Capturing the Smiles

I was really gratified to see this post yesterday. “DIY” photography, if you will, is not something you hear a lot about. In fact, most wedding resources, and other people, sometimes make it seem as if your married life will be a misery if you don’t spend X thousand dollars on wedding photography. Which is probably not the case. Certainly, there is a reason that people are worried. We’ve all seen vacation photos with the top of someone’s head cut off. But you know who those people are: just don’t ask them to shoot your wedding photos!!

Yes, there are amazing professional photographers out there (who doesn’t love Max?). Simply stunning:

{Max Wanger via Oh So Beautiful Paper}

Come Fly With Me

Since with the wedding just over six weeks away, this blog is in serious danger of “uber self-absorption,” to quote TTO (and yes, it’s getting crazy here too, but no, I’m not nervous, which is the question I get even more often), I thought I’d share these great photos, which have nothing whatsoever to do with my wedding, but are lovely.

{Photos by Duston Todd, via Vintage Glam}

The Soft Feel of Springtime

I love the quiet, contemplative mood of a spring morning. Leslie’s photograph’s, found via Creature Comforts, evoke that same lovely feeling. Adore.

{All images by corfu~}

The Rest of the Story

This photo reminded me how much I love images that make you wonder what’s going on just outside the frame…

{Red Otter via Oh So Beautiful Paper}

Hand in Hand

I saw this wedding ceremony photo a little while ago on SMP, and it completely, utterly warmed my heart.

At our wedding, I plan to spend at least 99% of the ceremony holding hands with my soon-to-be and then brand-new husband. I really hate seeing a wedding where the couple stands 3 feet apart, except when the officiant tells them they have to join hands.

For me, I’m terribly shy (although I act like an extrovert – shh, don’t tell!), and ever-so-slightly prone to being a ball of stress (not that you could pick up on that!), so holding T’s hand is going to be the only thing that gets me through 45 min of standing in front of a crowd of people. I’m ok when I’m working or performing, but just as me? Yikes. I’ve already threatened to make T & our pastor come back to my dressing room and do the ceremony there if I get too much stage fright!

That’s why as much as I utterly adore (and plan to have lots of) artsy wedding shots like this…

via EAD

…my favorite images are ceremony moments like this, from Elizabeth’s vow renewal:

and this, from Donia & Dave’s wedding, via Snippet & Ink:

and from Libbet & Scott’s DC wedding (via SMP) — I adore the expression on her face:

where you can just feel how much strength, peace, and love the couple share just by being near each other.

What are your favorite ceremony moments/pics?

E-Pics, Part I

Update, 3pm: Think I got the probs fixed, but the photo quality got a little messed up, so I’ll post better versions tonight when my computer wants to cooperate…

Update, 2pm: Just heard that the photo links were broken…will try to get the technical kinks worked out momentarily!

So, after I lost my USB drive with all of our e-pics on it (I know it’s someplace around the house, I just don’t know where that someplace is), T’s cousin Caleb, who shot them and will be shooting our wedding, was kind enough to give me another set last night so I could share them.

This is just the first round — we’re going to do more pics once the weather gets warm, but there were a few shots I wanted for the STDs and whatnot, so Caleb came out with us one VERY cold day and took some pics. I love old photos, so I’ve played around with these in Photoshop to add grain, etc. You’ll be seeing one of these again soon when we get the STDs out!