A fantastically beautiful day for a wedding. Fluffy white clouds, a slight breeze, and bright blue skies showed the way to this latest wedding. Eric and Emily are a couple bursting with laughter and a contagious kind of raw joy. They share knowing glances and inside jokes and they are adored by their friends and family. Shooting their wedding was an extension of that happy feeling.

Although we initially met and got all ready down at Hotel Phillips on 12th and Baltimore, the main festivities took place down at the historic Hobbs Building in the West Bottoms of Kansas City. This was my first time at the Hobbs Building and I immediately fell in love with the space, both inside and outside. It was kind of a tight timeline, so I didn’t have any spare time to explore and find the nooks and crannies I usually do, I did love all the texture and warmth and homieness of the building and I look forward to shooting there again someday.

As a sidenote, the vintage car is owned by the bride’s Grandfather. We used it in a lot of the photos because of the sheer awesomeness of the darned Packard!

The details of this wedding were fabulous! Emily (and her awesome wedding planner/coordinator, Holly Davidson of Simple Elegance) did a wonderful job. The floral arrangements and design (like the dance floor lighting) were under the skilled hands of Neil and Drue from Blue Bouquet. The oh-so-amazing cake was artistically created by Rebekah Foster, Cake Artist. Fantastic catering by Feasts of Fancy. Incredible DJ’ing by Mario and Tim with DJs For Hire. I hope you all can appreciate their hard work and talents from my photos.

Four pretty ladies. | I love window light.

See what I mean about the laughter?

Beautiful ceremony, with mom and dad looking on…

Happy newlywed, yo!

What a fun crew around the Packard!

Sultry gaze at his new bride.

Lip-smmmmaack!

Little video light love (Neal and Eric from Lemon Lime helped on the left image).

Yummy details!

Ring shot…on one of the tall centerpieces (look above)

Husband/Wife and Daddy/Daughter…Love it!

Get down, get down! (Lemon Lime got done with one of their weddings and crashed mine late that night. Neal and Eric are hiding in the photo. Can you see them both?)

This was my last shot of the night, as I was walking out the door.

Imagine with me…a dynamic couple’s wedding full of wonderful details and a crowd of amazing people to celebrate with them. The setting is on a stately 160-acre farm north of Topeka that has been in one family for 4 generations…now add a bit of warm, drizzly, non-stop rain for good luck! That describes this day to a T. It was an awesome day and I am not just saying that because I have to…it really was.

Hadley and Allison wanted me to cover their wedding with a bit more photo-journalistic flair, versus my  usual portrait-driven photography. This was a bit out of my comfort zone, as I love to bring all sorts of photography to the table, so today I am proud to show you these photos. Subtly different for me, but still me nonetheless.

If you pay particular attention to some of the scenes during the ceremony and you can see the drizzle coming down and the hearts of all those people melting as Hadley and Allison pledge themselves to one another for life. How cool is that?!

There was not enough hairspray to battle the drizzle, but in spite of it all the ladies all tried.

A quiet moment of privacy as they see each other for the first time on their wedding at the side of the huge yellow barn.

Yes, it was a bit wet as we all prepared for the ceremony. The musicians, dear friends of the bride and groom, were very talented. I think they play any instrument utilizing strings!

Priceless expressions from daddy and daughter, with Hadley looking on in the foreground.

I must share this! The wedding arbor was made by the groom! He is an architect…should we expect anything less?

There were lots and lots of fun umbrellas. I have a whole series of them now.

This ring shot is one of my favs. It was raining during dinner (yes, we ate outside). Water was drizzling and dripping from a tree onto the wet tablecloth of the bridal party’s table, so I had the bride and groom help me push the glasses up (thanks Allison for the idea!), and I happened to catch the drips with my 50mm and two video lights. Fun!

Anyone care for some strawberry shortcake?! Yeah!

Twinkle lights were used e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e! Trees, barns, rafters…thousands and thousands. It was really beautiful.

So, it’s not a traditional bridal shoot. It is not really a “trash the dress” or TTD session. It takes place after the wedding but before an anniversary. It is…as someone whom I hold in very high regard (John Michael Cooper of altf.com) would call it…it is an anti-bridal. Totally out of the ordinary and not what you would expect.

My original plan for this shoot was…well, suffice it to say that it got put on the back-burner due to circumstances beyond my control, so for this shoot we all three winged it and just drove around and shot at a lot of fun spots. Not much of a plan, but fairly decent results.

Jon and Caycee and I had a ball. I shot their wedding on July 5, 2008, and I absolutely love the couple. They are more than just clients to me. I hope you see a bit of their personalities in these photos. I am working on several “special” ones that will be released later, but I wanted to get this sneak peak up asap.

Please, please, speak up and let me know what you think and which one is your favorite!! I am dying to know!