – Drew Baldridge Band

The Nolan Family | St. Louis Family Photography

It’s that time of year again – fall family photos! I was so excited to see this sweet family again. (Mom says, “do you know how hard it is to get 3 girls and myself ready for a photo shoot!?”) Yes!! 😉 So it was time for kiddo #3 – Molly’s 18th month session! Time has just flown by since I last saw her just 10 days old. She can certainly make a fierce serious face – and Mom says she makes that face a lot. 🙂 Since we did the shoot in Forest Park, the hospital was just east of us and we could hear several helicopters taking off during our session. Miss Molly pointed to the helicopter in the sky, forming a big “O” with her mouth shouting “helicopter!” “helicopter!” I mean how cute is that?! That has to be the sign of a genius kid, right?

After seeing how much she has grown, I had to go back and revisit her newborn photos. I was cracking up with the behind-the-scene image with her two sisters. That pretty much sums up this shoot too. Families are one of my favorite sessions, but also the most challenging… especially getting 5 or more people perfect! It’s so hard to get that “perfect” shot! (whatever that is) But I do I strive for something sweet and real, and I’m okay if it’s not posed. I’m glad my clients think so too.

Enjoy the photos!

xox
HSR

Nisha and Pawel | St. Louis Engagement Photography

Happy Friday!

Going through the rigorous task of selecting my favorites from the many fabulous proofs from this recent engagement session made me forget all about my insane editing + shooting season. And I’m pretty sure my High School English teacher would have considered that last sentence a run-on. 😉 I mean I’m just a little “cray-cray” right now, but I promise to once again be on top of things (like email) … soon. (next year) Of course it goes with the territory and I’m so ever thankful that I have patient clients. And what’s even better – we are still delivering as promised. 🙂

Nisha and Pawel. Oh where do I even begin with these two?! Giddy. Giddy. Giddy. These two make love seem so effortless, even after being together for 5 years. They both met and fell in love with one another in medical school, and the rest is history. So for the first time ever – I’m serious – this is the first couple ever to do an engagement session with me at the arch. Crazy, right? They wanted a little bit of both worlds – the arch… the trees. We were talking how we love to look at architecture in other cities but when it comes to our home city we don’t really notice it. So here’s a little love for St. Louis!

You might have noticed that Nisha looks quite a bit like one of our other brides… Laila!, who also wore a red dress during her engagement session. They are sisters! Two sisters getting married in the same year! (!) Well, we can hardly wait for both of their BIG days.

Enjoy the photos!

xox

HSR

Kelly + Jeremy | Renaissance Grand Wedding

Fall is arriving, but I still have a few more pretty summer weddings to show!

I’ve been really excited to post this wedding! I often get asked my favorite locations to shoot a wedding, and The Renaissance Grand (Crystal Ballroom + Statler Ballroom) are pretty high up on my list. Fresh, clean + classic, romantic, bright – a perfect environment to shoot in. Kelly + Jeremy planned their wedding all the way from Washington DC! I actually never got to meet them before the big day due to limited travel to St. Louis. But boy, did I get lucky! These two were so easy to photograph! And it’s pretty clear that I had a really hard time narrowing down my favorites. So I hope you don’t mind the long post. 😉

I love hearing the stories of how our couples meet. Luckily, when Kelly tried introducing Jeremy to her friend it didn’t work out. ha! (Looks like she had her eye on him along!) So during a recent vacation, on a secluded beach in St. Martin, Jeremy proposed.

Now, check out this amazing day…

Enjoy!

xox

HSR